Saturday, November 7, 2009

Goodreads: Flashpoint

Flashpoint (Troubleshooters #7) Flashpoint by Suzanne Brockmann


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
"Flashpoint" kicks off the beginning of what I consider the "next stage" in the Troubleshooters books, the stage in which Paoletti begins his own business with Troubleshooters, Inc. So it was kind of jarring to suddenly have a bunch of new characters to get used to.

The main players here are Tess Bailey and Jimmy Nash. Tess is an intelligent comspesh who can't get into the field, and Jimmy is a former top secret government operative who's life up until this point is one big secret. They come together several months after a one night stand to be sent on a mission to Kazbekistan to retrive a laptop which is thought to contain valuable information on terrorist plans. On the mission with them is Lawrence Decker, an ex Seal who stands alone as Jimmy's closest friend and colleague. Deck has been given a secondary assignment to find a prospect for Troubleshooters, Inc. who was last seen in the area. Diguised as relief workers, the group, along with a few other players (Vinh Murphy to name one) set about finding the all important lap top.

The story adds another element with Sophia, the wife of the prospect who was taken by Padsha Bashir after he had her husband decapitated. During the aftermath of an earthquake, she attempts to kill him and runs from the palace. Unfortunately, she didn't kill him, and now has a bounty on her head. To her rescue comes Decker and the rest of the team, and though they don't trust her fully, they bring her in as part of the team to help them on their mission.

This book was much heavier on the action than on the romance. The interplay between Tess and Jimmy is okay when it happens, but overall, Jimmy's just kind of a jerk. He's actually a difficult character to like. The same can be said for most of these new characters, though I'm not sure if that's because I'm fighting against change or if they're just not developed at their own early stages.

There is some hints of a possible "to be continued" thread/love story between Decker and Sophia, and I hope it gets picked up later, because I wouldn't mind seeing what happens between them. Not my favorite, but not a bad read by any means.

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