INTO THE FIRE by Suzanne Brockmann

INTO THE FIRE by Suzanne Brockmann

I'll get this out of the way, INTO THE FIRE (excerpt) was a damn good book and I just spent most of Sunday reading it. I'm tired and spent from the experience. I should be asleep, but sleep is overrated when you have a good book isn't it?

I know that military suspense isn't for everyone. In my opinion this book is more than that. This is a book about people and relationships. Yes, there is covert operations, military and spy stuff in this book, but there are also some great characters in this book. While the blurb on the jacket will tell you that it's about Hannah Whitfield and Vinh Murphy there are several story lines going on and I found all of them interesting. While INTO THE FIRE has the requisite HEA for the main characters, some story lines end and others are left dangling.

One other word of caution I have is to first time readers of Brockmann, (are there still some out there?) I had moments of getting characters and situations from previous books confused.

Ms. Brockmann has written over 40 books now and there's been a lot of couples between the Troubleshooters Inc. agency and SEAL Team 16. Multiple story lines and couples in those books have overlapped. I haven't decided whether or not this is more of a detriment to people who have read the books or those who haven't. Ms. Brockmann does a pretty good job of clearing things up in a few paragraphs or pages, but it still made me a little dizzy a time or two.

Hannah and Murphy are both emotionally and physically damaged people. The one thing each of them has is their friendship. They both use their relationship to anchor them. They each, in their own way, use the other to help weather the individual tragedy of their lives. There is some powerful stuff there and I only wish we could have spent more time with just Hannah and Murphy as the story's focus.

One thing I can say, is if you are a Brockmann fan you'll love this book. If you are looking to visit characters from past books you will, but not the usual suspects. Ms. Brockmann is beginning to arc story lines for secondary characters from other books. Izzy Zanella? He's in this book. Decker? Dave? Sophia? They are in this book. They all have interesting secondary story lines that at times almost over take the main focus from Murphy and Hannah.

I wanted to read more about all of them. It definitely left me wanting more and to know what's going to happen next. INTO THE FIRE also reminded me to never miss an opportunity to tell someone I care about, "I love you". You can never say that too many times. Any time a book makes me think like that, in a real way that impacts my life, well I have to call that a good book and a good way to spend a day.