OUT OF CONTROL (Troubleshooters #4; five stars)
Description from Goodreads: Savannah von Hopf has no choice. To save her uncle's life, she goes in search of Ken "WildCard" Karmody, a guy she barely knew in college who is now a military operative. She must convince him to help her deliver a cache of ransom money into the hands of terrorists halfway around the world. What she doesn't expect is to end up in WildCard's arms before she can even ask for his help.
WildCard has always had a soft spot for beautiful women. But when he discovers Savannah's hidden agenda, he is determined to end the affair. But Savannah is bound for Indonesia with or without his protection, and he can't just walk away. When her plan goes horribly wrong, they are trapped in the forsaken jungle of a hostile country, stalked by a lethal enemy. As time is running out, they scramble to escape, risking their lives to stop a nightmare from spinning even further out of control. . . .
In other words, this book can be summed up as:
Out of Control is, by far and away, my favorite of the TS books in my chronological read thus far -- honestly, it's up there with Hot Target for overall favorites. And for similar reasons: I love essentially all of the characters, and (for the first time in the series) the action plot is actually well integrated with the romance, which keeps the pacing nice and quick and makes it all exciting and compelling. Broken down into some kind of order:
#1: Ken and Savannah
#2: Molly and Jones
#3: Rose
#4: Max, Alyssa, and Sam, and Mary Lou (and Jules)
#1: Since the second book of the series, Ken has been a character who steals the scene whenever he shows up. He's a loud-mouthed jerk and computer genius who could easily leave the navy, sell a patent for the tracking device he built in the second book, and become a millionaire overnight. In previous books, he's been something of an emotional wreck: bitter about his ex in the second book, and absolutely devastated when she took out a restraining order against him in the third. (Not that she didn't have cause -- he'd been turning up at her house, harassing her when she went on dates, and once got into a fist fight with her new boyfriend. He didn't start that one, but it certainly didn't end well.) This book picks up a bit further down the line. The restraining order has since run out, and Ken now realizes it was a good thing in the long run, because it forced him to give the relationship the distance he needed to in order to genuinely move on -- and since his ex, Adele, began playing mind games with him immediately after it was lifted, he's realized just how messed up that relationship was. He’s still deeply hurt and angry about it, but no longer desperate to get her back.
Thats Ken's first bit of maturation between books. The second is that he's gotten a promotion to Chief, which means he actually has to be responsible for other people. He's still basically a wrecking ball of emotions, unable to keep his mouth shut, and he never says the right thing (even when he knows what he should say -- being a jerk is just funnier), but he can shut all that down and focus when he has to take charge. So he's in a much better place when this book picks up, though he still tends to fall in love at first sight, be led around by his emotions, and all he really wants is someone to love him back. Which is why he falls for, and is so hurt by, Savannah.
Savannah van Hopf is basically a Rockefeller. Her family is outrageously rich, and any time she dates it ends up in society gossip columns. She isn't close to most of her family (her incredible, former FBI agent grandmother, her distant father and uptight persnickety mother), except for her uncle (she's the only member of the family who knows he’s gay). So when her uncle is kidnapped, he contacts her about the ransom, and she has to go to Indonesia to pay it. But she's smart enough to know how dangerous that is, so she decides she needs to bring along someone to help. Now, back in the day, she went to college with Adele -- as a freshman, she worshipped then-senior Adele, and oh yeah, she had a crush on Adele’s geeky-but-super-hot boyfriend Kenny, who had already enlisted in the navy, and she knows he went on to be a SEAL. She also knows they've since broken up, but Adele gives her Ken’s contact info, and Savannah figures a SEAL is about the best she could manage for this kind of thing.
Except instead of calling him, asking for help and telling the truth, she goes to check out his house first, to make sure he isn't married or anything -- and when her tire goes flat, he actually stops to help her change it. She still has a huge crush on him, he falls for her instantly, and instead of asking him to accompany her to Indonesia, she accepts his invitation in for dinner, and they have several rounds of crazy good sex. Ken, being the ball of intense emotions that he is, immediately agrees to take two weeks of leave to spend with her, and sure, he'll go wherever she wants -- Indonesia, the moon, anywhere. It isn’t until after the leave is approved that she finally comes clean about having found him on purpose, and how she'd met him years ago in college.
