One Kick

I am one of Chelsea Cain‘s biggest fans. I have read all of the books in her Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series right from the beginning and somehow over the past seven years have found enough patience to wait for that special time once a year when she’d release the next book in the series (not unlike the way little kids anxiously wait for Christmas). One Kick is Chelsea Cain’s latest novel and the first in a brand new series she’s started. I’ll be honest, I was a little bit nervous when I first cracked open my copy, as I just wasn’t sure Ms. Cain could live up to the greatness that was her first series. I was worried about having to get to know her new characters and if they’d be as cool and distinctive as those who dwelled within the Sheridan/Lowell universe. But now, having read One Kick, I feel silly for ever having any doubts, because... yyyeah, this book was nothing short of awesome!

The main character in One Kick by Chelsea Cain is Kick Lannigan. It’s easy to love Kick, a twenty-one-year-old kidnapping survivor who spent the ages of seven to twelve living in the world of child pornography with an awful group of adults who brainwashed her into believing they were her family. After being rescued, Kick spent the next ten years self-training to be as strong, skilled and quick-thinking as humanly possible.

Kick is the type of young woman who refused to see herself as a victim, choosing instead to be a survivor with a capitol S, and one who’d never not be safe again. Trained in knife combat, marksmanship, lock picking and an array of martial arts, Kick is the ultimate female badass without being too unrelatable to the reader. Despite her physical prowess, she is still a sensitive soul and, whether she’d like to admit it or not, psychologically vulnerable. And the one thing that tugs on Kick’s heartstrings the most? Other missing children. So, when two children in her area both go missing within the same time-frame, Kick can’t help but feel that their kidnappings are connected. With the help of her technologically gifted best friend/adoptive brother James (another survivor), Kick takes it upon herself to try to piece everything in the two cases together and find the children. That’s when a mysterious man called Bishop shows up and inserts himself into Kick’s world, much to Kick’s chagrin. He tells her his name (which may or may not even be his real name) and that he’s a former weapons dealer, and that’s pretty much it. But, despite not knowing much about him, Kick sees something in him, something perhaps personal that peaks his interest in the case, and so takes him up on his offer to work together to do whatever it takes to find the kidnapped children in one piece. What Kick doesn’t realize at first, however, is that not only are the two recent kidnappings connected to each other, but they’re connected to her as well, all of which will have her diving headlong back into the memories of the past she’s fought so hard to escape.

I loved this book! And I especially loved Kick, as I mentioned earlier. She is such a wonderful female character – one who is imperfect but confident, brilliant but cautious, strong but not hard. She’s a true heroine, and one I certainly feel we need to see a lot more of in mainstream media. Chelsea Cain has always been really good at character development, but I especially loved the dynamics she created between the characters in One Kick. The budding partnership Kick has with Bishop (the secretive tough guy who clearly has some issues all of his own) is downright magical and will have you completely fascinated right up until the very end, where Cain, like always, leaves you hanging in suspense and not sure how you’ll manage to function until the next book comes out to let you pick up where they left off.

One Kick is definitely a book that is written by a woman for women, and I feel like I can confidently recommend it to practically all age groups (keeping in mind that the book is rated PG-13). I feel like whether you’re fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five, forty-five or even fifty-five, if you’re a fan of modern thrillers you will appreciate and connect with the tone in which Chelsea Cain writes and gives her characters in this book.

The subject matter of One Kick is, without a doubt, not easy to stomach. However, I must make it clear to anyone who might pass this book up for the mere fact of not wanting to read a book about child abduction/sexual abuse, that Chelsea Cain is not graphic or gratuitous when the subject is brought up. She is able to allude to situations without ever having to actually describe them. She’s actually very respectful in that regard, so please don’t let it scare you away.