Brockmann Continues

Book Info: Into the Fire (Troubleshooters Book 13), by Suzanne Brockmann. Published by Ballantine Books in 2008.

Another day, another book.  This was only my 2nd time reading Into the Fire.  This came out just before I headed back to school, and I didn't have time to keep up with any of the following books. While I own all of them, I just haven't had a chance to read them yet. On top of that, here is yet another book that deals with harsh realities. Unlike your usual romance books, here we deal with the reality of a Marine whose wife was shot ( in Hot Target book 8), the reality of actually being permanently damaged at work, the death of friends while on an op, the scare of child abuse, and the panic caused by an unplanned pregnancy. While not your normal fare for a light and fluffy romance, this seems to be par for the course for Ms. Brockmann's Troubleshooters. Not that I don't enjoy the story lines, this one is just overloaded with trauma, and therefore not one I would suggest picking up when your are prone to tears.


One of the more interesting parts of this book is the spectrum of relationship issues that are revealed here in this book. You have Vinh Murphy, whose wife, Angelina (relationship 1), was shot and killed in front of him a few years prior to the timeline of this book. Murphy also has a relationship with Hannah, his best friend (relationship 2). This is contrasted by the relationships we see which surround Sophia Ghaffari. There is Sophia and Decker (relationship 3), Sophia and Dave (relationship 4), and even Sophia and Gillman (relationship 5). Throw in the turbulent relationships of Tess and Nash (relationship 6) and Izzy and Eden (relationship 7), as well as the mention of the various previous relationships: Tom and Kelly (relationship 8), Jenk and Lindsey (relationship 9), Ric and Annie (relationship 10), Max and Gina (relationship 11) and many others and Brockmann has provided readers with a cornucopia of relationship possibilities. And not all of them end happily. Especially not when dealing with trauma. Yet, we also see that things can work out, through hard work relationships can be happy.

Yet hand in hand with this cornucopia is a format that can frustrate as well as intrigue. Brockmann jumps from relationship to relationship, Scene to scent, fight to fight. The jarring pace seems to reflect not only the chaos that surrounds these types of situations, but also the frenetic pace that must be playing out in Murphy's head.

Now the other major frustration is the ending. For the first time since reading Brockmann's books she leaves us with a cliff hanger. What will happen to Izzy and Eden. Does Sophia give up on Deck and start with Dave? What about Tess and Nash.... and Deck? How do they get out of the CF that has been caused by the Agency?

I am not keen on cliff hangers, and therefore I am very glad that I will be starting the next book as soon as I finish typing this. But I am hoping this didn't become a trend for the author.