Ken...does not take that well. As far as he's concerned, she was seducing him to manipulate him, and he's pissed as hell that it worked. But she genuinely hadn't meant for the sex to happen, and now that he's thrown her out she's stuck going to Indonesia alone. Except, of course, Ken is a sucker and can't bring himself to let her do that, so he shows up at last second to help -- and as soon as they reach Indonesia they're kidnapped, lost in the jungle, and stuck with each other as they try to survive. And as they do, they actually get to know each other for real, and when they fall hard for each other again, this time there are no lies or kidding around. They are off the scale passionate about each other and willing to do whatever it takes to get out alive.
Now, a lot of that set up focused on how great Ken is (AND HE IS), but it all works because Savannah is also great. She is not tough or wild or even particularly outspoken. She's sheltered -- she's never even been camping before -- and used to wearing suit dresses and high heels to work. She's ashamed of how scared she is of everything (she goes to Indonesia because it's the right thing to do, but she's terrified). She also never complains. Ken drags her through the jungle in bare feet (because that was better than her heels), her feet get all cut up, and she has to use antibacterial hand sanitizer on them. When Ken puts it on his cuts, he curses like, well, a sailor, because it stings so much; when Savannah does the same for her feet, she just grits her teeth and does it. Ken tells her they have to eat bugs? She eats them. Ken tells her she has to cover herself in slime? She does it. She is terrified of every single thing they encounter and she hates the entire experience of being outdoors -- but she never once complains about it, because what good would complaining do?
She is also incredibly brave (though she doesn't recognize that about herself) and a master of self-control. As soon as she realizes Ken genuinely will risk his life to save hers, she's determined not to let him -- she wanted his help, not to get him killed, after all. She makes some rash, bad decisions, but just about all of them are her attempting to keep him as safe as he's trying to keep her. And there's a great moment where Ken is ready to come out guns a-blazing, but she manages to talk him and the local warlord down to get them out of danger, just by being calm and self possessed. Savannah isn’t an action heroine, but she is freaking great.
And okay, I also have to note: while the sex scenes in this book are not the best in terms of writing, they totally got me anyway. I love that Ken, awkward duckling that he is, didn't know how to be smooth and just ask for Savannah's number and what came out instead was "you are so fucking pretty," and that he didn't even think to filter himself, talking on the phone with her later, from telling her just how much he wanted to go down on her. AND THEN LATER HE DOES. Which is the world's most awkward sex scene, writing-wise -- the act in question is referred to as "kissing" often enough that I had to reread a few times to figure out that no, they were not just making out a lot in the jungle -- BUT I am 100% a sucker for heroes who really dig going down on ladies, so there’s that. (And now you know me that much better. Hello, friends!)
(But for real I wish that scene had been better written.)
#2: Molly and Jones. These two are the secondary romance and a subplot, but it's probably worth backing up enough to note that the action plot throughout all of this...well, like I said, it's much better than previous books, but ultimately actually not that important. I didn't bother keeping track of which drug lord/smuggler/Russian mobster had actually kidnapped Ken and Savannah or was holding them hostage at any given point. All of the badguys were really just obstacles to Ken and Savannah making a safe return. Molly and Jones, however, were much more embroiled with the local politics.
Jones is a former American special forces operative who was left to die -- or more precisely, left to be tortured -- in Indonesia, and despite knowing he was there, the U.S. government never sent anyone to rescue him. He was, however, rescued by a powerful drug lord who he then served loyally for several years...until he found out the drug lord was actually going to turn him back over to the U.S. for a reward, since he'd been declared a traitor. He barely escaped with his life, and is now wanted by everyone on all sides of the conflict; if his identity ever leaks, he's a dead man. In the mean time, he’s got a tiny little plane and is smuggling basic supplies around the islands, looking for a score big enough to buy fake documents and passage to somewhere safer.
