Fiction Nation - Smart Reviews for Modern Readers - Hosted by Kim Alexander

Second Shot

by Zoë Sharp

I'm Kim Alexander and this is Fiction Nation. The book is Second Shot by Zoë Sharp.

You know what drives me nuts? When you're reading — or watching — something where the main character gets shot, or stabbed, or blown up, or run over, and after one dramatic scene and a few stitches, they are basically up and out the door in a few days, if not hours. I call shenanigans! I broke my toe last month and I still can't wear pointy boots or walk uphill! Things take time to heal and if you can't respect the physical truth of the situation that much, you shouldn't have thrown your hero out a fourth floor window. And while we're on the topic of action heroes, another thing that ticks me a little is knocking off the background characters, what we Star Trek fans refer to as red shirts; you remember — when Kirk and the team would beam down someplace, the guy in the red uniform was always the one who got devoured by the alien space beast. So, no one ever cried over the red shirts. What does this have to do with this week's book? Glad you asked.

Zoë Sharp's heroine is a tough as nails young woman named Charlie Fox. Charlie, after a mysterious and deeply traumatic incident that ended her army career, began working as a bodyguard. Charlie's job in this book is guarding a lottery winner who doesn't want her help, along with the woman's young daughter whose cuteness is starting to make Charlie not hate all children with the fire of a thousand suns quite so much. She's been hired by her ex, a character so deeply brooding, dark and mysterious, he was like a sexy human thundercloud. (He and Charlie have some unfinished business to say the least, but he's so non-verbal I kind of wanted him to send up smoke signals or something — can you blink out your feelings? What's going on in there, Sean?) So, Charlie's got a job and some clients, but on the first page our girl finds herself face down in a muddy ditch, shot twice and left for dead. And she doesn't leap up and save the day. Charlie has a long, painful and realistic recovery, giving her lots of time to ponder not being as tough as she thought, along with having no choice but to — horrors — ask for help! She also thinks a lot about those red shirts I mentioned. There's gunplay and knifing and killing in this book, and in her job, but she's not a machine; she's not even James Bond, who quips as the bodies fall. She's good at her job, and to be effective she can't second guess herself, but the story here is not only healing her body and protecting her client, but deciding if she's living her life the right way. The actual plot, with Charlie figuring out who pulled the trigger, and the mystery surrounding the lottery winning client, is convoluted and interesting, but it was Charlie and the crossroads at which she finds herself that make this book really stand out.

Hear my interview with Zoë Sharp on Fiction Nation, on Take Five, XM 155 on Friday March 7th at 11:30pm, on Saturday March 8th at 6pm and Sunday March 9th at 10:00am and 8:00pm, and on Monday March 10th at 12:00 midnight and 3:00am. You can also hear Fiction Nation on Sonic Theater, XM 163 on Thursday March 13th at 3:00 pm. All times EST.

Buy this book from Amazon.com

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