Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann

There has been so much angst and controversy over this book that I'm a little hesitant to wade into the fray. However, if I skip reviewing any book that's difficult to write about I'll never make my goal for the challenge, so here goes nothing.

I usually try not to give too much away when I write reviews. In this case all the major spoilers have been out for weeks so I'm not working that hard at avoiding them. Anyone who is spoiler free & wants to stay that way should just stop reading.



This is the 14th book in the Team Sixteen/Troubleshooters series and the wrap up to a 5 book story arc. Because of that I think it's inevitable that opinions about this book will depend to a large extent on the points of view people had going in. Here are mine:

• I'm not a dedicated Sophia/Deck shipper. More than one of the couples in this series is rather dysfunctional, but to me Sophia and Deck always seemed a little extreme even by Brockmann standards. I was willing to be convinced, if that's where she had decided to go, but I don't feel like it's an automatic travesty for them not to be together.

• I've always thought that Deck was a mess and needed to get over himself a bit, but I've also always liked him.

• I'm a fan of Tess & Nash.

• I've never liked Tracy.

• I like Dave fine but I have long thought that someone needed to slap him and yell, "Snap out of it!" a la Cher in Moonstruck. The mopey martyr thing does no one any favors.

• I have a mild dislike for Sophia. This is caused by two things. First, a knee jerk reaction to the fact that everyone treats her like she's the greatest thing ever. Second, compassion fatigue brought on by the endless revelations about all the terrible things that have happened to her. By the time this book gave us what I hope to God was the last of the story it felt like The Perils of Pauline.
  

The plot of Dark of Night has been described all over the place so I'll just say that the story has four main elements.

1. The suspense plot, which has the group attempting to figure out what is going on at the Agency, who wants Nash dead and why.

2. Tess & Nash's relationship issues

3. Sophia and Dave

4. Deck and Tracy

The suspense plot worked well for me. My graduate work focuses on national security issues so I'm familiar with the debate in the intelligence community about how much secrecy and compartmentalization are too much. They're vital up to a point, but taken to extremes they create dangerous loopholes and blind spots. The people who are most effected are often the least able to see when it's gone too far. I liked the fact that sorting it all out gave us a chance to see some of my favorite characters from past books.

I liked the way things were resolved for Tess and Nash. He didn't get over all his issues overnight, but they established a foundation that made it clear they'll be OK.

Now we come to the tougher part---the two new pairings.

I don't hate Sophia & Dave together, but I wasn't fully satisfied either. I think that Sophia's side of the equation basically made sense. Sometimes the guy you think you want isn't the guy you need. From her side it's a friends to lovers story and that's fine. My problem is with Dave. First, I'm not exactly sure how pre-Dark of Night Dave connects to SuperDave. More importantly, at the end of the story Sophia & Dave aren't a team. As far as Dave is concerned Sophia is still the goddess and he is her acolyte, the unworthy nerd who got lucky enough to have her love him. I really wanted better for him. I wanted him to realize his own value and have a relationship where he is an equal partner.

I think that would have been more likely if he had solved his problems with his smarts instead of morphing into SuperDave. I also think it would have been better if he had developed a more realistic view of Sophia. Her "clear the air" conversation with Deck was a perfect example of the fact that she has always seen herself more clearly than the rest of the characters seem to. When she was introduced she had layers and shades of gray, but over time all the adoration and "poor, brave, fragile Sophia" and the pining away for Deck left her portrayed as pretty one dimensional. It's tough to have an equal partnership under those circumstances. These issues could be dealt with in the future, but honestly they've already taken up enough story space so I'm not sure that I would actually want that. It should have been done in this book.

As for Deck and Tracy, I do hate that they ended up together. I didn't like Tracy before and on balance my opinion didn't change. In fact, there were a few things that made me dislike her more. Nonspoiler example: If my husband died and someone came into my house and washed the last clothes I would ever have that smelled like him I wouldn't thank her. I don't care how I seemed to be dealing with my grief, or with whom, she'd be lucky if I didn't yank off one of her limbs and beat her with the stump.