Molly, on the other hand, is a missionary. She's got some trauma in her past that has led her not to judge others, and at 41 years old she knows who she is and what she wants. She nursed Jones back to health when he was too sick to function, and enlists his help at the book's beginning in getting a sick child to a hospital that can only be reached by plane. They are attracted to each other, but he tries to scare her off by being particularly vulgar and rude and intimidating (because no! he can't let anyone into his heart! it's too dangerous for him to fall in love! etc etc whatever), but her responses are always along the lines of, "Yes yes, that's nice, you're very scary. Take off your pants, darling."
His bafflement at the fact that she just genuinely is not afraid of him, and sees him as a gentle protector rather than a big bad dangerous smuggler, is delightful. Of course they get caught up in the chase all around the jungle with Ken and Savannah. Jones has his dark moment where he walks away, knowing the others will be killed -- and can't go through with it, because he wubs Molly so much. But of course the book ends with them separating, her to go back to the U.S. for awhile and him to vanish into the night before his past catches up with him again, leaving them open to appear in later books.
They worked for me as a couple because I love that dynamic of the super badass dude who prides himself on being scary, and the perfectly pleasant woman who sees right through him. Also, their sex scenes were super hot, especially compared to Ken and Savannah's awkward jungle hook ups. Overall, a super solid B-plot romance, and I look forward to seeing their resolution in a later book.
#3: Rose. ROSE!! This is the first, and so far only, book where the WWII plotlines have genuinely worked. (The flashbacks in the first book were fine, but here they were genuinely compelling.) This is largely because Rose is a great character: a young woman whose parents are German immigrants, and who is recruited to be a spy by Nazis. But she's American through and through, so she agrees to do the spy work -- but instead becomes a double agent, planting false information. It all comes to a head when she sees someone she met in Germany and knows is an SS officer, and realizes she has to turn him in...but oh yeah, when she was in Germany she'd fallen in love with him. So, very regretfully, she sets out to seduce him and steal all of his secrets, because she may love him, but damn it, she's an American.
The flashbacks are all part of Rose's autobiography, which has just been released and is topping the bestseller list, so several characters are reading it excitedly throughout. And of course, Rose is also Savannah's grandmother -- and an active character in the book. Once she finds out her son has been kidnapped, she starts throwing around her clout in DC, because not only is she one of the wealthiest women in the world, she was also one of the first ever female FBI field agents. She’s hugely respected, almost worshipped, by all of the FBI characters in the book, and deservedly. She’s hella rad.
Her position as Savannah's grandmother also teases out some interesting character bits for Savannah. Savannah can't help but compare herself to her incredible grandmother, and come up lacking. She thinks those lacks probably disgust her grandmother, which is why they aren't close (when it's nothing of the sort and instead has everything to do with Savannah's uptight mother). Savannah's slow realization that she's more like Rose than she knew -- often scared, but always willing to push through it and do what needs to be done -- is lovely.
#4: So, the FBI crew, plus Sam and his wife, are all in this book. I am not sure why.
Well, okay, I am sure why; it's to continue the story thread about Sam and Alyssa. But plot-wise? They contribute very, very little. It semi-makes sense that the FBI has been called in, since there is that whole international kidnapping issue. Max's office gets involved (as close as I can tell because Rose specifically demanded them, since Max's team specializes in counter-terrorism and not, y'know, kidnapping cases, but whatever). Later, Sam and Team Sixteen are brought in to rescue Ken. But baaaasically none of that goes anywhere, plot-wise. (Stick a pin in that.)
As for what these people actually do... well, that ain't great. Max sees Alyssa avoiding a would-be paramore, and proceeds to kiss her publicly to make him go away, and also oh yeah, to make sure word gets around that they're banging (they're not) so said word will get back to Sam, who she loves but can't be with, and to Gina, who he loves and can't be with, and wow, that is some VERY awkward expository dialogue to bring readers up to speed on the Gina thing. Gina doesn't appear at all in the book, so Max has to sum their relationship up, rather unprofessionally, to Alyssa. And "unprofessional" is the name of the game here.
