Flashpoint (Troubleshooters, Book 7)

by Suzanne Brockmann

Book Overview

From unrelenting action to intense emotion, from high-stakes drama to break-neck pacing, bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann is a novelist who does it all. Now Brockmann delivers an exciting thriller... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345456947
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.7" x 1.0" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

A bit different from the others but incredibly complex passion.

Here's the new breed of super-heroes, employed by none other than our collective heart-throb ex-SEAL Tom Paoletti. His new company is called Troubleshooters Inc.: covert special ops, going where no government dares to go, etc. You know the drill! Jimmy Nash and a team under the leadership of the fascinating Lawrence Decker (and there's a story within a story - you'll be screaming for his book!) enter Kazbekistan as `relief workers' following an earthquake. Their mission is to find the laptop of a top al-Qaeda operative, killed from injuries in the quake, hopeful it will yield info on potential world-wide terrorist attacks. Computer whizz Tess Bailey also comes, disguised as Nash's wife. Problem: after a previous `Agency' ambush gone wrong, Nash had an explosive one-night stand with Tess, knowing she was probably in love with him. Posing as husband and wife in very close quarters increases Nash's blistering, protective attraction to her. To complicate things, they're under intense scrutiny from suspicious locals, and face the increasing threat of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the cruel, fanatical warlords. Then there's Decker's little `problem' screwing up things, which is really unexpected! Suzanne Brockmann delivers incredibly complex passion in this romantic suspense, with things escalating to a heart-stopping flashpoint. You'll be holding your breath all the way through.

If you don't fall half in love with Nash - you didn't read the book!

I love Suzanne Brockmann! There is no other author that can compell me to read until the ugly hours of the night. This book has been one of my favorites and one of the books I return to again and again. It may be slightly disconcerting to some Brockmann fans because it introduces all new characters with only a small overlap of familiar "friends". Once I got over that, I loved it. Once I finished it the first time, I re-read it within the month. Decker and Nash worked for the "agency" until they discovered just how expendable their superiors believed them to be. They left the same night, but not before Nash free falls into a hot, passionate and emotionally frightening night with fresh faced, wholesome, Tess Bailey. Next day, both agents are gone. Months later, Tess quits her job after realizing she will always be turned down for promotion because she is a woman, and too good at her technogeek computer brilliance. Same day, she is on a plane to meet Tom Paoletti, head of the Troubleshooters, Inc. She walks into an interview and straight into Decker.... and Nash. Rapidly, they find themselves heading to K-stan posing as relief workers after a devastating earthquake. Jimmy Nash is melting down from the inside out. He ran away from Tess because he found he cared and that messed him up. Now he can't run. He has to stay and pretend to be her husband and hope he can keep his hands to himself. This book is brilliant in dialogue. Her wit is ever present. The description of where they are and what they are doing is so vivid, I feel like I watched it in a movie. Don't let this experience pass you buy. You will put the book down, half in love with the idea of Jimmy Nash.

I could not stop reading!

Jimmy Nash and Tess Bailey are together again. Well sort of. Several months ago, Tess, a computer analyst, helped Nash save his best friend and colleague Decker from a potential hit. With the adrenaline running high and eyes wide open, Nash and Tess had a one night stand after all was said and done. Now, they are part of a team sent to Kazbekistan to help recover a laptop with enough information that could put a major dent in the fight against terrorism. Can these two work together or will their attraction get them killed? Flashpoint is a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller set in Kazbekistan. Nash is a bad ass agent who plays hard and works harder. His nonchalant attitude has gotten him in trouble more than once. In the case of Tess, his best friend Decker has some feelings for her that Nash either fails to realize or can't resist. It's an interesting subplot of two friends attracted to the same woman. At first, I didn't know who I wanted to root for, but as the plot thickened Nash seemed to be the better choice despite his dark side. He has enough personal issues to fill a book, but with Tess he shows a softer edge. He begins to care about her as a person rather than a potential lay or fellow agent. The moments of tenderness he shows made me realize he is a good man. He just doesn't know how to express himself. He has been an agent for so long that I don't think he knows how to be anything else. It's like he doesn't know where his life as an agent ends and he, as a person, begins. Tess is an awesome computer analyst, but a green field agent. On her first assignment, she is out of her element. In Kazbekistan, she sees the worst that reality has to offer but still remains upbeat. Her optimism was a breath of fresh air even in the darkest times. I admired her stubbornness and love for Nash because she could see the person he could be under all of the arrogance and attitude. Yet she would not ask for more than what he could offer. She would not beg him to love her. It was all or nothing for her. Flashpoint is my first Suzanne Brockmann book, but definitely not my last. The characters are richly detailed and flawed. Tess, Nash and the secondary characters are real. Under the harshest conditions, they do and see things that would make a normal person cringe. I was riveted by the story and all of the subplots that were seamlessly interwoven throughout the book. Each one helped drive the story, not diminishing the overall storyline. I could not stop reading because I needed to know what happened next. I hope each of the secondary characters will have their own story because they are so fascinating. Flashpoint is a wonderful thriller that will keep you riveted until the last page. Lee Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Read it again

When I first read this novel, I thought that she deviated from the original framework that she has worked with for so long. And I was disappointed. I read it again though because the characters drew me in enough to merit a re-read. I liked it more the second time, and the third time I loved it. The characters get better each time, and although I didn't understand Nash's way of showing emotion in the beginning I got it the second and third times. Nash is the man's man that almost likes the pain, and Tess is the cheeky woman who slaps him out of it. And the things Brockmann writes about the "country" Kazbeistan are credible, which is strange in a novel that is often described as a romance. She comes up with situations and scenarios that I am so often impressed by, and while this novel is somewhat more simple in plot, with the lack of flashbacks, it makes up for it with its complex characters and motivations. Things go so badly for so long that it doesn't seem like anything is ever going to be remedied. Give this one a second chance, the writing is funny, the sex is steamy and it's a world worth getting lost in.

GREAT work Suzanne!!!

This book is definitely different from her previous work, but it was still very good. If your reason for reading this book is an intense sex every 10 pages then you'll be disappointed. BUT.... you will miss some fun new characters and some insight into a different culture. I recommend this and all of Suzanne Brockmann's previous work. FUN summer read!