Flashpoint

Rating:
Summary: Read It
Review: #1 Reviewer did a great job giving a synopsis of the book so I'll just give my opinion of the book. It's what Suz fans can expect from her--lots of action/adventure, heat and guys you love to love. I liked Tess a lot (and the opening scene was a wonderful Suz original)but I had a problem with the fact that she was so "nice" that she at times supposedly liked/loved Nash so much that she would instantly forgive him or not be mad at him after he did something stupid or hurtful. Too, I wish Nash's past and the whole "I'm a bad guy/don't deserve Tess" thing had been fleshed out more. It seemed that we only saw a bit beneath his surface. It IS a good read, and I highly recommend it. As with all her books, I finished this one in one night. However, it's not on my Top Five list of favorite Suz books.

Rating:
Summary: Inventive Plot, Lousy Gun Knowledge, Stock Characters
Review: After reading Flashpoint, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I can understand why Suzanne Brockmann is so popular. I've read the occasional romance novel over the years, and Brockmann is by far the best writer I've seen in the genre. Her plot is inventive, her dialogue crisp and witty. She deals up-front and brutally with the reality and results of anti-female prejudice in Arab countries. She understands that people with a military background tend to curse a lot and doesn't flinch from four-letter words. (Thank you, God.) On the other hand, she's pretty weak on the gun stuff, her characters in some cases are cardboard, and there were a couple of moments in Flashpoint that made me want to scream, "What was she THINKING?"

GUN STUFF

Brockmann has one of her characters operating the safety on a revolver. <groan!> Yes, the most egregious, classic, boneheaded gun-related error in fiction, still shambling on, like a zombie refusing to die, in the Year of Our Lord 2004. Okay, here it is: revolvers don't have safety levers. Except for a few pricy custom jobs, never have, never will.

She refers to a "Magnum .357" when the correct term is ".357 Magnum."

She calls the detachable box holding ammunition that inserts into an auto pistol's (...)a "clip." No. It's called a "magazine." A clip is a non-mechanical device, i.e. it has no moving parts, it's just a piece of metal, designed to hold cartridges for storage, or so they can go into a magazine. A magazine is a mechanical device, it has moving parts, designed to hold cartridges so they can go into a firing chamber. Imagine you were a computer programmer, and how jarring you'd find it if a writer referred to a RAM as a ROM. I mean, who cares, they're almost the same thing. Right?

Here's another way to let someone who knows a lot about guns know YOU don't: call the ammunition "bullets." There are actually four components to a centerfire cartridge, only one of which is the bullet - the projectile, the slug, what comes out of the barrel when you pull the trigger. When the entire thing is put together into a unit, it's called a "cartridge" or a "round" (a holdover from blackpowder days when rifle and handgun projectiles actually were round balls).

WHAT THE...?

A couple of scenes had me groaning, "Oh come ON." In one, in the middle of a sandstorm so violent it almost rips the burkha right off a woman's head, a police lieutenant tosses a scarf through the air to one of our main characters....who nonchalantly catches it. No problem. Suuuuure....

Later, after starting a firefight in a warlord's palace, all our main characters are extracted by helicopter. Realizing they've left an innocent man behind, the chopper turns around, drops two team members off right outside the palace's front door - remember that - then boogies. Even later, the chopper returns again, creates a distraction on one side of the palace, then flies around and picks up the two team members who are hiding with the unconscious innocent, before they all fly off into the sunset.

You want to run that by me again?

You think when a helicopter drops two heavily armed gunmen off right outside the front door of the palace, some of the dozens of aroused soldiers might just notice that little fact? I'm not saying our heroes, with the strength of ten because their hearts are true, might not be able to fight their way through the entire palace to the deepest, darkest dungeon level, slaughtering bad guys as they go, grab Mr. Unconscious, then carry him as they fight their way back out again. (Though it does seem unlikely, doesn't it.) But if they did, they might be, like, engaged in a wee little bit of a firefight when the chopper returns, instead of hiding unnoticed. Huh?