The thing is, Max doesn't really warn Alyssa what he’s going to do, and his decision is REALLY inappropriate. Like yes, both of your love lives suck, and it's nice to sympathize with one another. But Alyssa has spent the past three books explaining to anyone who'll listen that she has to be ice cold to be taken seriously and all she wants is to be respected professionally. Now that is TOTALLY out the window, because the entire SpecWar community thinks she's sleeping with her boss.
The kicker, of course, is that Alyssa is only angry about it for about four seconds. Then she gets all swoony thinking about Sam and decides it's for the best and she's totally content to sacrifice her hard-won professional reputation to make him jealous.
Whaaaat.
Here's the deal: I really love Alyssa as a concept, and I think it’s clear what Brockmann is going for with this character. But she doesn't actually get there. Alyssa is supposed to be totally badass, but it's been ages since we’ve seen her do anything except moon over Sam, and she's supposed to care deeply about her career but we haven't seen her do a single thing to advance or protect her career position since joining the FBI. It seems like the series wants to have it both ways, with her as a totally stone cold badass agent but also pining way for Sam; but instead, all we get is the pining, and the rest is implied by the text, almost never shown, and then canceled out by the actions we do see. But the story doesn't actually cop to that and instead keeps insisting Alyssa is the most awesome agent ever. So in the end, the Alyssa in my head, and I suspect in Brockmann’s head, is way more awesome than the Alyssa on the page. Sigh.
Meanwhile, Sam is miserable in his marriage. On the hand, he says he's trying to make things work; on the other hand, it's obvious that by "trying" all he means he's not actively cheating on her. He loves their daughter, and that is literally it. He doesn't seem to make even a mild effort to be nice to, let alone love, Mary Lou.
And to be fair: Mary Lou is horrible. Specifically, she's racist, and when she and Alyssa meet it's the first time Mary Lou has realized that Alyssa is black -- and Alyssa gets the joy of overhearing Mary Lou and Sam fight about that, as well as about whether or not Sam is still sleeping with Alyssa. It is a complete and utter mess, and none of them handles it well.
Alright, so. Alyssa's entire purpose in the book is to pine. She (along with Jules) is technically supposed to be Rose's liasson/escort type person, but all they do is hang out and read her autobiography. That's it.
Sam, at least, is given some vague action. He and the rest of Team Sixteen go in looking for Ken and the other hostages, but by the time the arrive to do the actual extraction, Jones has already broken everyone else out. So Sam and the team rescue Jones, and go home. The climax, sadly, is not the most exciting part of the book. Though Ken has been saying all along that this is actually a pretty easy op, so I guess that's something! But yep, by the time Ken, Savannah, and Molly find the kidnapped uncle (as hostages), Ken only needs about 45 seconds to deduce that Sam and crew are ready and waiting to rescue them, so there’s no tension, even when Jones comes in.
Though Ken having that realization is adorable: he finds a peanut M&M wrapper in the uncle's pocket, realizes that it was Sam's and deliberately placed there to clue him in. Cute. (Similarly, the rest of the team knew Ken was nearby because earlier he'd set off some explosions -- timed to go off to the rhythm of "shave and haircut.") Getting to see the team banter while being heroic is always fun.
Final thoughts: I'm bummed that I don’t find the pining stuff in this book endearing, because usually I looove pining. But that’s pretty much the only point I don’t love. The rest is A+, and Ken is an absolute delight of a character who easily stands out from the crowd of interchangeable alpha male SEALs.
BROCKMANN-ISM TALLY
WildCard has always had a soft spot for beautiful women. But when he discovers Savannah's hidden agenda, he is determined to end the affair. But Savannah is bound for Indonesia with or without his protection, and he can't just walk away. When her plan goes horribly wrong, they are trapped in the forsaken jungle of a hostile country, stalked by a lethal enemy. As time is running out, they scramble to escape, risking their lives to stop a nightmare from spinning even further out of control. . . .
