Special Assignment: Baby (Harlequin Intrigue, No. 634)

Rating:
Summary: Lots of romance, but very little suspense.
Review: Montana Confidential Agent Court Brody goes undercover in a militia to see if they have connections with The Black Order (a vague multi-national terrorist organization), but when he discovers that his childhood sweetheart may have ties to the organization, and she knows he's an FBI Agent, his cover could be blown. So begins a game of cat and mouse. Both have secrets (thus creating suspense), Brody is undercover and Sabrina has had a child from their last rendevous. Although the character's are well drawn and interesting, not having the primary suspense element (Brody verus the militia) have a direct link with the romantic plot hamstrings the book and makes it unfold in a segmented fashion. It's not a bad romance story, it's just not a particularly strong romantic suspense one.

Rating:
Summary: Steamy and tension-filled!
Review: SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT: BABY is another great installment in Intrigue's latest continuity series, Montana Confidential. I've come to expect sizzling sexual tension and white-knuckled suspense from Ms. Webb, and she doesn't disappoint.

Court Brody is a larger-than-life hunk of a hero who wants to save his country, but doesn't realize how he needs to find his way home to the woman and Big Sky Country he loves. The love scenes are hot, the bad guys fearsome opponents--but this undercover agent takes it all in stride with a lot of close calls and questionable outcomes that kept me turning the pages.

I love connected stories, and Ms. Webb has peopled her story with other characters who are intriguing and three-dimensional, not just tossed in as background. I'd especially like to see a couple of teenage characters grow up and become hero/ines in their own right. I'm anxious to learn their stories, too, in upcoming Confidential books!

Rating:
Summary: Steamy and tension-filled!
Review: The Montana Confidential miniseries continues with book two, "Special Assignment: Baby." Agent Court Brody returns to his hometown to infiltrate a dangerous militia group. He doesn't expect to find an old love there. Sabrina is someone he loved and left behind. Now she's trying to keep her brother from falling under the militia's influence while guarding a precious secret from Court. Will he discover what it is?

Debra Webb's writing is excellent as always, but it's not enough to save a fundamentally boring story. "Special Assignment: Baby" is as predictable as Intrigue gets. This is a story that hits all the expected notes and offers few, if any surprises. Primarily a romance with a little (very little) suspense, it is hard to tell how this book is romantic suspense and not a regular long contemporary. There is neither much danger or suspense for most of this book nor any mystery. It's hard to understand why books like Suzanne Brockmann's, which contain more action than this, are considered long contemporaries around RITA time while this is considered romantic suspense. Compared with the nonstop action of Ms. Webb's previous Intrigues, this was a bore.

"Special Assignment: Baby" also suffers from a weak and stupid heroine. You would think that any intelligent person would question an FBI agent suddenly signing up with a militia group. Wouldn't she at least wonder if he's undercover? Of course Sabrina's too dim to think of that. Worse, the heroine is completely separated from the intrigue element. Unlike most Intrigues, which involves the heroine in the Intrigue at its premise, most of this book moves between Court dealing with the intrigue and Court romancing Sabrina. Sabrina never knows what's going on and for most of the book never seems to be in any danger. Most of her scenes are dull and drag badly.

"Special Assignment: Baby" also has something in common with Webb's previous secret child Intrigue, "The Bodyguard's Baby." This is a book where the story ends but the book does not. It continues past its natural ending. The plot has a good climax that signals the story should be coming to an end. It doesn't. Webb stretches it out with another two chapters with filler that does nothing to advance this story and, after a long while, sets up the next book. Finishing this book became a chore.

Webb's voice is too strong and her writing too polished for this to be a bad book. Had this been an Intimate Moments or Superromance I may not have had as much of a problem with it. But "breathtaking romantic suspense" this was not. Romantic, yes. Breathtaking or suspenseful, no.

Rating:
Summary: Special Assignment Baby
Review: The Montana Confidential miniseries continues with book two, "Special Assignment: Baby." Agent Court Brody returns to his hometown to infiltrate a dangerous militia group. He doesn't expect to find an old love there. Sabrina is someone he loved and left behind. Now she's trying to keep her brother from falling under the militia's influence while guarding a precious secret from Court. Will he discover what it is?

Debra Webb's writing is excellent as always, but it's not enough to save a fundamentally boring story. "Special Assignment: Baby" is as predictable as Intrigue gets. This is a story that hits all the expected notes and offers few, if any surprises. Primarily a romance with a little (very little) suspense, it is hard to tell how this book is romantic suspense and not a regular long contemporary. There is neither much danger or suspense for most of this book nor any mystery. It's hard to understand why books like Suzanne Brockmann's, which contain more action than this, are considered long contemporaries around RITA time while this is considered romantic suspense. Compared with the nonstop action of Ms. Webb's previous Intrigues, this was a bore.

"Special Assignment: Baby" also suffers from a weak and stupid heroine. You would think that any intelligent person would question an FBI agent suddenly signing up with a militia group. Wouldn't she at least wonder if he's undercover? Of course Sabrina's too dim to think of that. Worse, the heroine is completely separated from the intrigue element. Unlike most Intrigues, which involves the heroine in the Intrigue at its premise, most of this book moves between Court dealing with the intrigue and Court romancing Sabrina. Sabrina never knows what's going on and for most of the book never seems to be in any danger. Most of her scenes are dull and drag badly.

"Special Assignment: Baby" also has something in common with Webb's previous secret child Intrigue, "The Bodyguard's Baby." This is a book where the story ends but the book does not. It continues past its natural ending. The plot has a good climax that signals the story should be coming to an end. It doesn't. Webb stretches it out with another two chapters with filler that does nothing to advance this story and, after a long while, sets up the next book. Finishing this book became a chore.

Webb's voice is too strong and her writing too polished for this to be a bad book. Had this been an Intimate Moments or Superromance I may not have had as much of a problem with it. But "breathtaking romantic suspense" this was not. Romantic, yes. Breathtaking or suspenseful, no.