who had been more or less in control of the demons.
Those people – that control – was gone. The box was open and I was afraid we might never get them back inside.
Which was why I found myself here, in the offices of this eminent psychotherapist. I’d been coming to him once a fortnight since I’d returned from America, but in all honesty I didn’t feel we were making any real progress towards fixing what lay inside my head, inside my soul.
I wasn’t unrealistic enough to think this man could change that. But if he enabled me to keep a grip on my humanity, to live with myself knowing what I’d done and what I could do, then it would all have been worth while. It would give me something to take forwards. To enable me – and Sean – to move on.
The worst thing – the thing that frightened me the most when I woke sweating in the dark hours of the early morning – was that the greater part of me didn’t feel broken. A part of me felt this was how things ought to be. How they always had been.
And, just maybe, how they always would be.
From the Author’s notebook
The idea for this story came through my day-job, working as a photo-journalist for many years. I used to go out to the Spring Break Nationals every year to cover the car and car stereo show. Daytona Beach was always crawling with teenagers who came from all over the States to celebrate the first proper break from school, to hang out, party, and check out the cool cars on display. If you were on the run with a wanted teenager, I thought idly, what better place to hide out?
From that basic idea, the whole of the story developed. The title FIRST DROP came from the rollercoaster analogy – once you reach the top of the first lift hill and hit the first drop, you can’t stop and you can’t get off. You just have to sit tight, hold on, and hope you survive to the end of the ride.
It never occurred to me that my US publishers would pick up this book – number four in the series – and then ask for “Second . . .
The peripheral characters in FIRST DROP are among my favourites. I particularly like the retired FBI guy, Walt, and have even toyed with making him – and Harriet, of course – the hero of his own story. Maybe one day . . .
FBI Special Agent In Charge, Andrew Till, was another notable character. The real Andrew Till is one of the staff at Lancaster Public Library, who were so supportive of my early work. His colleagues confided that he had always wanted to be a character in a book, and it was my pleasure to include him here.
Please note, by the way, that this book was written during 2003 and first published in 2004. Back then, mobile phones, smart phones, and instant anywhere-access to the internet was nothing like as easy as it is today. I always had Charlie as a bit of a late-adopter when it came to technology. Perhaps the events of this book finally convinced her she needed to catch up a little.
Acknowledgements
Taking Charlie on her first American adventure wouldn’t have been so much fun without the assistance of a number of people. First of these has to be Maryellen and Paul Papadeas of Soundcrafters and organisers of the Spring Break Nationals – the World’s Most Famous Sound-Off. Maryellen and Paul not only graciously allowed me to use their event as the location for some of the action in this book, but were also absolutely wonderful about digging out obscure bits of information on Daytona Beach. If you haven’t been to SBN, then go. Experiences like Charlie’s happen in the pages of novels only!
Richard and Beth Smith of Seattle were another pair of friends who patiently provided excellent and detailed advice on the correct use of numerous Americanisms, and I shouldn’t forget to mention the contributors to the DorothyL website who had their say on teenage speech patterns. Thanks to all of you.
Also, Dr Perran Ross of the Florida Museum of Natural History, who told me all about the feeding habits of alligators; Ian Cottam and Lee Watkin, who taught me how to win a dirty fight; and Glynn Jones for making suitable armament suggestions. Any slip-ups are undoubtedly by my own hand.
Various people eviscerated the first draft to try and help me keep the mistakes to a minimum. A big thank you for this to Peter Doleman, Claire Duplock, Derek Harrison, Sarah Harrison, Iris Rogers, Tim Winfield, and my copy editor, Sarah Abel.
As always, my husband Andy has been my best critic and biggest fan.
Also, grateful apologies go to our temporary neighbours, Robert and Caroline Roper, for putting up with much pounding of computer keys in the flat above them late into the night while I was writing this story.
And finally, thank you to Blake Crouch, who so generously allowed me to include an excerpt from his novel RUN as a bonus feature at the end of this novel; to ZACE-eBookConversion for immaculate conversion of the printed book to e-format; and to Jane Hudson of NuDesign for the wonderful new cover design.
if you’ve enjoyed FIRST DROP, why not try Zoe Sharp’s Other Works:
Buy the Books!
the Charlie Fox crime thrillers
KILLER INSTINCT
RIOT ACT
HARD KNOCKS
(FIRST DROP)
ROAD KILL
Excerpt from ROAD KILL
SECOND SHOT
THIRD STRIKE
FOURTH DAY
FIFTH VICTIM – out in e-format Spring 2012
Short stories – eBook exclusive
FOX FIVE: a Charlie Fox short story collection
A Bridge Too Far
Postcards From Another Country
Served Cold
