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KILLER INSTINCT is the first novel in the Charlie Fox series by British writer Zoe Sharp. First published in the UK in 2001 by Piatkus, it was not issued in the US until 2010 by Busted Flush Press after the success of First Drop (fourth in the series), Second Strike (sixth in the series) and Third Shot (seventh in the series).

Plot

Written in first person, the story introduces Charlotte (Charlie) Fox as a young woman in her mid-twenties, ekeing out a living teaching self-defense skills to women in the North West of England. Skills Charlie learned in her brief Army career, the reason behind the brevity becomes a central theme for the character, echoed in the story.

Business is picking up due to a series of vicious rape/murders in the area. After successfully defending a personal friend at a newly refurbished local nightclub, Charlie is offered a job working security. Shortly after she takes up the offer, one of the club-goers turns up dead, also brutally raped. As the story progresses, Charlie is inexorably drawn into a confrontation with the murderous rapist.

Reception

Overall, reception of the novel was good but due to the delay in release, inevitably there were comparisons to later works in the series. While Janice Young, an early reviewer found it "One of the best crime debuts for years.", eight years later Gloria Feit reckoned Killer Instinct was "...Just as compulsively readable as the later entries in the series, nonetheless I felt this book slightly weaker..". Russel D McLean praises, amongst other things, the believability of the protagonist, saying 'one of the most well-defined and convincing series protagonists I’ve encountered in a long time...a solid, very well written debut..'. An opinion reinforced by Marilyn Stasio, who declared, "The bloody bar fights are bloody brilliant, and Charlie's skills are both formidable and for real."