Rowena’s review of Hot Pursuit by Suzanne Brockmann.
Hero: Multiple
Heroine: Multiple
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
Alyssa Locke is no stranger to dealing with danger. As team leader of the nation’s number one personal security company, Troubleshooters Inc., she’s seen more than her share of action, survived plenty of close calls, and holds her own with the best of them–and against the worst of them. Guarding lives is her game, and no one plays it better. But her toughest challenge will be protecting herself from a serial killer she’s been after for years–known only as “The Dentist”–who is determined to make her his ultimate trophy.
The assignment was supposed to be an easy one: teach self-defense techniques to a newly elected assemblywoman and her chief of staff after a political controversy generates a blizzard of hate mail–including death threats–from hotheads and cranks. But as soon as she mobilizes her squad of moonlighting Navy SEALs in New York City, Alyssa begins butting heads with the hard-case cop who thinks that the Troubleshooters are chasing shadows.
Until they discover a dead body. And then another. Now Alyssa really has her hands full–bodyguarding two independent, busy women, managing a murder investigation, and trying to find time for her husband, Troubleshooters operative Sam Starrett, and their infant son. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be a Troubleshooters operation without romantic sparks and heated rivalries–and any time the SEALs of Team Sixteen are involved, there are plenty of both.
But then, while investigating a suspect, Alyssa is ambushed and suddenly finds herself imprisoned by The Dentist. Cut off from everyone she loves and relies on, Alyssa must call upon all of herstrength and skill to survive this final confrontation with the sadistic monster, meanwhile trusting that her Troubleshooter teammates, led by her beloved Sam, will reach her before it’s too late.
It can’t be helped, there will spoilers aplenty in this book so if you don’t want to be spoiled…come back after you’ve read the book!
When I first heard that Sam and Alyssa were getting another book, I was over the moon about it. I immediately set about pre-ordering my copy and when it finally came in, I did a little happy jig. I’m happy to say that Suzanne Brockmann entertained me once again. I kept emailing Ames while reading this book because she’s such a big Izzy fan and I was so in love with Izzy all over again in this book. Izzy is the man!
Lots of things pop off in this book. Sam and Alyssa are at the core of the book but true to Suz Brockmann form, they’re not the only storyline going on throughout the book. We’ve got the Dentist being obsessed with Alyssa. We’ve got Danny Gillman having a little love storyline in this book, we’ve got the meeting of Izzy and another potential heroine for his own book and man oh man am I excited to read more about that and so really, there’s plenty of things to get excited about in this book.
First off, being a huge Sam and Alyssa fan made this book a MUST READ for me but I was happy that the book wasn’t focused on only them. In the last book, I was not a fan of Gillman. Gillman got on my hot damn nerves in the past couple of books. First, when he was slobbering after Sophia and then when he was just a stupid ass to Izzy. Seeing how his story starts in this book, I was glad to see a different side to Gillman and even though I was glad to see a different side to Gillman, I was also glad to see him eff up the one thing that he had in his life that was good because man did I want to kick him in the jaw for the way that he thought, the way that he was all non challant about talking to Izzy about his relationship with Jennilyn and I was so facking glad when Jenn left his ass. I really like Jenn’s character and even though I know that Dan isn’t always a bad guy, he’s still on my shit list. He straight played Jenn and that left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Then there was Izzy. As much as I said before how I wouldn’t mind Eden being Izzy’s heroine, I don’t want that anymore. I think that Izzy found his match in Maria. I really like her and I really want those two to end up together. Everything about Izzy gets me. I love when he starts singing those cheesy songs and I love his sense of humor and just every facking thing about him. I even love the way that he loves Eden and wants it to work with her. I love that he doesn’t mind making himself look like that bad guy for the guy that has been the biggest asshole to you and I just love the way that he is, period. He’s that one compelling character that I’m anxious to get his happy ending. I want to know even more about this guy and I’m really hoping that he’ll get his book soon. Please!