In other words, this book can be summed up as:
Out of Control is, by far and away, my favorite of the TS books in my chronological read thus far -- honestly, it's up there with Hot Target for overall favorites. And for similar reasons: I love essentially all of the characters, and (for the first time in the series) the action plot is actually well integrated with the romance, which keeps the pacing nice and quick and makes it all exciting and compelling. Broken down into some kind of order:
#1: Ken and Savannah
#2: Molly and Jones
#3: Rose
#4: Max, Alyssa, and Sam, and Mary Lou (and Jules)
#1: Since the second book of the series, Ken has been a character who steals the scene whenever he shows up. He's a loud-mouthed jerk and computer genius who could easily leave the navy, sell a patent for the tracking device he built in the second book, and become a millionaire overnight. In previous books, he's been something of an emotional wreck: bitter about his ex in the second book, and absolutely devastated when she took out a restraining order against him in the third. (Not that she didn't have cause -- he'd been turning up at her house, harassing her when she went on dates, and once got into a fist fight with her new boyfriend. He didn't start that one, but it certainly didn't end well.) This book picks up a bit further down the line. The restraining order has since run out, and Ken now realizes it was a good thing in the long run, because it forced him to give the relationship the distance he needed to in order to genuinely move on -- and since his ex, Adele, began playing mind games with him immediately after it was lifted, he's realized just how messed up that relationship was. He’s still deeply hurt and angry about it, but no longer desperate to get her back.
Thats Ken's first bit of maturation between books. The second is that he's gotten a promotion to Chief, which means he actually has to be responsible for other people. He's still basically a wrecking ball of emotions, unable to keep his mouth shut, and he never says the right thing (even when he knows what he should say -- being a jerk is just funnier), but he can shut all that down and focus when he has to take charge. So he's in a much better place when this book picks up, though he still tends to fall in love at first sight, be led around by his emotions, and all he really wants is someone to love him back. Which is why he falls for, and is so hurt by, Savannah.
Savannah van Hopf is basically a Rockefeller. Her family is outrageously rich, and any time she dates it ends up in society gossip columns. She isn't close to most of her family (her incredible, former FBI agent grandmother, her distant father and uptight persnickety mother), except for her uncle (she's the only member of the family who knows he’s gay). So when her uncle is kidnapped, he contacts her about the ransom, and she has to go to Indonesia to pay it. But she's smart enough to know how dangerous that is, so she decides she needs to bring along someone to help. Now, back in the day, she went to college with Adele -- as a freshman, she worshipped then-senior Adele, and oh yeah, she had a crush on Adele’s geeky-but-super-hot boyfriend Kenny, who had already enlisted in the navy, and she knows he went on to be a SEAL. She also knows they've since broken up, but Adele gives her Ken’s contact info, and Savannah figures a SEAL is about the best she could manage for this kind of thing.
Except instead of calling him, asking for help and telling the truth, she goes to check out his house first, to make sure he isn't married or anything -- and when her tire goes flat, he actually stops to help her change it. She still has a huge crush on him, he falls for her instantly, and instead of asking him to accompany her to Indonesia, she accepts his invitation in for dinner, and they have several rounds of crazy good sex. Ken, being the ball of intense emotions that he is, immediately agrees to take two weeks of leave to spend with her, and sure, he'll go wherever she wants -- Indonesia, the moon, anywhere. It isn’t until after the leave is approved that she finally comes clean about having found him on purpose, and how she'd met him years ago in college.
Ken...does not take that well. As far as he's concerned, she was seducing him to manipulate him, and he's pissed as hell that it worked. But she genuinely hadn't meant for the sex to happen, and now that he's thrown her out she's stuck going to Indonesia alone. Except, of course, Ken is a sucker and can't bring himself to let her do that, so he shows up at last second to help -- and as soon as they reach Indonesia they're kidnapped, lost in the jungle, and stuck with each other as they try to survive. And as they do, they actually get to know each other for real, and when they fall hard for each other again, this time there are no lies or kidding around. They are off the scale passionate about each other and willing to do whatever it takes to get out alive.
