Fourth Day
Zoe Sharp
The 8th book in the Charlie Fox series is a real cracker.
The cult calling itself Fourth Day is well funded and highly jealous of its privacy. Five years ago, Thomas Witney went in to try to get the evidence that the cult's charismatic leader was responsible for the death of Witney's son, Liam. Witney never came out.
Now, Charlie Fox and her partner, Sean Meyer, have been assigned to get Witney out, willing or not. But planning and executing a clean, surgical snatch is only the beginning. Five years is a long time to be on the inside, and the man who comes out has changed beyond all recognition.
Please note, this is the 8th in a series of books featuring Charlie Fox. For those wishing to read the series in order, maybe don’t read this review. It’s incredibly difficult to review this without inevitable plot spoilers due to the length of time the series has been going.
I am having a somewhat marathon session with this series and am now onto the 8th book in the Charlie Fox series with this latest one. When I started reading I was a little bit confused. The ending of the last book left me with so many questions, however I soon realised that the new operation was a good way for Charlie not to think about what happened at the end of the last book! The story was pretty intense early on and we soon see that Charlie and Sean are trying to extract their ‘principal’ from a so called cult. As usual with any Fox and Meyer story, things are never cut and dried, and they end up with a bigger problem once the first part of their operation is done.
What results is an opportunity for Charlie to get up close and personal with Randall Bane, the guy running the cult named Fourth Day. Not much time had passed since I had started reading and I was surprised to realise I was once again over halfway through the book. With lots of opportunity to delve, we see Charlie take major risks (as per usual) only this time we see her vulnerabilities in a huge way. I would go as far as to say that although Charlie Fox is one of my favourite female lead characters, she is also one of the craziest. Maybe that’s why I like her so much? Not only does she take huge chances, she is also ridiculously screwed up. Her personality leads you to think she actually verges on the edge of becoming as lethal and dangerous as the people she is normally chasing.
Fourth Day held my interest from very early on with all the weird goings-on at the so called cult. However, when you add in the fact that this appears to be the closest we get to layering back Charlie’s personality it made for a pretty explosive read. It had everything I wanted and some! What I wasn’t prepared for was the ending. I almost shouted out loud because I just couldn’t believe it. Zoe Sharp has certainly whetted the fans appetite to want to plough straight onto the next one. I think after reading so many ZS books I will take a break at just the right time. I will anticipate the next book even more, waiting to find out the outcome of the latest Sharp/Meyer disaster.
Review by Katherine Everett, Best Crime Books
About Zoe Sharp:
Born in Nottinghamshire.
Zoë Sharp spent most of her formative years living aboard a catamaran on the northwest coast of England. She opted out of mainstream education at the age of twelve and wrote her first novel at fifteen. She became a freelance photojournalist in 1988 and started writing her Charlie Fox crime thriller series after receiving death-threats in the course of her work.