Gone Too Far

Rating:
Summary: It's About Time!!!
Review: Alyssa and Sam's story is finally told and WOW! I couldn't put the book down until I had read every word. It features lots of action, great characters, several mini plot lines to help break up the intense moments when your emotions almost reach a breaking point. Sam Starrett is ready to get on with his life as soon as the divorce papers are signed and returned by his almost ex-wife, Mary Lou. But after three weeks of waiting, Sam decides it's time to go to Sarasota, Florida and get them. But when he reaches Mary Lou's house, he discovers a grizzly scene, the body of a woman who has been dead for several weeks and his daughter, Haley, missing. Called in to lead the FBI investigating team, Alyssa Locke finds herself working with Sam, the man who has been haunting her since they first worked together when she was still in the Navy as a sharpshooter.
Readers will find that Max Bhaget is still obsessed by Gina, Tom Paoletti has been relieved of his command and finds himself questioned in the presidential assassination attempt that SEAL Team Sixteen foiled during their demo on the Coronado Navy Base, and parents of Sam's best friend share their WW II experiences and their growing love for each other.
I was impressed by the way Suzanne Brockmann brought Alyssa and Sam together. Their relationship was meshed into story with flashbacks that help to give the reader insight into what makes Sam tick. This book reaches a higher level than even the first five books in Brockmann's Troubleshooters series. I laughed, cried, and cheered my way through the best read of the summer.

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!!!
Review: Finally Sam & Alyssa's story and what a story it is! It made me laugh, it made me cry! It was an emotional rollercoaster ride! I loved it - I didn't want it to end! This book leaves so many possibilities open for new story lines and characters and couples! I can't wait for the next book! She is such an awesome writer! I love those Navy SEALs too! Hoo-Ya!

Rating:
Summary: A long, long windy road....
Review: Now granted, Suzanne had a lot of loose ends to tie up in this book. There were so many things left unfinished, and she had to zip everyone's story up, but this book was entirely too complicated....There are layers, upon layers, upon layers of maneuverings, and thoughts and ideas, and the talking! I have never "met" men that talked and talked (and cried - NTTAWWT) so much! Brockmann is a good writer, she loves her Navy SEALS and strong, passionate women, so it was good to come back and "see" everyone again. But this was too complicated. She gets a lot of points for making Alyssa and Sam's story interesting for so long and also for not being afraid of interracial relationships. Good for her. But this was an exhausting read.

Rating:
Summary: Suzanne's Done It Again!
Review: Like most Suzanne Brockmann's fans who have read her SEAL books, I rushed down on the 15th and bought "Gone Too Far," afraid that she wouldn't be able to continue her combination of tough--but tender--heroes and smart women, along with a crackling plot. Oh, me of such little faith. I should have remembered Brockmann's other SEAL books, each with interesting characters who are not just retreads of the same old, same old, unlike some authors I (and probably you too) could name. Although she had a minor subplot of a romance during WWII, it was not as much a part of this book as those in the past. How she made Alyssa's rejection of Sam believable, yet not annoying, is beyond me. It must be talent. What I really, really love about her books is that the hero really really loves his woman. Sam is the usual attractive mixture of tenderness and sexual aggression, with a deserved arrogance. The only criticism--minor--is Brockmann's recapping of the entire plot in Jules' report to Max at the end. Brockmann should have more faith in her readers "getting it." Oh, by the way, if you want to see the mostly resolved relationship of Max and Gina, it's here too! Bottom line: BUY THE BOOK! It's a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Far and away one of the best Brockmann has written.
Review: Brockmann has done it again! Gone Too Far is far and away some of her best work. Sam and Alyssa finally get their happily ever after, but even after 5 previous books, it is not going to come easily. (You really must read The Unsung Hero, The Defiant Hero, Over the Edge, Out of Control, and Into the Night BEFORE you read Gone Too Far -- otherwise you will be missing the background to truly love this story. Mrs. Brockmann is a master of foreshadowing and she gives readers many of the answers to nagging questions she has left in their minds in previous books.) This book has everything -- passion, pathos, courage, humor. I literally could not put it down and read it in a day.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to share much of the plot of the book without spoiling it for readers. Suffice it to say that Sam is one tormented but lovable hero. You will see many old friends from previous books, although not my personal fav from the previous books Michael Muldoon. (My only complaint about Gone Too Far!)

Rating:
Summary: FINALLY... Sam & Alyssa's story...
Review: "Gone Too Far" is the much-anticipated story of Navy SEAL Roger "Sam" Starrett and FBI Agent Alyssa Locke, the secondary characters who were first introduced in Suzanne Brockmann's "The Unsung Hero", first of the SEAL Team Sixteen books. From the beginning, Brockmann was setting up her readers for a roller-coaster ride of emotions with two of her now most popular characters. Wreaking havoc on their personal feelings for each other, the professional paths of Sam and Alyssa continue to cross through each of Brockmann's SEAL Team Sixteen books. Their clashing relationship became intense and intimate for one night in "The Defiant Hero". Due to lack of communication and fear of their true feelings for each other, they try to put that intimate encounter behind them only to meet up again in "Over The Edge" and relive their passion. Just when a budding relationship was seemingly on the horizon, the unthinkable happens, putting an end to any further personal relationship that may have developed. A glimpse of Alyssa's turmoil is focused on in "Out of Control", when she runs into Sam when working with SEAL Team Sixteen again. "Into the Night" goes into further detail of Sam's miserable homelife. The latter two books try to show Sam and Alyssa trying to move on with their lives.