Now, a lot of that set up focused on how great Ken is (AND HE IS), but it all works because Savannah is also great. She is not tough or wild or even particularly outspoken. She's sheltered -- she's never even been camping before -- and used to wearing suit dresses and high heels to work. She's ashamed of how scared she is of everything (she goes to Indonesia because it's the right thing to do, but she's terrified). She also never complains. Ken drags her through the jungle in bare feet (because that was better than her heels), her feet get all cut up, and she has to use antibacterial hand sanitizer on them. When Ken puts it on his cuts, he curses like, well, a sailor, because it stings so much; when Savannah does the same for her feet, she just grits her teeth and does it. Ken tells her they have to eat bugs? She eats them. Ken tells her she has to cover herself in slime? She does it. She is terrified of every single thing they encounter and she hates the entire experience of being outdoors -- but she never once complains about it, because what good would complaining do?
She is also incredibly brave (though she doesn't recognize that about herself) and a master of self-control. As soon as she realizes Ken genuinely will risk his life to save hers, she's determined not to let him -- she wanted his help, not to get him killed, after all. She makes some rash, bad decisions, but just about all of them are her attempting to keep him as safe as he's trying to keep her. And there's a great moment where Ken is ready to come out guns a-blazing, but she manages to talk him and the local warlord down to get them out of danger, just by being calm and self possessed. Savannah isn’t an action heroine, but she is freaking great.
And okay, I also have to note: while the sex scenes in this book are not the best in terms of writing, they totally got me anyway. I love that Ken, awkward duckling that he is, didn't know how to be smooth and just ask for Savannah's number and what came out instead was "you are so fucking pretty," and that he didn't even think to filter himself, talking on the phone with her later, from telling her just how much he wanted to go down on her. AND THEN LATER HE DOES. Which is the world's most awkward sex scene, writing-wise -- the act in question is referred to as "kissing" often enough that I had to reread a few times to figure out that no, they were not just making out a lot in the jungle -- BUT I am 100% a sucker for heroes who really dig going down on ladies, so there’s that. (And now you know me that much better. Hello, friends!)
(But for real I wish that scene had been better written.)
#2: Molly and Jones. These two are the secondary romance and a subplot, but it's probably worth backing up enough to note that the action plot throughout all of this...well, like I said, it's much better than previous books, but ultimately actually not that important. I didn't bother keeping track of which drug lord/smuggler/Russian mobster had actually kidnapped Ken and Savannah or was holding them hostage at any given point. All of the badguys were really just obstacles to Ken and Savannah making a safe return. Molly and Jones, however, were much more embroiled with the local politics.
Jones is a former American special forces operative who was left to die -- or more precisely, left to be tortured -- in Indonesia, and despite knowing he was there, the U.S. government never sent anyone to rescue him. He was, however, rescued by a powerful drug lord who he then served loyally for several years...until he found out the drug lord was actually going to turn him back over to the U.S. for a reward, since he'd been declared a traitor. He barely escaped with his life, and is now wanted by everyone on all sides of the conflict; if his identity ever leaks, he's a dead man. In the mean time, he’s got a tiny little plane and is smuggling basic supplies around the islands, looking for a score big enough to buy fake documents and passage to somewhere safer.
Molly, on the other hand, is a missionary. She's got some trauma in her past that has led her not to judge others, and at 41 years old she knows who she is and what she wants. She nursed Jones back to health when he was too sick to function, and enlists his help at the book's beginning in getting a sick child to a hospital that can only be reached by plane. They are attracted to each other, but he tries to scare her off by being particularly vulgar and rude and intimidating (because no! he can't let anyone into his heart! it's too dangerous for him to fall in love! etc etc whatever), but her responses are always along the lines of, "Yes yes, that's nice, you're very scary. Take off your pants, darling."
His bafflement at the fact that she just genuinely is not afraid of him, and sees him as a gentle protector rather than a big bad dangerous smuggler, is delightful. Of course they get caught up in the chase all around the jungle with Ken and Savannah. Jones has his dark moment where he walks away, knowing the others will be killed -- and can't go through with it, because he wubs Molly so much. But of course the book ends with them separating, her to go back to the U.S. for awhile and him to vanish into the night before his past catches up with him again, leaving them open to appear in later books.