THE CHARACTERS

The "romance" of Flashpoint is between Diego Nash and Tess Bailey. Diego is tall, dark, movie star handsome, arrogant, egotistical, and a total player who uses women like kleenex, even though, under it all, he's a great guy who's just afraid of commitment. Tess is blond-haired, blue-eyed, freckled, perky, innocent (comparatively), warm, supportive, the All-American girl next door who sees into the heart of this tortured but incredibly hot stud....blah, blah, blah. You've seen it a thousand times. Frankly I found Diego's best friend and partner, Decker, and his relationship with Sophia (I can only hope this will be the focus of the next novel) FAR more interesting, and the characters far more sympathetic than the dysfunctional "hormones above common sense" that passes for love between Diego and Tess. Fortunately this novel ends with Decker and Sophia still circling each other warily. I want to know what happens next. And I guess that's the best thing I can say about Flashpoint.

Rating:
Summary: Still my favorite author...
Review: After reading this book, which I did move heaven and earth to purchase on the day it was released, I realized that the reason it fell short for me was because of the fact that all these characters are brand new to the reader. In her previous Team Sixteen Navy SEAL books we've gotten to know the characters prior to "their" book. I think Suz's readers have gotten used to miles of backstory from previous books in the Team 16 series and these brand new characters, introduced in Flashpoint, simply can't compare. I do believe that the next book in this Troubleshooters series will deliver what we, the loyal reader, are used to from Suz. I will continue to rush out on release day to buy her books, pay hardback price and hide from my family until I have read said book in full.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Agency computer specialist Tess Bailey helps field agent Jimmy Nash expedite his partner Lawrence Decker from a potentially deadly scene. That night Jimmy and Tess make love, but he leaves for Mexico without looking back. Not long afterward, Jimmy and Deck quit the Agency and when Tess learns she will not get a field job, she leaves too.

Tom Paolitti of Troubleshooters, Inc (see Out Of Control and Gone Too Far) hires Deck and Jimmy. He assigns Deck as the lead with Jimmy and three other people to go into Kazbekistan to retrieve the laptop of a reportedly dead terrorist Sayid. K-Stan has been closed to the West and is the most dangerous pit around, but an earthquake has devastated the capital and western relief workers are in country giving the team needed cover. However, a computer specialist is needed badly and Tess is the only available one. Because of circumstances, Tess and Jimmy are to pose as newlyweds. Since the attraction is great that should look realistic though Jimmy fears his feelings. As the danger mounts, the love between Tess and Jimmy blossoms, but he believes he is not good enough for her.

FLASHPOINT builds up the suspense slowly but grips the reader from start to finish. The key to the tale is that the "good guys" contain distinct characteristics so that the audience can delineate them. The earthquake scenario is realistic (Iran proves that). Though the hero insists too often that he is a bad guy in spite of his actions of doing nice things for innocent people, fans will enjoy this taut tale and hopefully Ms. Brockmann will follow with a romance between Deck and the woman he rescued.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: An Impressive Work from Brockmann --- and Ballantine!
Review: All right, what is "romantic suspense?" I had no idea. I've been known to pick up a suspense novel once in a while, but romantic suspense? From a guy's standpoint, the concept of "romantic suspense" is usually limited to those moments when he's wondering if he's going to wind up in a horizontal position on the first date. From a literary standpoint ... well, I do have sitting on my bookshelf all of those "Lady From LUST" paperback knockoffs of James Bond that were sold at some of the nation's less reputable outlets in the 1960s.

But taking a look at FLASHPOINT by Suzanne Brockman, I figured that this wasn't going to be one of those. The cover has a man and a woman in silhouette, walking through an archway with a set of, uh, well, headlights behind them ... I mean, it doesn't knock you over the head, but you don't have to take a college course on "The Films of Federico Fellini" to figure it out, either. FLASHPOINT is going to be more concerned with ripped bodices and heaving bosoms than karate and explosions. Well, actually, there are a few explosions, but more like the kind you would find in a Harold Robbins novel than in, say, Matthew Reilly's SCARECROW.

