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A review by tita_noir
Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann
3.0
Suzanne Brockmann is very much an auto read for me. I especially love her SEAL 16 series and Sam and Alyssa rank as one of my three favorite romance novel couples of all time.
But since the introduction of Decker, Tess, Sophia etc. all in Flashpoint, I haven't had the connection with this second group that I had with the SEAL 16 group (Tom, Kelly, Jules, Stan, Teri, Nils, Max, Gina, Kenny etc.). I actually think Flashpoint was my least favorite of all the books.
But I've plugged along because I like Brockmann and I like the earlier characters who still make appearances in the series.
And now here we are with Dark of Night where there is finally closure in the weird love triangle that has been playing out so moodily in the background of the last several books. DAve loves Sophia but Sophia loves Decker and Decker....well who knows what is going on with Decker?
As it turns out there are about three major plots happening in this book that tie up all the lose strings from earlier in the series.
First this is the Jimmy Nash and Tess storyline. While these two found their happily ever after about 4 books ago, since that time Jimmy has been doing mysterious and dangerous things and it has been apparent that someone has been trying to kill him. In the book just preceding this one, Into The Fire, Jules faked Jimmy's death to get those people off of his back. But the Big Bad people who are after Jimmy know that death can be faked and in their zeal to make sure Jimmy is really dead, they go after the people closest to him.
Second is the love story of Dave and Sophia. So Dave gets the girl of his dream amidst fears that he is second best.
And third is the love story of Decker and...get this...Tracy. Yes, Tracy. The ditzy, office receptionist who has -- up until this book -- been portrayed as a bit of a bimbo. Not a bad or sleazy bimbo, but a bimbo nonetheless.
I actually liked all of these stories separately. My favorite was actually the Jimmy Nash storyline. It was fun to read about how menacing Jimmy's nemesis was and how far he'd (they'd) go to make sure he was sniffed out. And it was a super double bonus to have Sam, Alyssa and Jules involved in this storyline.
The Dave Sophia storyline was almost an after thought. The best part was Dave's inner dialogue that told of how utterly happy he was to get the girl of his dreams. I have always found the character of Sophia to be remote and hard to get to know. This book doesn't change that.
The Decker/Tracy storyline gets a ton of ink. If I had to classify one of the stories as the alpha story this would be it with the Jimmy Nash storyline as the vehicle to get Tess/Decker together. I like the idea of ditzy Tracy and brooding Decker together. I just hated the execution. I felt that Brockmann tried too hard to make Tracy somehow worthy of Decker. Every scene was a laundry list of Tracy's wonderful qualities and we were constantly being told how smart she was. Seriously. Tracy is Smart. We were told over and over again. She figured out a solution in a room full of ex-SEALS, CIA and FBI who were stumped. Cuz she's smart, see? And she alone figured out Nash was alive when only Jules and Decker were in on the fake death scenario. Cuz she's smart! And she alone figured out Decker sometimes needed to relinquish control. Because not only is she smart, but she can read people too. I don't mind that Tracy wasn't a mental giant. It was kinda nice having a human present in a world of killer demi-gods.
I don't care that Brockmann felt that she has to try to reassure us that Tracy wasn't quite the ditz she's painted her before. I just didn't need it anvilled on my head like it was. And actually, she didn't need to overdo it on the Tracy-Is-Smart stuff. She had already established that Tracy wasn't an airhead back in Into The Storm when she showed Tracy to be cool under pressure when she was kidnapped. That was done in an organic way that felt more natural and it had already gone a long way to painting Tracy in a different light.
I am glad that the whole Sophia/Dave/Deck thing is over with. I hope this book marks another turning point in this series and we can go forward and see what other adventures the Troubleshooters get into.
But since the introduction of Decker, Tess, Sophia etc. all in Flashpoint, I haven't had the connection with this second group that I had with the SEAL 16 group (Tom, Kelly, Jules, Stan, Teri, Nils, Max, Gina, Kenny etc.). I actually think Flashpoint was my least favorite of all the books.
But I've plugged along because I like Brockmann and I like the earlier characters who still make appearances in the series.
And now here we are with Dark of Night where there is finally closure in the weird love triangle that has been playing out so moodily in the background of the last several books. DAve loves Sophia but Sophia loves Decker and Decker....well who knows what is going on with Decker?
As it turns out there are about three major plots happening in this book that tie up all the lose strings from earlier in the series.
First this is the Jimmy Nash and Tess storyline. While these two found their happily ever after about 4 books ago, since that time Jimmy has been doing mysterious and dangerous things and it has been apparent that someone has been trying to kill him. In the book just preceding this one, Into The Fire, Jules faked Jimmy's death to get those people off of his back. But the Big Bad people who are after Jimmy know that death can be faked and in their zeal to make sure Jimmy is really dead, they go after the people closest to him.
Second is the love story of Dave and Sophia. So Dave gets the girl of his dream amidst fears that he is second best.
And third is the love story of Decker and...get this...Tracy. Yes, Tracy. The ditzy, office receptionist who has -- up until this book -- been portrayed as a bit of a bimbo. Not a bad or sleazy bimbo, but a bimbo nonetheless.
I actually liked all of these stories separately. My favorite was actually the Jimmy Nash storyline. It was fun to read about how menacing Jimmy's nemesis was and how far he'd (they'd) go to make sure he was sniffed out. And it was a super double bonus to have Sam, Alyssa and Jules involved in this storyline.
The Dave Sophia storyline was almost an after thought. The best part was Dave's inner dialogue that told of how utterly happy he was to get the girl of his dreams. I have always found the character of Sophia to be remote and hard to get to know. This book doesn't change that.
The Decker/Tracy storyline gets a ton of ink. If I had to classify one of the stories as the alpha story this would be it with the Jimmy Nash storyline as the vehicle to get Tess/Decker together. I like the idea of ditzy Tracy and brooding Decker together. I just hated the execution. I felt that Brockmann tried too hard to make Tracy somehow worthy of Decker. Every scene was a laundry list of Tracy's wonderful qualities and we were constantly being told how smart she was. Seriously. Tracy is Smart. We were told over and over again. She figured out a solution in a room full of ex-SEALS, CIA and FBI who were stumped. Cuz she's smart, see? And she alone figured out Nash was alive when only Jules and Decker were in on the fake death scenario. Cuz she's smart! And she alone figured out Decker sometimes needed to relinquish control. Because not only is she smart, but she can read people too. I don't mind that Tracy wasn't a mental giant. It was kinda nice having a human present in a world of killer demi-gods.
I don't care that Brockmann felt that she has to try to reassure us that Tracy wasn't quite the ditz she's painted her before. I just didn't need it anvilled on my head like it was. And actually, she didn't need to overdo it on the Tracy-Is-Smart stuff. She had already established that Tracy wasn't an airhead back in Into The Storm when she showed Tracy to be cool under pressure when she was kidnapped. That was done in an organic way that felt more natural and it had already gone a long way to painting Tracy in a different light.
I am glad that the whole Sophia/Dave/Deck thing is over with. I hope this book marks another turning point in this series and we can go forward and see what other adventures the Troubleshooters get into.