Over the Edge

Suzanne Brockmann has a way of making characters come to life and feel like tangible people you come to care about. This book in the Trouble Shooter series is one of my favorites. As is very often the case in a Brockmann book, you can read it out of order in the series and still love every minute of it, or read it in order and just find a deeper connection to familiar characters. Her wit is perfect. Steamy scenes, beautifully done. Her characters have heart! Terri Howe is one of the most approachable female characters introduced by Brockmann to date. Senior Chief Stan is far from Movie Star gorgeous, but is a character you grow to love in a few short sentences. Typical of a Brockmann book, she is able to seemlessly weave the story of Terri and Stan admist high action/adventure and danger in K-stan during a terrorist highjack situation. She offers a further unfolding of the story of Sam and Alyssa's explosive relationship as the FBI and the Seal's team must work together to resolve the crisis. Stan's mother experienced the losses of the holocaust and terror of the Nazi's. This story is beautifully told through the eyes of his mother's best friend, Helga - envoy to Isreal. For most authors, I would recommend simplifying. Too many stories being told at the same time create a hard to follow chaos. That is not true of Suzanne Brockmann. She is able to maintain a flow of storyline that knits all of these different pieces together and simply leaves you feeling like you know these people well. I've given this book to friends, male and female. They have all come back to me months later with the details of the story still fresh to them. I've never seen that with another author.

I went through a phase in junior high school where I'd read romance novels all the time. I must have read at least five hundred. And they were all awful with weak, stupid women and Neanderthal men. Yet I kept reading them because I felt they should more than what they were. I stopped reading those pieces of garbage but I came across excerpts of Suzanne Brockmann's novels last year. So I picked up The Defiant Hero and Over The Edge at the library. I liked the Sam and Alyssa story in The Defiant Hero but it's this book that made me a Suzanne Brockmann fan. This book is what I expected from a romance and what those hundreds of novels lacked. I enjoyed the multiple plotlines, interaction between all the characters, and the characters themselves. One thing about other romance novels I hated was that each "hero" was the baddest, best, toughest man around. It got laughable after awhile. In this book, although each man is the best and toughest in his own way, they're not in competition with each other. Stan is amazing. He can seemingly do everything yet he doesn't feel the need to be overbearing. And Teri is the one to chase after Stan, which is also a welcome change from other romance novels. Sam and Alyssa's story is bittersweet and addictive. And Gina and Max were a pleasant surprise. I've started buying copies of this novel to give as gifts to friends.

I'm glad I saved my first review for this book. I feel impelled to let people know what a wonderful book Suzanne Brockmann has written. As an African-American I'm used to many authors not including people of color, or when they do, not doing a very good job of it. Suzanne Brockmann has not only included characters of many hues and religious backgrounds, but she's concocted an engrossing tale of action and romance with multi-dimensional characters that leave you craving more. I am now a fan and I've just ordered all her books. She has written a book that other authors should take a lesson from. Stan and Teri, Sam and Alyssa, Max and Gina (she has to pursue their story!) would make great individual stories and all together they made one fantastic story. I disagree with some of the readers who didn't like the WWII component - this was also inclusive. Get your history wherever you can. It was a good history lesson. Also, Jules was a character that with a few words gave a look at a good friend, that had nothing to do with his lifestyle, but what friendship is all about. If you like romantic suspense, this will be on your list of favorites.

I bought this book the day that it came out. I am an avid reader. I started this book at 10:30pm and stayed up until 3:30am in the morning to finish. You know that you have read a really good book when several weeks later you are still thinking about the characters and their stories. I LOVE the 'troubleshooter' series. I enjoyed Heart Throb, and although it will also remain one of my favorites, it still takes a back burner to The Unsung Hero, The Defiant Hero, and Over the Edge. The SEAL Team 16 Troubleshooters are called on to take down a group of terrorists that have hijacked an airplane and forced it to land in Kazbekistan, which is better known as "the Pit" to Brockmann's readers. Lt. Teri Howe is a rescue pilot and a woman used to being harassed by men. Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok sees the harassment and does not like it. Stan gets permission to have Teri join his SEAL team on a training mission. Stan felt that it would get her away from the man currently harassing her and he would be there to look after her. Stan had no idea that a simple training mission would turn into a real mission, or that his feelings for Teri would become so complicated. Once landing in Kazbekistan the SEAL team began intense drills preparing themselves to overtake the plane with the hijackers. In the meantime, hostage negotiator Max tries desperately to speak to the hijackers, but is only able to speak to a young woman passenger. Gina has put her life on the line to protect the rest of those on the plane and now her only lifeline is the faceless man, Max. And in her usual style, Ms. Brockmann, gives us her story within a story that involves a tragic love story that took place during WWII. This story is told by Helga, a Holocaust survivor, who is currently suffering from Alzheimer's. Ms. Brockmann also brings back a very popular pair, SEAL member Sam Starrett and FBI sharpshooter Alyssa Locke. My favorite couple is, of course, Sam and Alyssa. Although at the end of Over The Edge I wanted to cry for them both. I am still reeling from what happened to Gina, Sam, and Alyssa. I hated the ugliness that happened to Gina. I could not believe I actually cried for this character and for Max and the others who were there to hear everything the poor young woman went through at the hands of the terrorists. I have hundreds of books from many different authors, but none have touched me like this series. It must be a great thrill to make characters come alive. I actually feel like I know all of them. I hope that Sam and Alyssa find there way back to each other in a future book. I also hope Gina finds happiness after all she has been through. And lets not forget poor Tom and Kelly who are still unmarried. Over the Edge takes you on an emotional roller coaster. I admit that when I got to the last page I, at first, felt cheated. I thought no way could this story be over. Like another reviewer said, I wanted to throw the book across the room. But, several days later, when I was still