I was really glad that this Dentist business was put to rest. I’m glad that Sam was the one to bring him down. My favorite part of this book was seeing both Alyssa and Sam in action again. The older Team 16 is so different from this new generation of Team 16. Reading this book and reaquainting myself with Sam and Alyssa again brought back why I love this series so much. Why I started reading this series. When you open a Troubleshooters book you always get a fast paced, action packed story with a steamy romance that leaves you feeling utterly satisfied that the bad guys got what was coming to them and the good guys win. The main couple will always be living their happily ever after. The journey is in finding out how they win and how they fall in love. I really love that about this series but as I was reading this story some of my enjoyment was replaced with a longing for the old team to come back and save the day.
I want to see Cosmo, Jazz, Sam, LT, Muldoon, Wildcard, Nillson…all of those guys because while I was reading this book, there were times aplenty when I was pissed to high heaven at some of the stuff that these guys on the new Team 16 did. Tommy and Izzy go back to check out Maria’s office building and Izzy needs to take a piss. He goes out and Tommy’s (is that the new guy’s name cause I forget) gets on his cell phone and gives his boyfriend the name and address of the hotel that they’re all staying out. THE DENTIST IS IN THE CLOSET LISTENING TO IT ALL! I couldn’t help thinking that Sam and Wildcard would never have let that happen. I couldn’t help thinking that Cosmo and Nillson would have paid closer attention and probably would have known that they weren’t alone. They didn’t check the place upside down because if they did, they would have found The Dentist chillin in the closet.
And yeah, okay…it wasn’t a really big case for the government so they didn’t need to be on their toes or on full alert but I’m pretty sure that the other guys from the old team would have taken this small task and treated it like the big deal that it actually was. They would have been more alert, it wouldn’t have been a joke to them and they would have never, ever risked anyone’s life by compromising their position. So for me, that was a huge disappointment in the SEALs.
But as much as I missed the old Team 16 and as much as I was disappointed in Dan for losing Jen ALL THOSE MANY TIMES, I still really enjoyed this book and was happy to see Sam, Alyssa, Ash as well as Jules and Robin again. It’s always good to see those guys again and I hope to continue to see them as the series continues. This book is just as good as the other books are with minor things that bothered me but aside from those minor disappointments..I still rather enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend this book to all of the Troubleshooter fans out there.
This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.
Love ya Wena! Awesome review as always, cuz you know I feel the same. Other than no, I don’t want Izzy & Maria to hook up. She didn’t impress me much. I don’t know that I necessarily want him with Eden, but right now, Maria isn’t my choice either.
And Dan, he has potential but damn, why’d he have to go and do that to Jenn. I hope he wakes up and really gets what he did and how awesome she is.
Complaint? Considering what set teh book off, uh, where was Wildcard??? I miss the other guys, but especially Kenny. I remember reading a comment, something like Ken is Sam’s “good friend”. Good friend??? After all they’ve been through? Pul-eeze.
But still, as always it left me wanting more. And more. Reading the Author’s Note made me sad 🙁
It’s just a break! She said it was just a BREAK! (sob)
Of course Dan’ll wake up. Any second now.
And Izzy’ll end up with Eden. I’ll bet dollars AND donuts. She’s just a kid so maybe she’ll have Changed A Great Deal next time she shows up. Like whatshername. Sam’s ex.
And dammit, no one else is speculating so I have to… what about Adam? He was in the hotel but did he know who else was there? And he didn’t barge in? Hmmmm…
Oh Izzy – I love him. He’s the best. I can’t wait for him to get his book.
You know who I wouldn’t mind seeing again – Max and Gina. They’re my favorite couple out of all the books. LOL
Izzy and Maria?? Nope. You can’t make me believe that will happen and I have an excellent track record for guessing couples.
I wondered about Tony (?) telling his boyfriend (aka AW, heh) the location of the hotel over the phone too…but they had done a bug sweep, right? And who would expect wacko serial killer to be lurking in the closet?
Izzy will end up with Eden. Yup, I said it. Well, so did Kate R…she’s brilliant, obviously. 😉
And I’m sure you’re right about Cosmo checking everywhere – probably twice. But he had paranoia issues. LOL And poor Tony (?)…it was supposed to be an easy assignment and he’s in love! Or we could just blame Adam – he’s a good target to blame stuff on. He distracted poor Tony so much he forgot himself (phone sex?!). Heh.
Stacy,
Really? I liked Maria. I thought she was cute and I like her even more because Gillman liked her and then gave up on her and I want Izzy to get with Maria to get even more under Gillman’s skin. Gillman has a lot to make up for with me too. Grr. But I liked the scenes with Maria and Izzy.
