One Kick

Meet Kick Lannigan. She’s twenty-one. She can pick any lock. She knows five ways to kill you with a jacket. Get ready to fall in love.

From the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thrillers: The first in a nail-biting new series featuring Kick Lannigan, a young woman whose complicated past has given her a very special skill set.

Famously kidnapped at age six, Kick captured America’s hearts when she was rescued five years later. Now, twenty-one, she finds herself unexpectedly entangled in a missing child case that will put her talents to the test. 

Trained as a marksman, lock picker, escape artist and bomb maker by her abductor, Kick could not return to the life of the average young girl after her release. So, in lieu of therapy, she mastered martial arts, boxing, and knife throwing; learned how to escape from the trunk of a car, jimmy a pair of handcuffs, and walk without making a sound—all before she was thirteen.

Kick has trained herself to be safe. But then two children go missing in three weeks, and an enigmatic and wealthy former weapons dealer approaches her with a proposition. John Bishop uses his fortune and contacts to track down missing children. Not only is he convinced Kick can help recover the two children—he won’t take no for an answer. 

With lives hanging in the balance, Kick is set to be the crusader she has always imagined herself. Little does she know that the answers she and Bishop seek are hidden in one of the few places she doesn’t want to navigate—the dark corners of her own mind. 

A heart-stopping, entertaining thrill ride, One Kick announces the arrival of a blistering new series by a stunning talent in the thriller realm.

Before I say anything else, I feel the need to point out that if you’re interested  in this book because it sounds ‘fun’, you might want to reconsider because it is anything but.

This is a book I was looking very forward to reading after having heard wonderful things about the author’s Gretchen Lowell series (to which I own the first book) and I wasn’t let down in the least. This book is very emotional, and at times even hard to read, because you become so overwhelmed. That's not really surprising once you realize that this book deals with serious issues like pedophilia and child pornography.

Kick was rescued a decade ago from a man who kidnapped her when she was 6 and sadly, she would never be the same again. Her time with the man has affected her in ways that can and WILL make you feel so emotional. What’s even worse is that somewhere in the back of her mind, he’ll be ‘daddy’ to her since her own father left barely 4 months after she was returned. In spite of all that, Kick is still a very strong female lead, especially given her circumstances. Once she was returned, she trained herself so that she would always be able to protect herself and that no one would ever be able to force her to go ANYWHERE. Kick can literally kick your ass and knows many ways to kill you without having any weapons on hand. That’s what grounds her.-rashika