What do you think?
Rate this book
Power Surge
After decades working in advertising, 52-year-old CC Crane is no stranger to sexual harassment. She carries the scars from the blistering sting of degradation. For years, she rallied against the turn-a-blind-eye mentality. She marched. She protested. She boycotted. And still—even after #MeToo—sexual misconduct continues. The shame CC witnesses on the faces of young women forced to keep silent to keep their jobs torments her.
No more.
She won’t stand by while women are being traumatized. Shameless men will no longer get away with bad behavior. CC issues the consequences she believes they deserve—humiliation, or for the worst offenders, death.
Her victims, however, are a bigger threat to women than she realizes. Many belong to the male supremacist hate group, Men R.O.A.R. (Reclaim Our Authority and Rights). When the hate group targets her daughter for working against sexual violence, CC’s mama-bear ferocity kicks in, and she creates a hit list of local members.
Her activities are discovered by a R.O.A.R. member, and the tables turn. She becomes the hunted. Despite her best efforts, nothing happens as planned, and her vigilantism exacts a devastating price.
No more.
She won’t stand by while women are being traumatized. Shameless men will no longer get away with bad behavior. CC issues the consequences she believes they deserve—humiliation, or for the worst offenders, death.
Her victims, however, are a bigger threat to women than she realizes. Many belong to the male supremacist hate group, Men R.O.A.R. (Reclaim Our Authority and Rights). When the hate group targets her daughter for working against sexual violence, CC’s mama-bear ferocity kicks in, and she creates a hit list of local members.
Her activities are discovered by a R.O.A.R. member, and the tables turn. She becomes the hunted. Despite her best efforts, nothing happens as planned, and her vigilantism exacts a devastating price.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 2023
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 22, 2025
CC has worked decades in marketing and advertisement and knows what it's like to be harassed sexually in the business, seeing it daily. She reaches a breaking point and takes matters into her own hands by ordering hits on the dark web to eliminate men in power. The first hit was innocent, but soon her power surge unravels until it escalates out of control. She's a mom of 2 and very protective. Her own paranoia will have you checking the locks twice, and for good reason. What will her crime cost her in the end? Vengeance always comes with a price, always.
June 1, 2023
This book wastes zero time in getting to its point.
It opens with CC Crane, a self-made and successful head of her own marketing firm, sharing a public restroom with a young woman who’s been reduced to tears in another stall, having once again endured another round of humiliating harassment at the hands of her boss, who also just happens to be one of CC’s clients. This type of behavior isn’t anything new to CC. Now in her mid-50s, she’s dealt with it her whole life. It’s still shockingly prevalent in a post #MeToo society where lots of talk has resulted in very little action, and CC is tired of watching the very worst offenders get away with their transgressions. After backing countless organizations dedicated to empowering women with financial parity and equal rights in general, she’s tired of screaming into the wind when it feels like no one is listening.
It’s time to start making a list…
Already financially secure from the career path she has forged, CC was the unexpected recipient of a windfall from her deceased father, and she has set this money aside to help in her quest to rid the world of its most egregiously misogynistic miscreants. She has essentially mounted a one-woman campaign in which she alone is judge and jury, tapping into resources on the dark web to hire executioners as needed. She arranges for the victims’ reputations to suffer by having their deceased bodies placed at scandalous scenes that run counter to the men’s publicly held views. What CC didn’t expect was the determination and resourcefulness of her latest mark’s son, who is absolutely certain his father would not commit suicide in the manner suggested. He is determined to restore his father’s “good” name and seek vengeance against the person or persons responsible for his death.
Topically speaking, this book is white-hot. These are the times in which we live and fighting for basic equality shouldn’t be so hard, but it still most certainly is. Lizzie Qnert rides a very fine line in telling a story that is about female empowerment, making points that should be obvious but aren’t and giving us a strong female protagonist who is essentially operating as a vigilante to finally affect change in this world. Of course, she’s operating outside of the law, counting down a clock that started ticking with her very first hit, and karma has a nasty way of coming right back home.
The characters are extremely well-drawn and allowed to speak for themselves as Qnert uses first-person narrative throughout the book but changes viewpoints from character to character, giving insight in an imaginative way even to Luke, the vengeance-seeking son. The other narration is provided by CC’s two daughters who are each caught up in their own issues. Scottie is a lesbian who also champions female empowerment and is frequently targeted by hate groups. Megan is trapped in a loveless marriage, having given up her career to become a stay-at-home mom to her own two daughters. It would have been easy for these characters to have come across as one-dimensional stereotypes, but Qnert gives each a compelling backstory and fleshes them out completely. CC is every bit as strong a character as Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, although far less likely to adhere to pesky rules and regulations, and the story moves swiftly from the start, making it difficult to put down.
