Once upon a time, Suzanne Brockmann wrote sweet, undiluted romances that were not tainted by suspense or intrigue. They were full of passion and tenderness, and brought tears to the eyes of romance readers.
Then she veered into military romance, and her first squad of Navy SEALs still managed to produce touching, tender stories that were heavy on romance.
But she’s evolved away from books that are heavy on romance to stories that focus more on suspense. She’s also delved a bit into social commentary and burdened characters with some disturbing emotional baggage. As a result, her current novels are a bit more complex to read.
Having said that, her newest book about members of the Troubleshooters private security group — comprising mostly former SEALs, spys, etc. — has a bit more lighthearted romance than some of her more recent books.
“Dark of Night,” revives recurring characters from those recent books and pairs them up — Sophia with Dave and Decker with Tracy.
Sophia and Decker are two characters burdened with the aforementioned emotional baggage, and Tracy has a bit of a tragic past of her own.
So while we have to be reminded of that, which is a downer, it’s nice to see them distracted by love and even nicer to see Decker and Tracy even dabble with frivolity at times.
The intrigue in this story focuses around Jimmy Nash (hero from “Flashpoint”) whose death was faked to protect him and those close to him.
Nash found himself involved with some sort of ultra-evil bad guys, and his friends think it’s a good way to keep him safe, and catch the bad guys.
Tracy figures out that Nash is still alive, so Decker decides to bring her into the fold. Which ends up putting her in danger, as well, but also makes her an unlikely asset in the investigation.
And ends up pairing him with his soul mate.
Fiction
Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann, $25