I never thought that Tracy was dumb exactly, just really careless and ditzy. That didn't make it any easier to believe in New! Improved! SmartTracy!, now with 40% less poor judgment. She didn't figure out that Nash was still alive because she was smart. She figured it out because, as the nosy neighbor, she had information that the others didn't have. I couldn't quite figure out where she got the gall to be upset because she thought she was the last to know. She's the receptionist. Not exactly a vital link in the "need to know" chain. I also don't see how her believing the most simplistic possible interpretation of The Secret is supposed to make me see her in a whole new light. She did some things that actually were smart, but she also did other things that were quite dumb. I ended up feeling like her characterization needed another trip through rewrite.

Irritation aside, the real issue is that I simply think Deck and Tracy are wrong for each other for reasons that have nothing to do with intelligence. Deck finally started to let go of his issues because Tracy accepted him. I really appreciated the fact that she was nonjudgmental about his kink. She judged him for everything else, but not for that. Truly sex positive attitudes are far more rare in mainstream romances than they should be so I give her full marks for that. Still, that doesn't mean that she & Deck are meant for each other. BDSM is part of who Deck is, while for Tracy it's a fun game to play. Neither of those attitudes is wrong, but they don't belong together over the long haul. Deck is actually making Tracy's old mistake by thinking good sex = love. Tracy is making a whole new mistake by thinking that not be considered an idiot = love.

I wish that Deck & Tracy were a "happy for now". Tracy is Deck's first honest sexual relationship and he's her first chance to be treated as an equal. That's great for both of them even if it isn't meant to last. It should be the relationship equivilent of a bike with training wheels. Deck can get comfortable with his kink and Tracy can figure out how adult relationships work. They could enjoy the experience and when it runs its course they could move on while staying friends. No trauma, no drama.

Unfortunately in Romancelandia once the mutual "I love yous" have been said the couple is pretty much carved in stone. That's too bad because Deck deserves more. While reading this I kept thinking of Joey Hill's story Natural Law, which features Mac and Violet. Mac is a total Alpha who is also a sexual submissive and Violet is the Dom who turns out to be his perfect match. Deck deserves a Violet and Tracy most definitely isn't it.


I have no idea what grade this all averages out to, so I'm not even going to try to assign one.

The Missing by Shiloh Walker

Taige Branch is a teenager with psychic abilities that allow her to find missing people, especially children. Because of her gift she has always felt like a freak and kept herself separate from most people. Losing her parents when she was 8 and being sent to live with an uncle who hates her abilities has only deepened her isolation. She is finally able to make a connection when Cullen Morgan saves her from an attack by some drunk local boys who are trying to rape her. Over the next several years Taige and Cullen's connection deepens and she begins to see a future for them.

All of that changes when Cullen's mother is murdered and Taige doesn't get a vision of the crime until it is too late to save her. Cullen blames Taige for his mother's death because she hides from her gift. He believes that if she were more open and less reactive she would have gotten the vision in time to save his mom. When Taige attempts to comfort him the two have a relationship ending fight. Twelve years pass and Taige is now working with the FBI and Cullen is a widowed father and author. He has followed Taige's career from a distance, but has no intention of ever contacting her again until his daughter Jillian is kidnapped. In desperation he goes to Taige for help and the two are forced to work together to save Jillian and stop a serial killer while dealing with the feelings they still have for each other.


The story is interesting and the writing created atmosphere very effectively, but it didn't break any new ground. If you've read other stories about psychics who solve crimes the major elements will be familiar. The way that Taige's gift works, the fact that Cullen is the right guy for her because she can't "read" him, the significance of Taige's dreams and the villain are all standard. That makes it sound like this book is rather pointless, but it isn't. I would have liked for it to be at least somewhat less formulaic, but the quality of the writing is good enough for it to be worth reading.

The one thing that I didn't like at all was the way that Jillian's mother was handled. She is essentially erased in a way that I thought was sort of cheap. I don't have children, but I think that if I was a mother this would have bothered me even more.

Grade: B-

Body Language by Suzanne Brockmann

Clint McCade and Sandy Kirk met during grade school. Because they've known each other for so long they're extremely close, but they've never been anything more than friends. After escaping their difficult upbringing they chose very different paths. Sandy is settled in Phoenix, running her own company producing & directing commercials and trying to move up socially into a respectable life. Clint became a skilled cameraman and travels the world filming movies and documentaries. One day he realizes that he's no longer enjoying his transient life and that the only time he's truly happy is when he's with Sandy. He heads to Phoenix to tell her that he loves her, but finds that Sandy has fallen for another guy. He hates the idea of losing her, but he wants her to be happy so he offers to help her overcome her low self-esteem so that she can land her man. Sandy quickly realizes that Clint is the only man she wants but she keeps it to herself because she thinks he's only playing a game to help her out. For them to have their HEA one of them will have to risk the friendship by being honest.