All of which is to beg the question: how is FLASHPOINT? Well ... it's really, really good. FLASHPOINT, if one wanted to quibble, is a romantic espionage novel. Jimmy Nash is a newly retired CIA agent who now works for Troubleshooters, Inc., a freelancing group specializing in covert operations. Nash, his sidekick, friend Lawrence Decker and a small team of operatives are sent to Kazbekistan ostensibly as relief workers. Their real mission, however, is to track down a missing laptop computer belonging to a deceased al-Qaeda operative that contains information vital to the national security of the United States.

The mission puts Nash in close proximity to Tess Bailey, another Troubleshooters operative. Nash and Bailey had a tryst some months prior to the Kazbekistan mission, after which Nash more or less disappeared from Bailey's life. Nash is actually more nervous about working in close quarters to Bailey than he is about losing his life in Kazbekistan, which is ravaged by war and by earthquakes. To make matters worse, the mission requires Nash and Bailey to masquerade as husband and wife. Nash additionally feels somewhat guilty; having discovered that his buddy Deck was, and is, interested in Bailey, Nash won't do anything about it.

Deck soon acquires his own romantic interest in the person of one Sophia Ghaffari. Sophia, as it happens, is the widow of Dimitri Ghaffari, who was supposed to be the Troubleshooters team contact but was brutally murdered in her presence by one Padsha Bashir, an iron-fisted Kazbekistan warlord who has taken Sophia as his concubine. Ghaffari may well have possession of dodging bullets and tremors and a large amount of duplicity all the way.

Altogether, FLASHPOINT is an impressive work. Brockman gets points for continuing to explore new directions and doing so quite well. And let's also tip our hats to the marketing folks at Ballantine. FLASHPOINT includes a new short story featuring Sam Starrett and Alyssa Locke from Brockman's previous novel GONE TOO FAR. While paperback editions of hardcovers include excerpts from forthcoming novels, this is the first time that I can recall a hardcover containing an original short story featuring another of an author's characters. Nice work, from both Ballantine and Brockman.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: VERY GOOD ACTION & SUSPENSE NOVEL
Review: As a fan of Brockmann's earlier novels, HEART THROB and a few of her Navy SEALs series books like THE ADMIRAL'S BRIDE, I enjoyed FLASHPOINT for several reasons: the one storyline and the action and suspense. I had not enjoyed her previous Troubleshooters due to the WWII flashbacks and multiple storylines but with the focus on one storyline, the story did begin very slow. The plot of the book took too long to execute. Again, we have a secondary relationship that is slowly developing between Sophia and Deck who were more compelling and had more chemistry when compared to the principal characters Nash and Tess. I liked Tess. She was no nonsense and stood her ground but she was infactuated with Nash and 80% of the book has them going back and forth with their feelings along with the assignment that they are working together. Deck and Sophia had more electricity between them and their story promises to be a good one since Sophia has some baggage.

The negative reviews could stem from the changes that Brockmann incorporated in her novel that worked for me: the one storyline and more action and suspense. The romance is secondary and there are no overlong sex scenes which is a plus for me. If Brockmann is aiming at suspense fans, I'd suggest she work on a plot that is more plausible and executable in a reasonable time frame. The mission in this book too long to excecute. The last 50 pages or so were more compelling that the previous hundred pages.

My grade, B and the reason is that after the initial beginning, the story did drag and I could put this book down and forget about it. I am glad to see that Brockmann seems to be concentrating more on the suspense and less on the usual conventions of romance. She just needs to work on the plot and lose the surfer dude voice which was quite annoying when you have everybody talking like that, it's distracting and if your writing suspense, you'd have to be rid of that first and foremost. A good book.

Rating:
Summary: Same Old, Same Old
Review: Brockmann's stories are pretty much the same. This one was O-kay. Not great, not terrible. I was relieved there was no historical romance thrown in the middle. I liked Tess. Nash was not very interesting - not well developed. Sophia was interesting, and I thought Deck was the most developed character. Dave was also more interesting than Nash. All in all - it's a good book to borrow from the library. The short story with Sam & Alyssa at the end was odd, to put it mildly. Not sure where it came from or why it was there.