In the beginning of the series, Wildcard and Nillson are Sam’s best friends…it really sucks that we don’t get to see them at all anymore. With this being Sam’s mission and all, it would have been nice for him to call on at least Nillson to come back him up since Wildcard couldn’t (him being shot and all that). If not Nillson then someone from the old Team 16…someone besides Gillman, Lopez and Izzy (though I do love Izzy).
Yeah, the author’s note made me sad too.
Kate R,
I have no doubt that Dan will wake up but I really want Jen to make his ass pay. She deserves more especially since she heard everything Dan said to Izzy. I want her to really stick her foot in his ass.
You think so about Izzy and Eden? There’s the whole love triangle thing. I remember being okay with the idea of Izzy and Eden but I don’t know, Maria is pretty cool in my book as well. I don’t think I’ll be mad either way though.
What about Adam, what? I don’t understand what you’re getting at.
Ames,
YES! I would love to see Max and Gina again. I totally forgot about those two!
C2,
So who do you think Izzy is gonna end up with?
Yeah, they did a bug sweep but shouldn’t they have looked everywhere as well? I have every faith that Cosmo would have looked under every single chair and behind every curtain. The same with Muldoon, Wildcard, Sam, any of those guys…they just would have done a way better job than Izzy and Tony appeared to have done. I’m still pissed about Tony/Tommy (what the heck is his name? LOL) compromising their location. He should be reprimanded!
I’m late chiming in, but I just finished the book.
In regard to Izzy and Eden…I think they will end up together. After the end of the book, I think that Izzy and Maria might end up married before Izzy and Eden get their HEA. And I know that they’re already married, but I think that Eden really needs to grow up before she can be Izzy’s heroine.
Oh Casee, that sounds horribly plausible! Though I’m not sure Brockmann could pull all that off in one book and the next one is supposed to be the finish to Izzy’s story.
I just finished it too, and I’m disappointed. I feel like there should be ONE romance story arc per book and there really wasn’t one.
So everyone is guessing Tony is with Adam? Who the heck is Adam? One of Jules’ exes? I read the note at the end and was completely Without Clue. — willaful
C2,
The point is that Tony should have known better. He shouldn’t have cared more about getting some ass than the safety of the people that he put at risk because he compromised their location. That was my main gripe. I’m sure that it’s love and they do all sorts of crazy things when you’re in love but still, if he was a young private fresh out of boot camp then I could probably let it slide but he’s a trained SEAL. SEALs are supposed to know better.
And if Izzy ends up with Eden, I’ll probably be okay with it but I’d be okay with Maria too. I’m good either way, to be honest.
Casee,
Wow, that’s a whopper of a storyline and one that I will definitely be all about reading once Suz writes it.
Willaful,
Yep, Adam is the ex that Jules was most screwed up over. He’s not exactly a good guy but he’s not the worst guy ever, I just don’t particularly like him because of his history with Jules. He’s introduced a few books back. I want to say Cosmo’s book, Hot Target but I can’t be sure.
I read “Hot Pursuit”, then immediately went back and started re-reading all of the earlier Troubleshooter books. I love how well Suzanne salts in details that’ll be important in later books. LOVE love love it!
I found this book less interesting than many of her other recent novels — that said, however, I was delighted to see Tony show up again (even if I question his taste in boyfriends!), and how can you not love getting to spend more time with Izzy?
Just. Can’t. Wait! for Lopez to get a book of his own… I’d love to see Beth reintroduced from “Into The Storm” for a HEA with Lopez, but suspicious we’ll see a Maria/Lopez line-up instead. (Also… Dr. Jo and Commander Koehl, anyone? Just a thought…)
I definitely want to see a book with Commander Koehl as a lead character. The way Lindsey described him, he is hot. I don’t want him with Dr. Jo, as I think she is too old for him.
He is probiably only in his mid to late thirties. I want Koehl with a new person, who can make him less straightlaced and old fashioned.
I absolutely HATE the thought of Izzy with Eden. I will be very disappointed if Izzy ends up with her. Izzy deserves a woman with substance not some idiotic child. i love the Troubleshooters series and want to read Izzy’s story but not if it has him ending up with Eden.