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Sharon Wright: Butterfly: No-one gives Sharon a chance. Except Sharon
Surrounded all her life by criminals and petty crime, Sharon aspires to a better life. Nothing outrageous – all she wants is a husband who cares for her, the kind of food they have in magazines, and civilized conversation. No-one else is going to look after her, so she’ll have to do it herself. And when her petty criminal husband gets on the wrong side of two hired killers and pays the ultimate price, Sharon fixes her sights on Jackie Gough. She sets him up for the heist of a lifetime. Riches neither of them has dreamed of. She tells Jackie they’ll be equal partners. And Jackie is dumb enough to believe she means it. This book’s huge sweep takes in gritty, grimy south London and the sylvan Nivernais. Beautifully cooked French cuisine and fast food. True love between people who care for each other and its horrible opposite. And all with characters you’ll never forget.
439 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2023
About the author
John Lynch
214 books18 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 22, 2025
Donald Carver is a hitman. He is also a fetishist and sexual predator, and the novel begins with a chilling description of him spying on Stacy Teasdale from a café opposite her flat. The young woman has no idea that she is being observed, nor has she done anything to attract her watcher’s attention. Through Carver’s misogynistic gaze, though, she is a femme fatale and deserves to be taught a lesson. He intends her harm, the only question is, what exactly will he do?
This opening chapter leads the reader into an underworld of petty, and sometimes not so petty, criminality. It is a world that occasionally collides with ordinary people living ordinary lives and into which the Sharon Wright of the title was born. The eponymous protagonist, however, could not be more different than Stacy.
Sharon is married to John Wright, a hapless lackey known as Buggy who does errands for hard criminals. She despises her spouse and treats him with disdain. Moreover, whilst Buggy is desperate to please Sharon, his heart’s not in it and his ‘butterfly’ spouse’s promiscuous behaviour has all but eroded his confidence. Then he gets the chance to become a real player in the crime game. Buggy is determined to prove himself to the woman he loves and is rewarded when Sharon seems impressed. Still, he is terrified, and with good reason.
The characters in this novel are thoroughly believable if not always likeable. The author has captured the sense of hopelessness and pessimism that pursues the individuals he depicts. Sharon is an enigma, she wants security and to be respected, whilst using the men who, in turn, use her. Can she find a way to break the circle? Carver too is a complicated protagonist, impossible to warm to, a man you would not wish to meet, yet the author prompts us to consider how he became the person he now is.
Sharon Wright- Butterfly is written with precision and frankness as the author describes situations that we know take place, but hope never to be caught up in. The book includes some explicit descriptions of sexual activity and explores shocking and deeply disturbing issues. That said, it is an honest tale, well told.
To those who enjoy gritty, anything-but-cosy, crime this is not to be missed.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)
This opening chapter leads the reader into an underworld of petty, and sometimes not so petty, criminality. It is a world that occasionally collides with ordinary people living ordinary lives and into which the Sharon Wright of the title was born. The eponymous protagonist, however, could not be more different than Stacy.
Sharon is married to John Wright, a hapless lackey known as Buggy who does errands for hard criminals. She despises her spouse and treats him with disdain. Moreover, whilst Buggy is desperate to please Sharon, his heart’s not in it and his ‘butterfly’ spouse’s promiscuous behaviour has all but eroded his confidence. Then he gets the chance to become a real player in the crime game. Buggy is determined to prove himself to the woman he loves and is rewarded when Sharon seems impressed. Still, he is terrified, and with good reason.
The characters in this novel are thoroughly believable if not always likeable. The author has captured the sense of hopelessness and pessimism that pursues the individuals he depicts. Sharon is an enigma, she wants security and to be respected, whilst using the men who, in turn, use her. Can she find a way to break the circle? Carver too is a complicated protagonist, impossible to warm to, a man you would not wish to meet, yet the author prompts us to consider how he became the person he now is.
Sharon Wright- Butterfly is written with precision and frankness as the author describes situations that we know take place, but hope never to be caught up in. The book includes some explicit descriptions of sexual activity and explores shocking and deeply disturbing issues. That said, it is an honest tale, well told.
To those who enjoy gritty, anything-but-cosy, crime this is not to be missed.
------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)
Displaying 1 of 1 review