They worked for me as a couple because I love that dynamic of the super badass dude who prides himself on being scary, and the perfectly pleasant woman who sees right through him. Also, their sex scenes were super hot, especially compared to Ken and Savannah's awkward jungle hook ups. Overall, a super solid B-plot romance, and I look forward to seeing their resolution in a later book.
#3: Rose. ROSE!! This is the first, and so far only, book where the WWII plotlines have genuinely worked. (The flashbacks in the first book were fine, but here they were genuinely compelling.) This is largely because Rose is a great character: a young woman whose parents are German immigrants, and who is recruited to be a spy by Nazis. But she's American through and through, so she agrees to do the spy work -- but instead becomes a double agent, planting false information. It all comes to a head when she sees someone she met in Germany and knows is an SS officer, and realizes she has to turn him in...but oh yeah, when she was in Germany she'd fallen in love with him. So, very regretfully, she sets out to seduce him and steal all of his secrets, because she may love him, but damn it, she's an American.
The flashbacks are all part of Rose's autobiography, which has just been released and is topping the bestseller list, so several characters are reading it excitedly throughout. And of course, Rose is also Savannah's grandmother -- and an active character in the book. Once she finds out her son has been kidnapped, she starts throwing around her clout in DC, because not only is she one of the wealthiest women in the world, she was also one of the first ever female FBI field agents. She’s hugely respected, almost worshipped, by all of the FBI characters in the book, and deservedly. She’s hella rad.
Her position as Savannah's grandmother also teases out some interesting character bits for Savannah. Savannah can't help but compare herself to her incredible grandmother, and come up lacking. She thinks those lacks probably disgust her grandmother, which is why they aren't close (when it's nothing of the sort and instead has everything to do with Savannah's uptight mother). Savannah's slow realization that she's more like Rose than she knew -- often scared, but always willing to push through it and do what needs to be done -- is lovely.
#4: So, the FBI crew, plus Sam and his wife, are all in this book. I am not sure why.
Well, okay, I am sure why; it's to continue the story thread about Sam and Alyssa. But plot-wise? They contribute very, very little. It semi-makes sense that the FBI has been called in, since there is that whole international kidnapping issue. Max's office gets involved (as close as I can tell because Rose specifically demanded them, since Max's team specializes in counter-terrorism and not, y'know, kidnapping cases, but whatever). Later, Sam and Team Sixteen are brought in to rescue Ken. But baaaasically none of that goes anywhere, plot-wise. (Stick a pin in that.)
As for what these people actually do... well, that ain't great. Max sees Alyssa avoiding a would-be paramore, and proceeds to kiss her publicly to make him go away, and also oh yeah, to make sure word gets around that they're banging (they're not) so said word will get back to Sam, who she loves but can't be with, and to Gina, who he loves and can't be with, and wow, that is some VERY awkward expository dialogue to bring readers up to speed on the Gina thing. Gina doesn't appear at all in the book, so Max has to sum their relationship up, rather unprofessionally, to Alyssa. And "unprofessional" is the name of the game here.
The thing is, Max doesn't really warn Alyssa what he’s going to do, and his decision is REALLY inappropriate. Like yes, both of your love lives suck, and it's nice to sympathize with one another. But Alyssa has spent the past three books explaining to anyone who'll listen that she has to be ice cold to be taken seriously and all she wants is to be respected professionally. Now that is TOTALLY out the window, because the entire SpecWar community thinks she's sleeping with her boss.
The kicker, of course, is that Alyssa is only angry about it for about four seconds. Then she gets all swoony thinking about Sam and decides it's for the best and she's totally content to sacrifice her hard-won professional reputation to make him jealous.
Whaaaat.
Here's the deal: I really love Alyssa as a concept, and I think it’s clear what Brockmann is going for with this character. But she doesn't actually get there. Alyssa is supposed to be totally badass, but it's been ages since we’ve seen her do anything except moon over Sam, and she's supposed to care deeply about her career but we haven't seen her do a single thing to advance or protect her career position since joining the FBI. It seems like the series wants to have it both ways, with her as a totally stone cold badass agent but also pining way for Sam; but instead, all we get is the pining, and the rest is implied by the text, almost never shown, and then canceled out by the actions we do see. But the story doesn't actually cop to that and instead keeps insisting Alyssa is the most awesome agent ever. So in the end, the Alyssa in my head, and I suspect in Brockmann’s head, is way more awesome than the Alyssa on the page. Sigh.
