Flashpoint

Rating:
Summary: Not my Favorite, but....
Review: I have enjoyed all of Suzanne Brockmann's previous SEAL team books and bought FLASHPOINT as soon as it was released. I did enjoy the book and finished it in one evening. In the previous books in the Troubleshooters series, the main (usually male) character had been introduced in one or more of the earlier books as an incidental character. I missed not having more of a sense of familiarity with Deck and Jimmy from earlier glimpses. When I read Suz Brockmann's books, I like to anticipate which character (hopefully all, if possible!!) will be the next hero.

I am looking forward to the next book in this series and would like to see more interaction between Seal Team 1 and TroubleShooters Inc.

Rating:
Summary: Flashpoint
Review: I have read all of Suzanne Brockmann's books regarding the Navy Seals and thoroughly enjoyed them all - so much so I hated to see them end. Flashpoint is a terrible disappointment! Being able to "feel" the characters is important when delving into a book - there was no depth to the primary characters of Nash and Tess - the scenes between them were really boring. There was some possibility with the character of Decker but even that fell short.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as her previous SEAL books
Review: I have to agree with the other reviewers, while this was a perfectly good book, it was no where near as gripping or powerful as some of her previous novels. The protagonists were not very well developed and it was a bit hard to understand why they were so attracted to each other. Many of the pivotal scenes were told in a flashback/memory style which was not successfully. It caused you to be less attached to the characters and their actions and was anti-climactic. Nash was an oddly flat character---he seemed to have this very negative reputation, yet be a good guy but the author never explained how this happened/why this dichotomy was there. Nor did his teammates react to this reputation, except for in one instance. It was unclear why Tess would have been attracted to him. Decker was clearly the hero in this book, but he was not often the focus of the story. I hope that Brockmann improves on this series in her next book. I certainly won't be buying any more of her books in hardback until she goes back to her old, wonderful style of writing.

Rating:
Summary: Give up the romance for a book or two...
Review: I may be in the minority here, but I enjoy Ms Brockmann's SEAL Team 16 series for the plots and dialogue over the romance. I've been known to skip over the romance scenes and descriptions of Hyper-Emotional-Warriors-in-Love just to find out what will happen next. If she ever wants to venture outside of the romance realm she's known for, I think Brockmann could do quite well with a straight thriller.

I wondered what would happen when all of the SEAL team's stories were told. This new Troubleshooter series seems set up to solve the biggest problem of the series: how many guys can possibly be on this team? At some point, all of their stories have to be told. By creating a spin off, Ms Brockmann allows for two parallel series as she introduces new characters into both the Troubleshooters and SEAL team 16. If she continues to keep up both series, they should nicely compliment each other.

Up to this point, most of the women in Ms Brockmann's books have served only one purpose. They are romantic interests that really don't fit into the working world of the men. The novels end with marriage proposals that seem to shuffle the women off into the background. Hopefully, characters like Tess and Alyssa will continue to be active members of the cast. And, please Ms Brockmann, I know rescues from peril are romantic, but if you're going to create strong, independent women, they shouldn't need men to rescue them constantly.

Flashpoint vies with Over the Edge in terms of plot. The larger international situations Brockmann dreams up are much more intriguing than the smaller, local problems she creates for her characters. Although my favorite Brockmann character is still Max, I am intrigued by the men introduced in Flashpoint. I can't wait to see where their further adventures lead.

Rating:
Summary: Brockmann leaves you wanting more
Review: I thought this book deserved more than 3 stars. How does she do it? I'm hanging on to my seat reading about Nash and Tess, then half way thru the book, I want to know Decker and Sophia's story. The storyline of Kazbekistan made me feel that I was reading the newspaper.

The mark of a good writer is keeping you interested in the story you're in and leaving you waiting for the next book.

Brockmann delivers both!

Rating:
Summary: Great effort by Suzanne Brockmann
Review: I thought this book was amazing, so much better than her last few. I liked how there weren't too many stories being told at the same time, and there wasn't a WWII flashback woven in. As resulted, the overall story isn't disjointed and the pace of the action is sustained.

In sum, I couldn't put this book down from the moment I picked it up. Can't wait for her to publish Decker's story.

Rating:
Summary: Awful dialogue !!!
Review: I typically do not read stories like this, but a neighbor had lent it to me and I figured I'd check it out. The plot isn't bad, but the dialogue is another story. The writing was so unbelievably awful that I had to fight myself to finish it. Phrases like "God damn, Oh god, etc..." were repeated over and over again. I got really sick hearing about Tess's cute freckles and Jimmy's movie star looks/sex drive. The majority of the story line between Tess and Jimmy has them arguing over a one night stand. It was 300 + pages of pretty bad writing. I'd strongly recommend taking a pass on this book. Not worth your time unless you are looking to take a mini-break from Harlequin romances....