This book made me realize that I enjoy friends to lovers stories more in theory than in practice. In theory f-to-l stories are about two people who know each other well, both good and bad, falling in love. The stakes are automatically high because the couple is risking not only romantic disappointment, but an important friendship. In practice they often center around a Make Over or a Big Misunderstanding, both of which I strongly dislike. Body Language is the later type of story, with elements of the former, and I found it quite frustrating. Most of Clint and Sandy's issues could have been settled if they had just had one honest conversation on about page 20. Instead, one contrived situation after another drags things out for 200 pages. Even after they admit their true feelings they're both still holding back key information, which drags things out even more. Brockmann's writing is solid and both Clint and Sandy are likable, but I lost interest in the drama long before it was resolved.

I always try to read and evaluate the book that an author actually wrote rather than comparing it to the one I wish she had written. In this case that was difficult. The issues that Clint and Sandy face in the last 50 pages were the ones that were interesting to me. I couldn't help thinking that I would far rather have read a whole book exploring the fact that no matter how close they are or how much they love each other these two people still face some real challenges.

Grade: C+

Tilt A Whirl by Chris Grabenstein

This is the first of the John Ceepak mysteries

John Ceepak is a former MP and Iraq war veteran who has recently joined the Sea Haven, New Jersey police force. John is a cop 24/7 and lives by The Code, "I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do." His partner Danny Boyle is one of the part-timers hired by the SHPD to help deal with the summer tourists that create an annual population explosion in the community. Danny took the job mainly to impress college girls and he freely admits that he doesn't have a Code. In fact, his outlook is so far removed from John's that Danny doesn't recognize that The Code is the West Point cadet honor code and has nothing to do with the Boy Scouts. The only thing the two men have in common is a love of Bruce Springsteen which allows them to bridge communication gaps by referencing song lyrics. The routine of their lopsided partnership is disrupted when a wealthy local real estate developer is murdered in front of his teenage daughter. During the course of the investigation Danny is forced to reassess his view of police work, and of his partner.

This series is referred to as the John Ceepak mysteries, but the focus is really more on Danny. The books are told in first person from his point of view and, while information is revealed about John, Danny is the character who actually changes over the course of the story. From the very first page Danny's sarcastic, but affectionate observations about Sea Haven tell the reader a great deal about him. He has a strong, and very particular narrative voice. I enjoyed it, but people who have a low tolerance for snark probably won't. The mystery itself has interesting aspects, but the gist of the plot isn't particularly difficult to figure out. Still, the characters, setting and writing style were more than interesting enough to carry the book.

Grade: B+

Will I read the next book in the series? Yes. I'm definitely interested in finding out more about both John and Danny and seeing how their relationship evolves.

Double Down by Tess Hudson

Twelve Step programs have a saying, "the program works if you work the program." Skye McNally does not work the program. She's been gambling since she was eight years old and her mother died, leaving her bookie father to raise Skye alone. Three years ago she went on a bender and ended up in Vegas with her father's protege, Jimmy. The weekend started with a wedding and ended with Jimmy in the emergency room getting stitches. He went back to New York and Skye stayed in Vegas, got the marriage annulled and started trying to get a life away from gambling. After 3 years of attending Gambler's Anonymous meetings she has yet to get a 30 day chip. Her sponsor and best friend is T.D., a former pro football player whose gambling got him banned from the game. He loves Skye even though he knows she's trouble, but even his unconditional support can't help Skye follow the rules.

After the death of a friend Skye takes a road trip in the desert to clear her head. At a diner in the middle of nowhere she meets runaway quarterback Mark Shannon, who is all over the news for going AWOL before the Super Bowl. The attraction between Skye and Mark is fast and hot, but there's no way they can be an ordinary couple. Mark has a serious secret, and worse, football and gambling do not mix. Sorting out all their problems and getting to their HEA is a true long shot.


This book is realistic about addiction in the sense that for much of the book Skye is the least likable character, or at least the most frustrating. She attends GA meetings and desperately wants a 30 day chip, but she isn't really following any of the 12 steps. At one point I found myself wondering how it was possible that she never considered filling her time more productively by doing something radical like going to school so she could get a job that didn't involve breaking bones. Even after she has her epiphany she makes some very questionable decisions.

