title: Fifth Victim (Charlie Fox Thrillers)
author: Zo Sharp
description: 'The narrative moves like a banshee on speed. Charlie Fox is fast becoming the must-read heroine of mystery ... Superb' Ken Bruen 'A fast and furious and very good read' Literary Review
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FIFTH  
  VICTIM
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FIFTH  
  VICTIM
  
  A CHARLIE FOX THRILLER
  
  ZOË SHARP
  
  ![](images/00003.jpg)
  
  PEGASUS CRIME
  
  NEW YORK
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For David Thompson of
  
  Murder By The Book and Busted Flush Press.
  
  Damn, you’re going to be missed …
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CHAPTER ONE
  
  The only thing more terrifying than fighting for your life is fighting for
  someone else’s.
  
  Especially when you’re losing the battle.
  
  On my knees in the warm sand, I gouged at the reluctant earth with a driftwood
  shovel, with both hands and my every breath. And the more I burrowed, the more
  the sides of the hole folded in quietly to meet the void. I knew then, gritted
  in the face of defeat, that there was only one way this was going to end.
  
  Badly.
  
  Pig-headed, I ploughed on, seeing nothing but the next scoop of sand that
  rushed in, mocking, to fill the last insignificant hollow. Dig, twist, throw.
  Dig, twist, throw. Up and out into the coastal wind, over and over, while my
  mind stamped and cursed and wailed silently ins