I would definitely recommend this book, and I look forward to Ms. Qnert’s next.
It opens with CC Crane, a self-made and successful head of her own marketing firm, sharing a public restroom with a young woman who’s been reduced to tears in another stall, having once again endured another round of humiliating harassment at the hands of her boss, who also just happens to be one of CC’s clients. This type of behavior isn’t anything new to CC. Now in her mid-50s, she’s dealt with it her whole life. It’s still shockingly prevalent in a post #MeToo society where lots of talk has resulted in very little action, and CC is tired of watching the very worst offenders get away with their transgressions. After backing countless organizations dedicated to empowering women with financial parity and equal rights in general, she’s tired of screaming into the wind when it feels like no one is listening.
It’s time to start making a list…
Already financially secure from the career path she has forged, CC was the unexpected recipient of a windfall from her deceased father, and she has set this money aside to help in her quest to rid the world of its most egregiously misogynistic miscreants. She has essentially mounted a one-woman campaign in which she alone is judge and jury, tapping into resources on the dark web to hire executioners as needed. She arranges for the victims’ reputations to suffer by having their deceased bodies placed at scandalous scenes that run counter to the men’s publicly held views. What CC didn’t expect was the determination and resourcefulness of her latest mark’s son, who is absolutely certain his father would not commit suicide in the manner suggested. He is determined to restore his father’s “good” name and seek vengeance against the person or persons responsible for his death.
Topically speaking, this book is white-hot. These are the times in which we live and fighting for basic equality shouldn’t be so hard, but it still most certainly is. Lizzie Qnert rides a very fine line in telling a story that is about female empowerment, making points that should be obvious but aren’t and giving us a strong female protagonist who is essentially operating as a vigilante to finally affect change in this world. Of course, she’s operating outside of the law, counting down a clock that started ticking with her very first hit, and karma has a nasty way of coming right back home.
The characters are extremely well-drawn and allowed to speak for themselves as Qnert uses first-person narrative throughout the book but changes viewpoints from character to character, giving insight in an imaginative way even to Luke, the vengeance-seeking son. The other narration is provided by CC’s two daughters who are each caught up in their own issues. Scottie is a lesbian who also champions female empowerment and is frequently targeted by hate groups. Megan is trapped in a loveless marriage, having given up her career to become a stay-at-home mom to her own two daughters. It would have been easy for these characters to have come across as one-dimensional stereotypes, but Qnert gives each a compelling backstory and fleshes them out completely. CC is every bit as strong a character as Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, although far less likely to adhere to pesky rules and regulations, and the story moves swiftly from the start, making it difficult to put down.
I would definitely recommend this book, and I look forward to Ms. Qnert’s next.
April 2, 2025
Powerful and thought-provoking with a whole new twist on revenge. CC is a woman who's had a lifetime of enough and is well past letting things slide and decides to take matters into her own hands to right wrongs that society just refuses to right. And when her daughter is suddenly the focus of a h*te group's attention, all bets are off. I think fans of Stieg Larsson and Alison Gaylin would really like this book. Told in multiple points-of-view, this is one of those stories that will stick with you long after you finish reading that last page.
Recommend but definitely check your trigger warnings, just in case.
Recommend but definitely check your trigger warnings, just in case.
June 29, 2023
Power Surge is a must read for how quickly I got into this one, the author surely does know how to write a great book. From the beginning, readers are given such a wonderful read. There are four point of views in this and each one progresses throughout the story. I definitely recommend this book for how well I related to it!
March 28, 2023
Compelling story! Read it in one day. Can't wait for Qnert's next book.
April 23, 2023
A real page turner ! Looking forward to Qnert’s next book, Crackshell coming out this June !
June 22, 2023
Great Read
I couldn't stop turning pages. The story is engaging and heartfelt, and it tackles very real women's issues. I loved every word.
I couldn't stop turning pages. The story is engaging and heartfelt, and it tackles very real women's issues. I loved every word.
June 29, 2023
Great main character and a cautionary tale about misogynists and karma.
August 4, 2023
kept me in suspense
Wow Power Surge had me with the first chapter! I love the strong women in the book Read this book you won’t be sorry!
Wow Power Surge had me with the first chapter! I love the strong women in the book Read this book you won’t be sorry!
December 10, 2024
If you love books about strong women standing up against male arrogance, and superiority. This novel is for you! I struggled to put it down & am looking forward to reading more books by this author.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews