3.5 Stars

Suzanne Brockmann has created a world where sometime in the future people have the ability to utilize a larger percentage of their brain and because of this the lucky few also have some supernatural abilities. These people are known as Greater Thans. The Obermeyer Institute (OI) helps train the people with Greater Than potential and harnesses their powers for good. Naturally there are other clinics and people who want these special people for nefarious reasons, including making and manufacturing a drug called Destiny.

Shane is a former Navy SEAL that is currently blacklisted when OI tags him as a potential and invites him in for some testing and training. Mac is a Greater Than that has been struggling with her powers since a little girl, but now she uses her special skills to help save others from going through what she did, or worse. When Mac and Shane collide, the sparks electrify the air and neither one is really sure what to make of it all. But then a little girl with Greater Than potential gets stolen by the enemy and they have to work alongside each other and an eclectic and entertaining cast of OI personnel to get her back.

I am a fan of the Troubleshooters series and this book definitely has the same flavor and feel to it. Shane being the hunky SEAL hero with a heart of gold, there is even a lovable gay couple and the ever intriguing cast of side characters destined for their own starring role. I liked the book, the plot and the characters. I easily fell in love with everyone and am eagerly looking forward to the next adventures.

So why only the 3.5 stars? It was too easy to put down. I can blast through a book in a day, even when I am bogged down in real life. If a book speaks to me, I will make time to read it even if it is standing up while cooking dinner or staying up all night to do so. Books that ensnare me completely are simply impossible for me to put down. This book took me 8 days to read. While I liked this book and am intrigued by all that was written, I honestly think it was the way it was written that made it so easy to set it down and come back to it whenever.

The way Suzanne Brockmann wrote this book was with that continuous change in points of view and situation changes from paragraph to paragraph. In one chapter it teeters in between two to three different characters and events every couple of paragraphs. She has done this in the past with some Troubleshooters stories and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This was one of those times where it didn’t. I would just be getting into a situation loving where the words were taking me, then I would start reading the next paragraph only to find we had jumped someplace else and I’d have to wrap my brain around it. It really made it hard to stay in the moment. I like all the different things going on, I just wish she’d manage the flow a little better. Let me change scenes from chapter to chapter, not just paragraph to paragraph. Quit messing with my groove!!

Had the flow of this story been better, more fluent, it would have been a 4-5 star book. That being said the content is excellent, the delivery a little shaky. But I think this is going to be another great series by her and I really look forward to the rest of the characters getting their books.

Cherise Everhard, February 2012