The Defiant Hero (Troubleshooters, #2)

by Suzanne Brockmann

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255 ratings, 4.25 average rating, 19 reviews (more data...)

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published

2001 by Ivy Books

binding

Paperback, 390 pages

characters

John Nilsson, Meg Moore

setting

The United States

asin

0345463404

description

In her bestselling novels of suspense, Suzanne Brockmann dazzles readers with her remarkable cast of rough and tender U.S. Navy SEALs. "The Defi...more

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Romantic Suspense: Suzanne Brockmann	51	43	5 hours, 6 min ago

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Tina rated it:

08/14/08

The 2nd in The Troubleshooters series.

Meg Moore is accosted in her parking garage. An extremist terrorist group has kidnapped her daughter and grandmother. Their demand? They have a special mission for her because they know that she is able to move without much scrutiny within a particular European Embassy. Meg is terrified. She knows that the US will not negotiate with terrorists. Her daughter and grandmother are as good as dead. In a desperate move, Meg creates her own hostage situa...more The 2nd in The Troubleshooters series.

Meg Moore is accosted in her parking garage. An extremist terrorist group has kidnapped her daughter and grandmother. Their demand? They have a special mission for her because they know that she is able to move without much scrutiny within a particular European Embassy. Meg is terrified. She knows that the US will not negotiate with terrorists. Her daughter and grandmother are as good as dead. In a desperate move, Meg creates her own hostage situation and refuses to speak to anyone but John Nilsson.

John, a language specialist like Meg and a member of the navy SEAL 16 team, shares a past with Meg. He has been in love with her for years, but she was a married woman at the time. Now he, with the help of Tom Paoletti, SEAL team 16 and the FBI, is determined to help her out of the mess she's gotten herself into.

This is the book where I realized that I really liked Brockmann's series and her storytelling style. As is her hallmark, there iss the main action/intrigue oriented story featuring her main H/H John and Meg. There is also a secondary WWII plot told in flashback and there is the long running secondary romance arc of Sam and Alyssa.

The best part of the book, imo, is Sam & Alyssa. This is where the Sam and Alyssa UST really begins to take shape and starts to take off. And truthfully, they really threaten to steal the book from under Meg and John. I read an interview once where Brockmann explains why she crafted the long running arc of Sam and Alyssa the way she did (she originally planned it to go on for at least seven books but her publishers wisely talked her down). She said that in romances, if a couple has a past, you only ever hear about it in conversations or told in a truncated fashion in flashbacks (like Meg and John in this book). She wanted to create a couple where the readers actually lives the course of the romance with the characters. She wanted people to have the experience of the ups down, the time and the separation. IMO, this absolutely works because I became so invested in these characters that I actually couldn't wait to read the next books just to see what was happening with them next. If I wasn't thrilled by the main HH, that is ok because Sam and Alyssa were there and we could follow them next. This obviously wouldn't work if the couple weren't well developed, had a high root-for factor or the writing was bad. But none of that is true. S & A are hot, seriously rootable and the writing for them is great.

The second best part of the book is the WWII story told in flashback. Meg's grandmother Eve lucks out (relatively speaking) with one of the kidnappers who is actually kinda humane. To keep her great-daughter occupied, she begins to tell the story of how she took part in rescuing over 300,000 British troops during the 'miracle of Dunkirk' (a real WWII event) and how she met her first love, one of the soldiers. The story works to humanize her as a person for her kidnapper (who listens raptly, if covertly to the story.

The Meg/John story is, imo, the least effective of the three storylines. Much of their relationship is revealed from the flashbacks where they first met and a brief two week period where they fell in love. But it underlines how unsatisfactory this style is especially juxtaposed with the S&A storyline. Or, it could be that I simply wasn't as interested in them as I was the other two. They didn't engage me as much. Also, I think the trust issues Brockmann thrust into their story seemed a little contrived, considering all the other stuff they were already going through.

On the whole though, this was a great book. The three stories flowed together well. The understated humor and romance angst of S&A was a great counterpoint to the intensity of the other two stories.

Well played. I recommend....less

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The Defiant Hero (Troubleshooters, #2)

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