Still, I found myself rooting for her. Skye is tough and determined enough to keep at it until GA "takes" and she gets her life figured out. She's also loyal to all the people she loves, even when it would be easier not to be. In the end my main problem with the book was the romance. It's written in first person and has a style more common in chick lit, which created a couple of problems for me. First, Mark ends up being the least developed character, which made it tough for me to get fully invested in the HEA. Second, the epilogue tied everything up in an absolutely perfect package. This type of epilogue always makes me think that even the author knew she didn't fully sell the HEA in the book. So, I liked Double Down, but I didn't love it.


Grade: B- C-

Update: The more I think about this book the more bothered I am about a couple aspects of it.

First, there's an implication that if an addict just finds the right person to love s/he will lose the desire to pursue the addiction. I know that romances are all about the idea that love conquers all, but the reality is that it doesn't. Implying in any way that the right love cures the addictive impulse is really insulting to addicts and their loved ones. Tess' transformation isn't a total miracle cure, she still has to go to meetings, but it's way too close for comfort.

Second, the lack of character development for Mark really is a problem, mainly because what little we do find out about him is at odds with the things he does. We only learn two things about him. He has loved football his whole life and he is having a very serious problem with a gambling addict and a bookie. The idea that he would blithely throw away his football career to become involved with a gambling addict who is the daughter of a bookie just doesn't ring true.

This drops the book from a B- to a C-.

Surrender by Pamela Clare

This is the first book in the MacKinnon's Rangers trilogy, which takes place during the French & Indian War.

After Culloden what was left of the MacKinnon family left Scotland for the American colonies. As a result Iain MacKinnon and his brothers Morgan and Connor have spent most of their lives on the frontier and learned tracking and fighting skills that are second to none. Unfortunately for them British officer Lord William Wentworth discovers those skills and believes that he can use them to help win the war against the French. He knows that as Scottish Catholics they hate the English and won't fight voluntarily so he to sets them up on a murder charge to coerce them into cooperating. As the king's grandson Wentworth absolutely controls their fate, so to save his brothers Iain agrees to form a company of Rangers.

Lady Anne Burness Campbell has lived a life of luxury. Her father and most of his brothers were killed fighting for the British at Culloden and she and her mother were taken in by her only remaining uncle, Bain. Anne grew up treating Uncle Bain like a father, blissfully unaware that he had a very dark side. After her mother's death she learns the truth about him and attempts to run away. Bain has her thrown in jail on charges of theft and when Anne refuses to promise to keep his secrets he sends her to the colonies as an indentured servant. Lady Anne has no practical skills, but works hard to learn and avoid angering the abusive couple who purchased her indenture.

One day while Anne is in the barn the Abenaki attack the house and kill the family. Anne panics and runs away, but the warriors soon catch up with her, intending to rape and kill her also. Iain and the Rangers have been scouting in the area and come upon the scene. Because the Rangers are so valuable to the British Army they're under strict orders not to do anything that might give them away. This includes taking prisoners or intervening to save lives, even of British settlers. Iain is well aware that failing to follow orders could result in him being hanged on the trumped up murder charge, but in spite of the risk he can't bring himself to leave Anne to her fate. He sends the rest of the Rangers on so that they won't be held responsible for his actions and then rescues Anne and takes her with him to the fort that serves as their base. Iain and Anne quickly fall in love, but there are numerous obstacles between them.

Iain is trapped in the Rangers until the war is over. He doesn't feel that he can offer any woman a decent life while he is fighting, but he also doesn't think that it is honorable to ask anyone to wait for him when he has no way of knowing how long the war will last.

Iain and Anne are on opposite sides of the bitter conflict between Scotland and England.

Anne is still an indentured servant. Legally the death of the family that originally purchased her indenture simply means that it will be sold again. Anne is desperate to keep the secret and retain her freedom, even if it means lying to Iain.

Anne has met Lord Wentworth before and there's no telling what he will do if he remembers her.

