Flashpoint

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: 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: I'm sorry to say... it left me unsatsified.
Review: I am a #1 Suz Brockmann fan who's read all her books. The writing in Flashpoint is technically very good. HOWEVER, as other reviewers have mentioned, it is very hard to be "pulled" into any of these characters. The two main characters are a pushover (Tess) and a foul-mouthed emotional basket case (Nash). It is very difficult to see why Tess would fall in love with Nash. Maybe Suz is trying to create more complicated characters with more demons. However, I think she went too far with Nash. Decker is really the hero of the story who pulls at your heart, yet has only an unresolved subplot. Additionally, the sequence of events (and flashbacks) she uses to tell the story seem ineffective. Who edited this?? I would have definitely made the story more sequential. Doing so may have increased our understanding and empathy of these characters, especially the Nash and Tess relationship. (Suz, I'll volunteer to edit your next book:)) All in all, it's worth a read but is not a keeper. Suz, I'll look forward to your next book with baited breath! Maybe Decker/Sophia??

Rating:
Summary: Loved the story, thanks Suzanne!!
Review: I had to write a positive review for this book. I have read all of the Troubleshooters series, and though I missed the characters I have come to know and love, I really enjoyed Nash and Tess. I think Sue is taking this series and elaborating on the plots and character sets, and has done it very well with this example. I love the absence of the flashbacks/sub plot factor in this book as well. Keep up the great work Ms. Brockmann!

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: 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: Another Brockmann "Must Have"
Review: The main reason Suzanne Brockmann's books fly off the shelves is because she's an excellent writer. She has a way of creating characters that stick with the reader long after we close the book. She's also flawless with her creation of secondary characters, making us want more of them with subsequent novels.

Ms. Brockmann does not disappoint with her writing in FLASHPOINT. It has the customary humor, so entwined in her romances; it also has the action, adventure and controversy we've to which we've become accustom.

Once again, you'll love her hero, her heroine and especially the secondary cast of characters including the darling "Decker". My only question for Suz: When does Decker get his happily-ever-after?

Rating:
Summary: The secondary characters are so much more interesting.
Review: This book managed to hold my interest for a coast to coast flight, but only because I was completely intrigued by the secondary characters (Decker and Sophia). They were so much better written and frankly a thousand times more interesting than the main characters, especially the mysterious Sophia. I didn't give a rip about the main characters Nash and Tess. I found their romance and story rather slow and dull...although i admit it started off well enough. But the minute Sophia entered the scene, I was totally rivetted to her plight, and her story, which was only heightened when she encounters Decker - in a complicated but fascinating interplay which shames him and allows her to nearly succeed in killing him. Still, their chemistry is powerful, and their subsequent interactions intriquing and charged. Their reltionship is something the book never ties up which left me majorly dissatisfied, yet extremely HOPEFUL that Brockman will write her next novel about them. Because I actually found myself skimming/skipping over the Nash and Tess parts so I could just get to Sophia and Decker. I give Sophia and Decker's story a 4.5 and Nash and Tess a 2. The reason for my 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Forget this Tape!
Review: This book on tape was really bad! There were too many characters to keep track of. At times the story was totally confusing. It jumps around, the conversations among the characters was very hard to follow, and most of the time would leave you in left field! Save your money on this one.