One Kick

Book 56 of my 2015 Reading Challenge

read from August 25 - 29

One Kick by Chelsea Cain

Book 1 in the Kick Lannigan series

Summary (via the book jacket)

Everyone thought Kick Lannigan was dead.

Kidnapped by strangers at age six, she became the poster child for every parent's worst nightmare. Her rescue five years later shocked the world and she became an international news sensation. Kick has spent every minute since trying to escape her past. Now twenty-one, she has trained herself to be safe. She is a crack shot, a lock picker, an escape artist, a knife thrower, and a student of martial arts, among other pursuits.

Self-reliant and sharp-tongued, Kick isn't exactly a "people person". But when an enigmatic weapons dealer named Bishop approaches her with a proposition, Kick agrees to help him investigate two recent child abductions. Bishop has law enforcement contacts, a seemingly limitless fortune, and more secrets than Kick does.

Armed with a Glock 37, half a lifetime of therapy, and an impressive array of criminal skills, Kick will do whatever it takes to rescue the missing children in time. Little does she know that the answers she and Bishop seek may be hidden in the dark corners of her own mind.

My Opinion

It was gripping with lots of action but actual information and details were slow to develop.  The time it took for Kick to stop fighting Bishop and start working together with him was a bit annoying.

I felt she was realistic as a victim but some things, such as finding a perfectly preserved crime scene 14 years later, were way too coincidental.

Since I seemed to counter every positive reaction I had with a negative one, I wavered between 3 and 4 stars for this book.  In the end I went with 4 because the last few chapters definitely created intrigue for the continuation of the series.

A Few Quotes from the Book

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." ~ attributed to Bruce Lee in the preface of the book

"Kick stared straight ahead out the windshield and tried not to think about the fact that she was speeding through the desert in a dirty Impala with a trunkful of torture implements and a man who packed plastic sheeting and duct tape in his carry-on."