Fox Hunter: A Charlie Fox Thriller

Sharp’s uneven 12th Charlie Fox thriller (after 2016’s Absence of Light) takes the close protection specialist to Iraq. Charlie once had a career with the British army, until she was gang-raped by a group of fellow soldiers. The men were acquitted, and Charlie left the army. Years later, she has learned to live with this traumatic experience, but only recently has she spoken of it to her on-again, off-again lover, Sean Meyer, a close protection colleague. Sean, who suffered a near-fatal head injury a few months earlier, has now gone off the grid and appears to be seeking revenge on Charlie’s behalf, tracking down the men responsible in Iraq, where many are private military contractors. Charlie’s boss believes that Sean tortured Michael Clay, one of her rapists, to death. Charlie doubts Sean would have been so brutal, and though her job is to find and stop Sean, she must also figure out what’s really going on. Sharp spares no gruesome, or technical, details, but the heart of previous books is missing in this entry, to its detriment. (Aug.)