Barbed Wire Heart

by Tess Sharpe

Overview

This powerful debut thriller from "a major new talent" (Kirkus) set in a poor, rural community where loyalty is everything, "packs an emotional punch" (Lisa Gardner) as the daughter of a meth kingpin is forced to choose between family, or freedom.

Never cut the drugs—leave them pure.
Guns are meant to be shot—keep them loaded.
Family is everything—betray them and die.
Harley McKenna is the only child of North County's biggest criminal. Duke McKenna's run more guns, cooked more meth, and killed more men than anyone around. Harley's been working for him since she was sixteen, dreading the day he'd deem her ready to rule the rural drug empire he's built.

Her time's run out. The Springfields, her family's biggest rivals, are moving in. And they're coming for Duke's only weak spot: his daughter.

Duke's raised her to be deadly — he never counted on her being disloyal. But if Harley wants to survive and protect the people she loves, she's got to take out both Duke's operation and the Springfields. Blowing up meth labs is dangerous business, and getting caught will be the end of her, but Harley has one advantage: She is her father's daughter. And McKennas always win.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538744116
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	457,144
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Born in a mountain cabin to a punk rocker mother, New York Times bestselling author Tess Sharpe grew up in rural Northern California. She lives deep in the backwoods with a lot of dogs and a growing colony of slightly feral cats. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed YA novel Far From You and the co-editor of Toil & Trouble, a feminist YA anthology.

Editorial Reviews

"Harley is one of the most complex, fascinating, dangerous characters I've encountered in years."—Lisa Gardner

"Terrific. "—David Baldacci

"Pulls off something rare."—Chicago Tribune

"Possibly the most powerful, original female character we've had in decades."—New York Journal of Books

"A ballad of survival sung by a voice you'll never forget."—David Joy

"Highly satisfying."—Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"Sharpe is definitely a name to watch."—Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)

From the Publisher

★ 01/08/2018
YA author Sharpe (Far from You) makes her adult debut with a high-tension thriller set in northern California. Harley McKenna, only daughter of North County’s widowed drug king Duke McKenna, was brought up hating the Springfields, their competitors in the drug trade on the other side of the river. In order to survive, and to protect the abuse survivors at the women’s safe house she runs with Native American woman Mo, Harley embarks on a clandestine campaign to put the McKennas and the Springfields out of commission. In particular, she blows up meth labs on both sides in the hope that each will blame the other. A smart feminist who’s relentlessly tough and profoundly compassionate, Harley takes advantage of the gender stereotyping that causes men to underestimate her, while protecting those who have been hurt by its effects. Extensive flashbacks from Harley’s youth chart her transformation into a trained killer, giving context to her relationships with Duke’s colleagues and enemies. Harley’s detailed characterization, especially compared to more role-bound descriptions of the supporting characters, makes her easy to root for as she outsmarts everyone. Even though her plan becomes clear to the reader fairly early, seeing her success in executing it is highly satisfying. This is a deeply affecting story about the complex family dynamics of growing up in the midst of a drug-trade blood feud. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret Literary Management. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Narrator and author Tess Sharpe’s debut story of backwoods crime and the ongoing struggle to survive against powerful rivals is enhanced by her emotional and evocative delivery. Harley McKenna has been involved in the family crime business since she was 16. Sharpe’s voice mimics the existential terror of a teenager who is forced into life-or-death situations when she’s too young to fully understand the ramifications of her and others’ actions. Sharpe captures Harley’s dread of the future, when she’ll likely have to take over the drug-dealing empire. But it’s the love of family that drives Harley, and Sharpe’s narration depicts this with perfection. Overall, Sharpe transmits the tension and matter-of-fact violence of Harley’s life with an intensity rarely heard in audiobooks. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

Narrator and author Tess Sharpe’s debut story of backwoods crime and the ongoing struggle to survive against powerful rivals is enhanced by her emotional and evocative delivery. Harley McKenna has been involved in the family crime business since she was 16. Sharpe’s voice mimics the existential terror of a teenager who is forced into life-or-death situations when she’s too young to fully understand the ramifications of her and others’ actions. Sharpe captures Harley’s dread of the future, when she’ll likely have to take over the drug-dealing empire. But it’s the love of family that drives Harley, and Sharpe’s narration depicts this with perfection. Overall, Sharpe transmits the tension and matter-of-fact violence of Harley’s life with an intensity rarely heard in audiobooks. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

★ 2017-12-12
In this hard-edged thriller set in the gold rush country of Northern California, the daughter of a murderous meth dealer finds that escaping the life of crime her notorious father has trained her for will be more difficult than she imagined."My childhood wasn't bikes and swim parties, it was full metal jackets and other men's blood crusted beneath Duke's fingernails," recalls 22-year-old Harley McKenna, referring to her father. In flashbacks, we learn that she was 8 the first time she saw Duke kill a man and that a few weeks later, her mother was killed in a meth lab explosion. Harley was 12 the first time she pulled a gun on someone and 17 the first time she shot a man. "I'm what Duke made me," she says. "There's no running from it. There's only facing it." How the conscience-torn Harley faces it—and faces up to Duke's sworn nemesis—will impact the lives of many people, including Will, the good-hearted childhood friend with whom she has fallen in love (and whose mother also died in the explosion). Early on, the novel tends to go over the same ground too many times and takes too many narrative beats to reach a conclusion. But it has a welcome, powerful feminist sensibility—Harley is closely involved with a shelter for abused women and children—and with its relentless intensity, gritty atmosphere, and compelling father-daughter psychology (as much of a monster as Duke is, he loves his "Harley-girl," and she can't shake her family pride), this promises to be one of the best books of 2018.Sharpe's first adult novel, following her gritty young-adult effort Far From You (2014), introduces a major talent to the crime fiction genre and, with a sequel all but promised, an exciting protagonist.

Kirkus Reviews