Review: Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann.

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Hero: Lawrence Decker, Dave Malkoff
Heroine: Tracy Shapiro, Sophia Ghaffari
Grade: 4.75 out of 5

Taking on the world’s deadliest criminals is what the elite security force Troubleshooters Incorporated does best. But now they face a new and powerful threat from their most lethal enemy yet–a shadowy government outfit known only as The Agency.

For years, operative James Nash has performed ultra-covert “Black Ops” missions for The Agency, but when he decide to walk away from their dirty work, his corrupt bosses aren’t about to let him go. After Nash is nearly assassinated, Troubleshooters team leader Lawrence Decker launches a skillful deception to neutralize the threat and protect his friend. With the FBI’s help, Decker fakes Nash’s death, then brings him to a safe house with his fiancée, Tess Bailey, to recover from his injuries and strategize their next move.

Only a handful of people know that Nash is still alive–and fellow Troubleshooters Dave Malkoff, Sophia Ghaffari, and receptionist Tracy Shapiro aren’t among them. Believing that Nash is dead and that Decker has begun a romantic relationship with Tess, Sophia settles for second best and begins a love affair with Dave, who has adored her for years. But Tracy puts two and two together, discovering the truth about Nash–much to Decker’s dismay.

As passions flare, Decker struggles to keep his scheme afloat, and to keep Nash alive. But when he finds himself targeted for death, the game turns even more perilous, and Sophia, Tracy, and Dave are swept into the deadly play. Under fire and racing to unmask their relentless adversary, the Troubleshooters know that the closer they get, the greater the risks. But sacrifices and consequencescome with the territory. Forced to choose between love and loyalty, they are no longer just solving a crime–they’re fighting for survival.

I was blog hopping last week and I came across Ames blog where she reviewed this book and something held me back from reading the review which is shocking in and of itself since I’ve turned into this humongous spoiler hoe but whatever, I was finally able to go and read the review because I finished this book and I facking loved it.

Before I go any further into the review, I must warn everyone that this review (as with all of my other reviews) will contain major spoilers. I’m going to be telling you what I liked and what I didn’t like, who’s in this, who the mystery heroine is so if you don’t want to know then I suggest you come back and read this review after you’ve finished reading the book and you should definitely read it because I loved it!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with the review. This book rocked some serious socks for me. From the beginning of the book to the end of the book, my eyes were eating up every word. As with all of Suz’s books, so much is going on and yet if you’re a Suz fan and have read all of the other books, you won’t have a hard time trying to keep up with everything and everyone.

In this book we have two storylines going on at the same time. I thought I would be pissed off about that but to be honest, I think Suz totally pulled it off. The two stories in one worked well in this case and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Yes, all of the rumors you heard about this book were true…this book is not Sophia and Decker’s story, I mean, it is but not in the way that everyone wanted. This book is Sophia and Dave’s story and then Decker and Tracy’s story. Everyone could be mad at Suz all they want but she paired up the characters perfectly. I’ve seen threads on bullentin boards where everyone was piping pissed off that Deck and Sophia didn’t end up together after all of the build up but Suz did a phenomenal job of writing their stories and the way everything worked out was great for me.

I liked Tracy Shapiro. I never not liked her, she was always one of those characters that I knew we’d see more of and one of those characters that wasn’t going to be popular with everyone. I kinda thought that Tracy was going to end up being Decker’s heroine but after reading this book, I’m soooo glad that she was Decker’s woman. I so enjoyed getting to know these two more in this book. In the other books, we see these two and we see the way the others in the series see them but we don’t really know them. We don’t know what Decker is thinking when he’s all quiet and set apart from everyone else. We don’t know why Tracy is the way that she is and it was good to get into their heads. To see what they’re like, to get to know them. It was fun getting to know them and watching them fall in love.

Decker was the hero that I thought he was going to be. A damn good hero. The way that he’s so in control of any given situation and how he’s got that leaders mentality is so hot damn sexy it made me want to lick him on more than one ocassion in this book. He’s so damn yummy, it’s not even funny and I loved the way that Tracy put him in his place. I loved all the questions she asked him, all the “disagreements” they had and just everything about these two. They were such a cute couple that I would have a hard time seeing anyone not liking these two.

Dave and Sophia were a great addition to this story as well. I loved how their story turned out and I’m glad that Sophia was able to find the happiness she deserved. I love the whole best friend to lovers storyline and this one was a good one. Dave shaped up to be a pretty damn good hero himself. The love he had for Sophia was swoonworthy and everything he did for her and everything he did to try to make things better for her made me love him all the more. My heart did hurt for him when he had his doubts about Sophia’s true feelings for him and I felt for him but I loved the way that Suz wrote those insecurities Dave had. They weren’t over the top dramatic or anything but his insecurities did come across in the book. I loved seeing Sophia unable to tell Dave exactly what she felt for him and I loved how they kind of bumbled their way toward their happy ending but that I love you speech that Sophia gave Dave made me all teary eyed and man but I loved these two.

The thing that I love most about Suz’s work is that her characters live real lives. They’re not perfect, they’re not these one dimensional characters. They’re real and they’re complicated and they just keep on truckin’. I love how even though characters may have gotten to star in their own books, their stories aren’t done. They’re still trying to live that happy ending and it’s hard and it’s not always roses and smilie faces and we saw that in Nash and Tess. Nash and Tess’ book is Flashpoint and it’s a couple of books later and we’re still reading about them. I loved how they were a part of this story and they were a huge part of this story but their part of the storyline didn’t detract or take away from my enjoyment of Decker and Tracy’s part or Dave and Sophia’s part. Suz balances all of those different story lines with an ease that keeps me excited to turn the pages.

It was good to see everyone together again. I loved it. I loved seeing Jules and Robin back in action, I loved seeing Nash and Tess but what I was really excited to see was Sam f*cking Starrett again. Alyssa too but mostly, I loved seeing Sam again. I loved seeing him interact with everyone and just watching how different he is now, how grown up he is…it really is great. I loved how he gave Nash love advice and that diaper advice? Facking hilarious. You just gotta love Sam. I do. What I still didn’t like in this book or the previous book is the doctor. That damn shrink better not be Lopez’s girl or anyone else’s girl either…I don’t even know why I don’t like her, I just don’t.

This book was a fab read for me. It was one of those page turning reads that I didn’t want to end. It’s one of those books that stayed with me long after I finished reading the book and that’s another thing I love about Suzanne Brockmann’s writing. The way that she’s able to create a world that has me thinking about her characters and stories long after I’ve finished the book. She keeps me caring about these books. It’s funny because there are series that I keep reading because I’m addicted to the books but this series, the Troubleshooters series, I keep reading because I LOVE the books. You won’t be able to help yourself, this series is fantastic and this book is definitely a keeper! If you’re a fan of Suzanne Brockmann, you’re going to want to read this book asap!

This book is available from Ballantine. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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