I enjoyed this book. The setting is unusual and interesting. Iain is a classic Alpha, but Anne isn't a weakling. She does some things that made me scratch my head a bit, but she isn't TSTL. She adapts to her situation as well as anyone could be expected to, without becoming a total Mary Sue. Unfortunately, there is one Mary Sue-ish thing about her. All the good people love her and only the villains wish her ill. The Rangers have no reservations about her, even when they find out that she's a Campbell. Considering that all the Rangers are Scottish loyalists and only Iain is getting the benefit of sleeping with her you would think that someone would be bothered by it, but no one is.

There were some other issues as well. First, while Wentworth turns out to be more complex and nuanced than he first appears Uncle Bain unfortunately does not. He might as well grow a mustache and twirl it. Second, anyone with a low tolerance for what I think of as "Scottish speak" is likely to be unhappy. It's set in America but most of the main characters retain the brogue and there's plenty of didna and wi' and och and all the rest. Those things bothered me but my main problems were with two things that Iain does.

At one point one of the British soldiers at the fort attempts to rape Anne while Iain is out on a mission. When he returns the situation is explained to him in such a way that he thinks she voluntarily slept with Lord Wentworth. I considered his reaction unacceptable and the fact that Anne ends up being fine with it made me hate it even more.

The other problem is how Iain handles the issue of marriage. He's very worried about protecting Anne and any children they may have because it is quite likely that he will be killed in battle. Catholic marriages are not recognized under British law and any children born to such marriages are considered bastards. Add to that the fact that Anne is Protestant and Iain's insistence on taking dangerous risks in order for them to be married by a priest seems more stubborn, selfish and irresponsible than principled.

Over all I found the book an entertaining read whose chief virtue was the interesting setting.

Grade: B-

If You Dare by Adrianne Byrd

Damian Black is a former art thief who was smart enough to retire before he got caught. He is enjoying a comfortable retirement in Atlanta when a former associate named Sean Lefonte offers him a chance to make one more score by stealing a group of paintings from a local museum. Damian misses the excitement of the old days so he agrees to consider it. His friend and partner, Jerome, doesn't think the job is a good idea. He doesn't want to push their luck, especially because a very determined former French detective is still following Damian, trying to prove that he was behind a string of art thefts in Europe. However, Jerome is paying alimony to 5 ex-wives so he's not in a position to take a firm stand against a plan that could make both men a lot of money.

Damian goes to check out the museum and while he's there he meets a young woman named Angel and is immediately attracted to her. It turns out she's about to start work as the museum's art director. That doesn't stop Damian from pursuing her or from continuing to consider doing the theft. However, as soon as he realizes that he's falling for Angel he goes to Sean and refuses the job because he isn't willing to betray her. Sean is desperate for the money from the theft, so Damian's refusal to participate in the robbery sets events in motion that bring all the threads of the story together.


This was a frustrating book for me. There were things about it that I liked. The suave, debonair thief with his own moral code is a classic anti-hero and Damian fills the bill nicely. Angel started out seeming like one of those overly sweet heroines, but she turned out to have hidden depths that saved her from being saccharine. As a couple they worked well together. Unfortunately, there were also things, both large and small, that I didn't like. In the end those things made it impossible for me to really enjoy the book.

The small things were sort of petty, but they still bothered me. I hate it when an author pushes something too far. In this case it was Damian's finances. He invested the money from his thefts and ended up a billionaire. If he had been a multi-millionaire I would have accepted it with no problem, but billionaire just seemed way over the top. I also had problems with the fact that there were several turns of phrase that were used incorrectly or in an odd way. For example, I've never heard anyone refer to Coca-Cola bottle glasses. It's just Coke bottle glasses. That might be a regional phrase, but other examples were just wrong. In the context in which it was used in this book, the phrase is exotic locations, not erotic locations. How did that not get caught in editing?

Ultimately those things wouldn't have mattered all that much if it weren't for the big problem---this book had a lot of coincidences. A lot. The situation wasn't improved by the fact that both of the bad guys are taken care of in a way that was much too convenient. I had one other serious problem. Angel has a connection to Sean. It was described in a way that allowed me to accept the idea that Angel tolerates things from him that I would never put up with from anyone. However, Sean ends up doing something to her that I honestly found totally unforgivable, but Angel just lets it go. She doesn't even struggle with it. It wasn't that it made me lose respect for Angel, it was more that it rang totally false.

I think the tone of the book was supposed to be sort of like the Thomas Crown Affair, which I enjoyed. Instead it ended up seeming ridiculous and contrived, which drained all the fun out of it.

Grade: D+ Not even close to being a DIK for me.