Rating:
Summary: Well written and exciting action-romance
Review: CIA researcher Tess Bailey longs to get into the field but is continually denied the chance. When she overhears that an agent's cover may be blown, she contacts his partner, Jimmy Nash, and includes herself in the rescue. She does a good job but even that doesn't win her the promotion--it does win her a one-night-stand with Nash, though, and she's wanted Nash for a long time.

Frustrated at the CIA's unwillingness to let her into the field, Bailey quits and joins Troubleshooters Incorporated, a private company run by ex-Navy Seals who take on the jobs the government won't do. There she finds herself on a team with Nash, his partner, and several other ex-Seals, Marines, and ex-CIA agents--being sent to Kazbekistan--a Moslem failed state whose warlords are reputed to have close ties to Al-Qaeda. An earthquake has created a humanitarian disaster serious enough to force Kazbekistan to open its borders for the first time in years--and killed the local Al-Qaeda leader. The man may be dead, but his laptop computer, equipped with all of Al-Qaeda's plans for terrorist plots, is still at large.

In Kazbekistan, Bailey and Nash confront the attraction that neither wants but neither can deny. Somehow, between dodging aftershocks, heading off a noisy newspaper reporter, setting up illegal broadcast towers, and chasing down every CIA contact left in the country, they make time for passion. But passion comes with its own price--especially as Nash comes to realize that his partner has fallen for Bailey too.

Throw in a beautiful American whose husband was beheaded by the local dictator and a daring rescue in the fortress-like headquarters of the local warlord and you have an exciting romantic adventure.

Author Suzanne Brockmann does an excellent job characterizing the damaged Jimmy Nash and setting him up for redemption at the hands of the first woman who can actually understand and respect him for who he is. I was impressed as well by the way Brockmann dealt with the Moslem resentment against an America which seems more intent on punishing than on understanding and helping--not supporting the attitude, of course, but understanding it. I thought that Brockmann backed away from some of the action and sensual scenes without giving the reader the full bang-for-the-buck, but that didn't stop this from being a completely enjoyable and fast-paced read.

Rating:
Summary: I feel like I just paid $24.00 to see GIGLI.
Review: DID SUZANNE BROCKMANN REALLY WRITE THIS BOOK?! I have my doubts. This book had so much potential, but when I finished it I felt as though I hadn't even read it. I'm upset that I paid hardback price for it and I am sad because I feel very disloyal to one of my favorite authors. The story's two main characters were too seriously undeveloped for this to be a romance and the action was too non-existent for this to be an action or spy thriller. For example, in the middle of an action scene in which two of the characters are being chased by squads of armed soldiers, through the stairwell of a condemned hotel that is about to collapse, during an earthquake aftershock, and suddenly --- we have a dry, 5 paragraph explanation as to why they are in the wrong stairwell. What?! Dearly loved characters from previous books who appeared in the story may as well have not even appeared because there presence contributed nothing at all. I and all of Ms. Brockmann's fans know that she writes better than this and I think Ballantine seriously needs to consider a different Editor next time.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Brockmann
Review: Flashpoint by Suzanne Brockmann is another blockbuster hit.

Tess Bailey, computer geek wants out of the support dept in the worst way. She wants to be a field agent. When she is denied again, Tess quits and goes looking for work with Troubleshooters, Inc., legendary Tom Paoletti. She wasn't prepared to see her one night stand, Agent Jimmy "Diego" Nash. Tess and Jimmy had been skirting around an attraction for months. Then after a mission they had a blazing night together.

Jimmy Nash had enough of the agency and went with his friend Lawrence Decker to work with Tom Paoletti. Now Tess is on their team for a mission to a dangerous foreign country. They are posing as a married couple and the lines between reality and make believe are becoming blurred.

Suzanne Brockmann delivers the action, suspense and the passion. You feel like you are there watching it all unfold. Jimmy and Tess will stay with you for a long time. I really enjoyed this book and will be in line for her next book.