Meanwhile, Sam is miserable in his marriage. On the hand, he says he's trying to make things work; on the other hand, it's obvious that by "trying" all he means he's not actively cheating on her. He loves their daughter, and that is literally it. He doesn't seem to make even a mild effort to be nice to, let alone love, Mary Lou.
And to be fair: Mary Lou is horrible. Specifically, she's racist, and when she and Alyssa meet it's the first time Mary Lou has realized that Alyssa is black -- and Alyssa gets the joy of overhearing Mary Lou and Sam fight about that, as well as about whether or not Sam is still sleeping with Alyssa. It is a complete and utter mess, and none of them handles it well.
Alright, so. Alyssa's entire purpose in the book is to pine. She (along with Jules) is technically supposed to be Rose's liasson/escort type person, but all they do is hang out and read her autobiography. That's it.
Sam, at least, is given some vague action. He and the rest of Team Sixteen go in looking for Ken and the other hostages, but by the time the arrive to do the actual extraction, Jones has already broken everyone else out. So Sam and the team rescue Jones, and go home. The climax, sadly, is not the most exciting part of the book. Though Ken has been saying all along that this is actually a pretty easy op, so I guess that's something! But yep, by the time Ken, Savannah, and Molly find the kidnapped uncle (as hostages), Ken only needs about 45 seconds to deduce that Sam and crew are ready and waiting to rescue them, so there’s no tension, even when Jones comes in.
Though Ken having that realization is adorable: he finds a peanut M&M wrapper in the uncle's pocket, realizes that it was Sam's and deliberately placed there to clue him in. Cute. (Similarly, the rest of the team knew Ken was nearby because earlier he'd set off some explosions -- timed to go off to the rhythm of "shave and haircut.") Getting to see the team banter while being heroic is always fun.
Final thoughts: I'm bummed that I don’t find the pining stuff in this book endearing, because usually I looove pining. But that’s pretty much the only point I don’t love. The rest is A+, and Ken is an absolute delight of a character who easily stands out from the crowd of interchangeable alpha male SEALs.
BROCKMANN-ISM TALLY
- USES OF THE PHRASE "SOUL-KISS": No soul-kisses, but one "soul-shattering kiss"
- COUPLE WHO KNEW EACH OTHER IN HIGH SCHOOL AND/OR SHE'S HIS FRIEND'S SISTER: Technically not there, but Savannah had met and crushed on Ken in college, which has a very similar vibe
- PREGNANCY SCARE HE SECRETLY THINKS IS HOT: Also borderline - there's no real scare, or moment of "mmm pregnant women are soooo sexy" BUT there is definitely a moment when Ken is like "Okay, I need to pull out and take the condom off before anything spills because if I get you knocked up I want it to be from the fun of having unprotected sex. Hey, let's get married so we can do that." (&KEN;)
- SEX AT AN INOPPORTUNE TIME AND HE CAN'T PULL OUT BECAUSE REASONS: Nope. As inopportune as the jungle is, at no point are they actually interrupted by anyone.
- SOMEONE HAS THE FLU/FOOD POISONING/OTHERWISE VOMITS FOR NO REASON: Nope
- JAY LOPEZ SHOWS UP, EXPLAINS THAT HE'S A MEDIC, AND VANISHES AGAIN: Ha, well, yes, he's floating around in the background. The fact that he is a hospital corpsman is referenced. It is then referenced again, later, when Ken is thinking about how he doesn't know as much medical stuff as Jay does; and then it's how he's introduced when the team shows up to save Jones.
- JULES: Is in the book briefly, does not actually do anything - but we learn that he and Sam have become actual, genuine friends
- SAM AND ALYSSA: Pining for the fjords. Or, you know, each other.