Die Easy

December 3, 2012
In Sharp’s white-knuckle 10th Charlie Fox thriller (after 2012’s Fifth Victim), professional bodyguard Charlie takes on an assignment in post-Katrina New Orleans—the first job with her lover and partner, Sean Meyer, since he recovered from being shot in the head, though he’s forgotten much of their relationship. Tasked with protecting wealthy businessman Blake Dyer during the After Katrina Foundation fundraising event, Charlie is grateful for what appears to be a straightforward task. But when a face from her and Sean’s military past reappears and there’s a calculated attack on the party, Charlie realizes that there might be more at stake than just the financial well-being of several powerful men. In a fitting tribute to Mississippi riverboat culture, the bloody showdown takes place on a revamped paddle wheel boat. Sharp convincingly mixes hand-to-hand combat with the ups and downs of Charlie’s attempts to rebuild her old life with Sean, even as that possibility grows dimmer by the day.

December 1, 2012
Sharp's latest entry in her Charlie Fox series has her gritty heroine making a Die Hard-inspired stand in the Big Easy. Charlie Fox, a woman in the male-dominated profession of personal protection, has more than the rich man she's guarding to worry about on this assignment: Her former lover, Sean, is back on his feet following a near-fatal shooting and is working for the first time in months. But he's not the same Sean she once knew. In fact, his memory of their former relationship has been wiped clean, and he's keeping Charlie firmly at arm's length. When Charlie and Sean sign on to guard Blake Dyer, a millionaire attending a special weekend of fundraising for Katrina victims, they end up with more than they bargained for, including Dyer's refusal to pack it all in and go home following two violent assaults. Meanwhile, one of Charlie's old foes turns up in the form of Vic Morton, a fellow bodyguard who trained with her when she was in school back in England. Morton is no friend to Charlie, though, since he was one of the four men whose rape of her led to her dismissal from training. When Morton shows up to guard Blake's godson and the offspring of another millionaire, Charlie discovers he's filling Sean's head full of lies and now must combat not only her former lover's suspicions that she's his enemy, but also prove in the process that's she's competent to partner with him on assignment. That Charlie is tough is never open to question; sometimes Sharp plays her a little too macho to be engaging. But in the end, the movie parallel will strike the right note with fans of nonstop action/adventure, despite the author's tendency to overexplain the mechanics of the protagonists' professional choices to readers in it more for the thrill than the education. Sharp delivers another solid entry in a series that consistently delivers a world-weary heroine who can outdo any man who crosses her path.

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February 1, 2013
In this tenth Charlie Fox novel, the British expat bodyguard faces the highest stakes yet, forced to battle prickly personal issues and an arsenal-wielding New Orleans drug gang. Assigned to guard a repeat client on a charity jaunt, Charlie is partnered with her longtime lover, Sean Meyer. The low-risk job seems the perfect reentry for Sean, who's still recovering from the head shot that's wiped his memory of their relationship and softened his professional edge. Struggling to reach a partnership beyond Sean's hostile distrust, they've barely arrived when attacks on the wealthy donors begin, and Charlie quickly proves to be the only bodyguard up to the challenge. Just when she needs Sean's instincts and expertise, he is reacquainting himself with a former colleague, who doubts Charlie's loyalty. Battles everywhere, from parking lot to riverboat, offer action without overshadowing characterization; Charlie's sharp inner dialogue and personal conflicts, past and present, keep her fully dimensional. New readers will find this a great introduction to the series but will be quick to seek the backstory in earlier volumes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)