Dark of Night
5 Stars

Following the attempt on Jimmy Nash's life, only a select group of people know that he is still alive, and Troubleshooters team leader Lawrence Decker plans to keep it that way in order to expose those who want Jimmy dead. But Deck's best-laid plans are for naught when Troubleshooter receptionist, Tracy Shapiro, follows the clues and discovers the truth. Now Deck and Tracy must evade the rogue agents willing to do anything to find Jimmy, even torture and kill his closest allies.

***Spoilers ahead***

Once again, Brockmann focuses on three different couples - Sophia and Dave, Tracy and Deck, and Nash and Tess.

The ongoing angst fest of Sophia and Decker's non-existent relationship is finally resolved as circumstances force her to confront the truth of her feelings for Deck and realize that the man she really loves has been right there all along.

Tracy and Deck are a surprisingly perfect match for one another. Tracy is much more than the seemingly shallow, selfish, and stupid receptionist from the beginning of Into the Storm. She is, in fact, intelligent, resilient, and compassionate. Not only is she the only one to deduce that Jimmy is alive, but she also sees the vulnerable and lonely person behind Deck's façade. She is fearless, doesn't allow Deck to wallow in his self-imposed misery, calls him on his bullshit, and treats him as a man, not a legend. He is, therefore, able to let down his guard, be himself and let her in. It is really adorable!

Lastly, Tess and Nash overcome the issues that have threatened their HEA. The revelations are difficult, but together they can handle all obstacles.

The mystery surrounding those responsible for the attacks on Jimmy, Dave and Deck is gripping from the start (although the prologue did have me waiting for the other shoe to drop), and there are some excellent action-packed scenes. It is particularly gratifying that the villain is ultimately brought down by the woman he underestimated.

Overall, the closure to several ongoing relationships and the gripping suspense plot make this one of the best installments in the series. Kudos to Brockmann for keeping us engaged with her characters from one book to the next. ( )

If the previous book had angst up the wazoo, this book is all about trust, in one's self and especially in others. 3-1/2 stars. I think the mystery got a little lost to the romance, but it is a romance book, so...

(Edited 3/8/12) I'm listening to the audio version of this book now and can give a much clearer idea of what doesn't work in this book and why it's a bit hard to get through: it's the shear amount of exposition which takes up a significant portion of the text. I think having the story read by two readers (the female reader Renee Raudman is not one I care for) brings out the worst of this story, unfortunately. ( )

At this point in the series, you only have die hards or the OCD still reading. Brockmann seems to always put together a good novel, even when you spend a good chuck of the novel loving/hating a character and/or confused by an event. Decker finally gets his love interest. Dave is my fave though. He totally rocks. ( )

Dark of Night
Troubleshooters series #14

Dave Malkoff & Sophia Ghaffari; Lawrence Decker & Tracy Shapiro

It has been hinted at in the last couple of books that Troubleshooters' team member, Jimmy Nash, and his fiancee, Tess, have been having marital problems. Jimmy leaves town for extended periods of time for covert ops and returns home with "dings" (gunshot and/or stab wounds) and is constantly in a dark mood but refuses to give her or anyone else detailed explanations of where he's been or what he's doing. Instead, he seems to be trying to push her over the edge to end their relationship. At the end of the last book he had received rifle shots to the chest and the team was notified that he hadn't survived his injuries.

A huge memorial service was performed with an impressive crowd from the SpecWar community in attendance. Decker dutifully stepped into place to comfort Tess, which wasn't a surprise to most (other than the timing). This resulted in Sophia Ghaffari giving up on any hope she had of ever becoming involved with Decker and made her realize she needed someone who loved her completely. That someone turned out to be her best friend, Dave Malkoff, who has been there as her constant protector and confidante for the past couple of years. He always tried to hide his true feelings out of respect for her wishes to end up with Decker, but when Sophia opened herself up to starting a relationship with Dave, he grabbed at the opportunity and swept her off her feet.

Figuring out that Nash's secretiveness and dark moods were due to the fact that he was being threatened and pressured by the Black Ops sector of "the Agency" to take jobs he didn't want and that he was distancing himself from everyone in order to protect those he loved, Decker, Tess and FBI agent, Jules Cassidy, were keeping busy trying to quietly look into who specifically was behind the repeated blackmail and assassination attempts of Jimmy Nash. All while--get this--trying to keep the slowly recovering but very much alive Jimmy Nash in hiding. As they all start putting pieces together by thinking back over the years of all the "deletions" Nash had performed for that agency hoping that something would trigger an awareness of who was out to get him and what he could possibly know that they so desperately want to be kept hidden (treason and stolen money), they slowly start bringing other operators into the loop, starting with Sam and Alyssa Starrett (and their baby boy Ashton). Jules' movie star husband, Robin, has rented a huge mansion with incredible security features--including a panic room--for them to use as a safehouse, pretending it is just a vacation home.

Decker runs into TS, Inc.'s receptionist, Tracy Shapiro, while picking up some items from Nash & Tess' apartment, and she quickly figures out that something's up and asks Deck straight out if Nash is still alive. He's unable to convince her otherwise and he now realizes that she must be put into the safehouse as well. While they are on their way, several things happen which divert them from their goal, including narrowly escaping from a bomb and shots from a sniper. They retreat to the closest possible safe location and while Tracy is patching up Deck's newest injuries, they share some heady kisses which take them both by surprise. Between running from and/or working to track down the elusive Agency assassins and various other interruptions, it doesn't go much farther than that at first and the two of them end up spending a lot of time talking and really getting to know eachother, allowing the reader to also delve deeper into the personalities and pasts of both of them. We learn why Decker is so uptight and has been holding back for so long, and we see Tracy shine and prove that she "went to see the Wizard" and really has a brain. Their relationship was a true surprise to me but Brockmann really made it work and even though they seem like complete opposites, it makes sense to me now why Decker and Tracy are a good match.

Sophia thinks she's choosing Dave because she needs someone "normal" (which Dave sheepishly translates to "boring") but she realizes she just wants to feel safe. She's had so much trauma in her life. [On a side note, we do learn more details of her husband's murder and the horror she was put through while a captive in Kazbekistan. Sweet Dave actually made a trip to the Pit specifically to find out all the details that Sophia was unable to speak of so that he could eventually help her deal with it.] She thinks that because Dave is "nerdy and normal" he will be safe and she won't lose him. She comes to the realization, however, after he saves her life and then he is abducted that she is okay with the fact that he actually is like James Bond because he is capable of taking care of himself when in dangerous situations. Although he was near death from torture and a terrible infection from a knife wound, he was still able to overcome his captors and nearly make the escape completely on his own. These two had such a bittersweet road to travel to get where they are, but they end up with a happy and hopeful start to their future together.

And yes, they get all the bad guys so Nash can finally come out of hiding. : ) ( )

Really enjoyed this. Good job all the way around. ( )