Dark of Night and lots, lots more.
Categories: Romance
People are fascinated with the US Navy SEALs. Witness the record turnout at the library for Marcus Luttrell when he came to talk about Lone Survivor, his book about the tragic loss of his SEAL team in Afghanistan. And the whole country fixated on the daring rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates by SEAL sharp shooters. Which leads me to Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters Series.
In fourteen books published since 2000 Brockmann has created a fictional world revolving around the members of SEAL team 16. The most recent, Dark of Night, was published in January this year and episode fifteen is due out this summer.
This series is my pulp fiction fix with its continuing cast of characters, nonstop action, heavy romance, and humor. And, as a bonus, you get to learn all about the SEALs, the US Navy’s elite special operations force.
One of my favorite blurbs for Brockmann is the “reigning queen of military suspense” and while she is heavy on special ops lingo and hardware, she really writes about people, with all their foibles and flaws, who when pushed to the ultimate test, triumph over evil and their own personal demons. They also happen to find (and sometimes lose) the love of their life along the way.
Unusual for a commercial romance writer, Brockmann features a diverse cast of men and women who are white, black, Asian, handicapped, biracial and gay. As the mother of a gay man, she is especially sympathetic to gays, and takes one of her leading characters through a turbulent romance with an alcoholic actor over the course of several books.
She also features strong women characters, whether they are the best sharp shooter in the U.S. military, a phenomenal helicopter pilot, or a top computer whiz. Whatever their talent, they are competent, professional women who know how to get out of a jam and don’t always leave the guys to do the rescuing.
The guys are, of course, equally great, because they are almost all SEALs or former SEALs who have joined a private security firm called Troubleshooters Incorporated, hence the name of the series. Everyone is physically and mentally at the top of their game. It’s enough to make you want to enroll in one of those boot camp physical fitness programs. Nah, it’s more fun to just read the books…total fluff but very buff.