Now in "Gone Too Far" Sam and Alyssa's story is told. It begins several months after "Into the Night" ends with Sam driving across the country to finalize personal matters. He stumbles across a dead body in a Sarasota home and discovers his daughter is missing. As a possible suspect in the murder and impatient to wait around to have the FBI solve this case, he goes off on his own to find his daughter. Alyssa risks her professional career and personal feelings to help Sam. Along this journey, they discover that they have never gotten over each other and finally come to terms with their feelings towards each other. Cleverly interweaving storylines and references from her previous books, Brockmann creates a story filled with emotion and suspense. SEAL Team Sixteen's quick-response to the assasination attempt in "Into the Night" questioned and is brought a subplot in "Gone Too Far". The secondary subplots are Tom and Kelly (the main characters in "The Unsung Hero") and Max and Gina (hostage negotiator and hostage, respectively, in "Over the Edge"). There is also back-in-time subplot (a Brockmann trademark) that involves a WWII romance, which ties with Sam's past. In "Gone Too Far", Sam and Alyssa's childhoods are explained and the reader has an understanding of how it has shaped them into the adults they are today.

A good story on its own, it is highly recommended that the previous SEAL Team Sixteen books ("The Unsung Hero", "The Defiant Hero", "Over the Edge", "Out of Control", "Into the Night"), be read prior to further understand and appreciate the the trials and tribulations of the angst-ridden duo. Brockmann has spun a complex tale with different subplots all interweaving with each other. Sam Starrett and Alyssa Locke fans will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: This is a Great Summer-time or really any-time read.
Review: If you have followed the Team Sixteen series of books this is the one you have been waiting for since the beginning. If this is your first book in the series it is a great place to start and you will love going back to read the previous books..starting with I believe Unsung Hero.

This book has not one but several couples you will root for and somehow none of them get lossed in the multiple but inter-connecting story lines.

I love this book it has it all. Sam and Max are two of the sexiest heros in contemporary women's fiction today.

Run don't walk to get this one.

Rating:
Summary: Sam and Alyssa are One of the Best Romantic couples
Review: It seems that those who've given 'Gone Too Far' less than the stellar reviews that it truly deserves simply don't get it. It's like they like things wrapped up in one nice and neat package, and unfortunately for these readers, 'Gone Too Far' is not the easy beach read that many expected. It's an emotional rollercoaster ride into the minds and hearts of two people with a lot of preconceived notions and personal baggage.

In many romances, the alpha male and the beta female stay in their tidy little box and never experience any emotional growth whatsoever. That formula has long since outlived its usefulness and personally, I've way outgrown such trite plots and characterizations. I say, challenge me and make me feel something different.

Thankfully, Ms. Brockmann has written a gritty and wonderfully realistic romantic-suspense novel with two of the most multi-dimensional characters ever to grace the pages of any book.

Sam Starett is both maddening and wonderful. He's got a true heart of gold in his rough and tumble exterior. Sometimes you want to kiss him and other times, you want to kick him. And knowing a little more of his backstory (from The Defiant Hero) makes him even more sympathetic.

What can I say about my girl Alyssa Locke? Ms. Brockmann wrote a character I fully identify with, being a black woman in a predominantly male field. I totally understand how Alyssa feels--that she has to be better, smarter and tougher than the guys in order to be seen as competent. Sam and Alyssa's sparring matches are one of the major highlights of this book. Oh yes, they're going to get together, but it's not going to be easy--but it will be worth it.

Sam and Alyssa have got to be one of the best (as well as one of the sexiest)in romantic fiction. I consider them like 'old friends' and can't wait to see if they appear in more adventures.

A small yet cynical part of me thinks that those who didn't like 'Gone Too Far' haven't quite left the dark ages when it comes to a book that deals honestly and refreshingly with interracial relationships. In this day and age, we're supposed to be a lot more enlightened--and I've always believed love to be colourblind. I'm glad to see that Suzanne Brockmann feels the same way.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful people in danger.
Review: "Gone Too Far," by Suzanne Brockmann, is one of those guilty pleasure books. It is a romantic thriller featuring macho men and beautiful women in jeopardy.

Lt. Sam Starrett is a hunky Navy SEAL who had a terrible childhood living with an abusive and racist father. Sam was rescued emotionally and physically by a black friend, Noah, whose grandfather served as a surrogate father and role model. Sam's focus is now on his soon to be ex-wife, Mary Lou, and his baby daughter, Haley, both of whom have disappeared, presumably the target of terrorists. With the help of the love of his life, FBI Agent Alyssa Locke, Sam hopes to find Mary Lou and Haley. Alyssa, meanwhile, is romantically entangled with her boss, Max, who is still carrying a torch for a former hostage he once helped rescue during an airplane hijacking.

Does all of this sound impossibly complicated? "Gone Too Far" has a great deal more plot in its four hundred and fifty pages than Brockmann can comfortably handle. There is even a series of flashbacks going back to World War II describing the romance between Noah's grandfather and the woman who became his second wife.

Potential readers of "Gone Too Far" should be warned that this book has explicit dialogue and some very steamy romantic encounters. If the repeated use of expletives and detailed anatomical references do not annoy you, you may be put off by the many cliches and the lack of realism. However, in spite of its flaws, this novel's characters are undeniably charismatic, energetic, charming, and gorgeous. For fans of romantic thrillers that border on fantasy, "Gone Too Far" is an occasionally diverting romance that will provide a few hours of escapist reading.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite of All
Review: This story was the most well-developed, the most believable of any. Having the history that was developed in previous books helps the reader appreciate the changes that Sam made in himself. Also, having it be domestic was a refreshing change. I'm pretty tired of K-stan where there's always mass destruction but somehow cellphones always work (and these super SEALs never seem to have any other communications equipment - they're constantly calling each other on their cells- crack me up). It was a great story and we can all appreciate the relationship these characters now have together.