Barbed Wire Heart

January 1, 2018
In this hard-edged thriller set in the gold rush country of Northern California, the daughter of a murderous meth dealer finds that escaping the life of crime her notorious father has trained her for will be more difficult than she imagined."My childhood wasn't bikes and swim parties, it was full metal jackets and other men's blood crusted beneath Duke's fingernails," recalls 22-year-old Harley McKenna, referring to her father. In flashbacks, we learn that she was 8 the first time she saw Duke kill a man and that a few weeks later, her mother was killed in a meth lab explosion. Harley was 12 the first time she pulled a gun on someone and 17 the first time she shot a man. "I'm what Duke made me," she says. "There's no running from it. There's only facing it." How the conscience-torn Harley faces it--and faces up to Duke's sworn nemesis--will impact the lives of many people, including Will, the good-hearted childhood friend with whom she has fallen in love (and whose mother also died in the explosion). Early on, the novel tends to go over the same ground too many times and takes too many narrative beats to reach a conclusion. But it has a welcome, powerful feminist sensibility--Harley is closely involved with a shelter for abused women and children--and with its relentless intensity, gritty atmosphere, and compelling father-daughter psychology (as much of a monster as Duke is, he loves his "Harley-girl," and she can't shake her family pride), this promises to be one of the best books of 2018.Sharpe's first adult novel, following her gritty young-adult effort Far From You (2014), introduces a major talent to the crime fiction genre and, with a sequel all but promised, an exciting protagonist.

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Starred review from January 8, 2018
YA author Sharpe (Far from You) makes her adult debut with a high-tension thriller set in northern California. Harley McKenna, only daughter of North County’s widowed drug king Duke McKenna, was brought up hating the Springfields, their competitors in the drug trade on the other side of the river. In order to survive, and to protect the abuse survivors at the women’s safe house she runs with Native American woman Mo, Harley embarks on a clandestine campaign to put the McKennas and the Springfields out of commission. In particular, she blows up meth labs on both sides in the hope that each will blame the other. A smart feminist who’s relentlessly tough and profoundly compassionate, Harley takes advantage of the gender stereotyping that causes men to underestimate her, while protecting those who have been hurt by its effects. Extensive flashbacks from Harley’s youth chart her transformation into a trained killer, giving context to her relationships with Duke’s colleagues and enemies. Harley’s detailed characterization, especially compared to more role-bound descriptions of the supporting characters, makes her easy to root for as she outsmarts everyone. Even though her plan becomes clear to the reader fairly early, seeing her success in executing it is highly satisfying. This is a deeply affecting story about the complex family dynamics of growing up in the midst of a drug-trade blood feud. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret Literary Management.

Starred review from January 1, 2018
Harley McKenna grows up fast. The only child of crooked Duke McKenna, who runs drugs and guns and holds the power in North County, she sees her mother die in an explosion when she's eight. From then on, Duke trains and protects her, and she marks her own firsts as she grows, from slitting a deer's throat at nine to pulling a gun on a person at 12 to being responsible for a man's death at 16 to shooting a man and getting rid of a body at 17. As she approaches 23, she's lost people she loved to violence, the long-standing truce between the McKenna and Springfield families is being violated, and Harley, poised to take over her father's illegal empire, has a bold and dangerous plan to change things. At the same time, she's facing devastating personal loss and a potentially deadly power struggle. Sharpe has fashioned a pulse-pounding thriller with a strong moral underpinning and a wrenching love interest, in which Harley's contemporary activities are interspersed with her bloody backstory. Strong, graphic violence may limit the appeal of this masterfully written and constructed novel, but Harley McKenna is a striking protagonist and, with her powerful debut, Sharpe is definitely a name to watch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)