Rating:
Summary: I don't think Brockmann's heart was in it!
Review: Maybe I'd give this book three stars if it were written by an average author, but it's by Suzanne Brockmann! Is this fair? Probably. The other reviewers are right when they say that Tess and Jimmy aren't fleshed out, that you don't really feel as if you know them, nor was I drawn to them. I have loved all of Suzanne's long SEAL books, and I bought this one, but wish I hadn't. In Suzanne's other books, I couldn't wait for the protagonists to finally get together, but in Flashpoint, I must confess that I really didn't care. In fact, I was much more interested in Jimmy's partner, Decker. Plus, there was six other minor characters sent to (or native to) this God forsaken country and the characterization was so shallow that I couldn't tell the difference between them. And come on, we're supposed to be in suspense because the team goes to retrieve a laptop, for heavens sake! The action climax almost occurred off the page and Suzanne told us about it, instead of showing us. It took me about four days to finish this book; usually I have read most of her SEAL books in one, compulsive night! All in all, this book reads like an uninspired first draft. My advice to you: don't buy the book.

Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed it! Fast paced and action packed!
Review: OK, I'm not a Suz superfan, I have only a vague idea who Sam and Alyssa are and I have only read five of her books, all from the TDD Seal Team Ten series (PRINCE JOE, FOREVER BLUE, FRISCO'S KID, EVERYDAY, AVERAGE JONES and NIGHTWATCH). I have THE UNSUNG HERO on my TBR shelf, but this is my first Troubleshooters book. And, personally, I really enjoyed it. I am really surprised that this book is getting two and even one star reviews. It may have flaws, but it's hardly a terrible book! Let's keep some perspective here! And all the nitpicking over minutae like the "gun stuff" as one reviewer called it seems overkill - call me blissfully ignorant, but I just didn't care. I mean if you want that level of detail read Tom Clancy or something! Anyway, I liked it and had fun reading it (though I would NEVER have paid for it in hardcover as hardcover romance novels are a pet peeve!).

Agent Diego "Jimmy" Nash is a hunky, sexy, love-em-and-leave-em type with a "serious 007 complex" and Tess Baily is a support specialist who has it bad for him. But Tess is smart enough not to let it show or act on it as that would be incredibly stupid! Tess is the nice girl-next-door type and everybody likes her. Jimmy likes her but he doesn't do nice girls. Jimmy's partner Lawrence Decker likes her but never mixes business with pleasure, plus he knows that she has a thing for Nash - they always do. She hopes to become a field agent and when she comes across a threat to Decker, she contacts Jimmy and together they come to Decker's rescue - after which Tess and Jimmy have a one night stand that both regret.

A month later, Tess discovers two things: one, that Jimmy and Deck have quit the agency without a word and two, that Tess is never going to get that promotion to field agent. She quits her dead-end job and accepts a position with Troubleshooters, Inc where she again runs into Jimmy and Deck. They are assigned to locate a laptop belonging to a top Al-Qaeda leader who was killed in an earthquake in Kazbekistan (think Afghanistan under the Taliban). K-stan has been closed to the West since the fundamentalist regime took power but the earthquake has opened up the borders to western relief workers. The team will pose as relief workers (with Tess and Jimmy posing as husband and wife) to locate and retrieve the missing laptop. While there team leader Decker encounters the mysterious Sophia who had been held by warlord Padsha Bashir until she escaped in the mayhem and confusion of the earthquake. He does not know whether or not to trust her, but she may know something about a former CIA contact that Deck needs to locate as a secondary mission. Their interactions are intriguing and Deck finds himself very ambivalent about her while she is desperate to get out of the country and sees Deck as her best last chance. Her presence complicates things a lot but she also has knowledge they don't. She's lived in K-stan for many years and knows her way around Bashir's palace. But will she prove herself trustworthy? Add into the mix a pesky American journalist who dogs their heels and the chance of discovery by warlord Bashir and everyone on is edge. Will they ever get out of this country, or shall I say "pit" alive?

OK there were some things that I wished were done better. The romance was definitely not the main event here as the story is dominated by the political and suspense aspects. Jimmy has serious jerk tendencies and is a very selfish person, but you know deep down he's a good guy, though he thinks he's not. Some things stretched believability, especially toward the end of the book. But on the whole, I liked it and I liked the characters - Jimmy, Tess, Deck, Sophia - and I hope to see them again in future books (especially Deck and Sophia!).

Rating:
Summary: And now for something completely different
Review: One of my favorite features of Suzanne Brockmann's books is that she usually introduces her heroes or heroines as secondary characters in her previous novel. (what a sentence, but you get what I mean?)

So here, she goes totally off the board with three characters we've never met before, have no fuzzy feelings for, and have no sense of depth for.

Yeah, the love scenes are nearly PG-13 -- a most unwelcome change from her previous novels. But the worst part is that the reader just doesn't care about Jimmy and Tess.

Ok, all that said, I can't wait for Cosmo's story. I still adore Suzanne's books, and hope that she is able to fight off the pod person who has taken over her body.