FORCE OF NATURE (TROUBLESHOOTERS #11, FOUR AND A HALF STARS)
OKAY FIRST A SILLY THING; I doubt more than one or two people read this who don't also follow me on tumblr, but because I'm me, I did, in fact, write a 30k fic about Adam and Tony, also featuring Jay Lopez smooching a girl. It's over on AO3.
Description from Goodreads: Florida private investigator and ex-cop Ric Alvarado's life is spiraling out of control. His beautiful new girl Friday, Annie Dugan, is far more interested in fieldwork than filing, and despite Ric's best efforts to ignore the attraction, sparks are flying between them. Then one of Ric's clients turns femme fatale and tries to gun down an innocent man. Thanks to quick thinking and even quicker reflexes, Ric comes to the rescue, only to learn he's done a very good deed for some very bad people. Suddenly Ric finds himself deep undercover with Annie, working for notorious crime boss Gordon Burns. One mistake from Ric's painfully inexperienced partner and they're both dead.
FBI agent Jules Cassidy's life isn't in much better shape. For years the FBI has been trying to prove Gordon Burns's ties to terrorist activity. Now, thanks to Ric and Annie, Jules has found a way into the lion's den. But in the course of his investigation he comes face-to-face with Robin Chadwick, the charismatic but self-destructive and closeted movie star for whom Jules feels a powerful attraction. Robin's in town promoting his latest film and Gordon Burns is a star-struck movie buff. With Robin and Jules's help, Ric and Annie are soon entrenched in Burns' organization, surrounded by killers who may already have executed an FBI infiltrator. Before long the couple realizes that many more lives besides their own will be at stake if they make a false move. As the heat between them reaches dangerous levels, so do the risks they're willing to take-in the line of duty, for the sake of loyalty, and in the name of something that runs even deeper.
THIS IS THE ONE WHERE JULES AND ROBIN BANG IN A LIMO. Also other things happen. I… I don’t have a ton to say on this one.
I: Annie is great! Ric is the wooooorst
II: JULES AND ROBIN THO
III: I guess also there’s a plot
I: While this book resolves Jules and Robin, finally giving Jules his happily ever after, I am always surprised upon rereading to realize they are technically the subplot. Yes, a very important subplot, but I always expect the book to be split about 50/50 between the two romances, and it really isn’t. So let me hold off on all of my capslock squee (and apologize in advance that this is not going to be a very good review) and talk about Annie and Ric.
Annie is wonderful. She starts the book coming out of grief, looking for a change in her life; she wants to do something fun and physical and above all interesting, rather than returning to life as an accountant. So she convinces former-cop-current-PI Ric to take her on as an assistant. He was thinking receptionist, but she wants to be an investigator -- and she’s awfully good at it, and won’t settle for less. Annie has no real training in any of this, but she’s naturally very gifted (eventually it turns out she’s a better shot that Ric, even though she’s never fired a weapon before). She is incredibly quick on her feet and fits into the world of espionage and danger immediately and seamlessly -- by the end of the book, Troubleshooters is already trying to recruit her. Basically, Annie is great.
Ric is...not.
Ric was actually introduced all the way back in GONE TOO FAR. Gina’s hotel room had been broken into, causing Max to freak out, and Ric was the detective on the case. He and Gina almost hooked up, but she told him about her hostage experience, and he was no longer interested (though still willing, out of pity; it was not a great experience for either of them). His description of her, looking back, is “crazy beautiful, as well as just plain crazy” which is...really not fair or cool. Hey, the girl who was gang raped has a little trouble with hookups, HOW CRAZY. (I probably shouldn’t have put quotation marks around that, since I didn’t look it up in the text, but I’m reasonably sure that’s it.)
Aside from that, there are basically two problems with Ric. The first is that it feels like the narrative wants to have it two ways with him. He’s a suave horndog womanizer -- Annie certainly believes that, and even though he claims it’s not true, he also allows himself to be (nearly) seduced by the book’s femme fatale, a former porn star (it doesn’t end up happening, but only because they’re interrupted). That also lines up with his portrayal in GONE TOO FAR. Yet at the same time, he’s supposed to be inwardly sensitive and not the womanizer Annie thinks he is. It seems like maybe Brockmann wanted him to be a reformed playboy, except we don’t really see any of that, we’re just told, at varying times, that he’s both a playboy and also not a playboy at all.
The other issue is that he’s a sexist douchebag.
He spends the entire book not just trying to protect Annie and keep her safe, but going on and on about how he doesn’t want her working for him, he doesn’t think she should be there, etc. The good news is that Annie calls him on it, relatively early on. They fight a lot, and she calls him on being patronizing and sexist. He answers that it’s not sexist, he just wants to protect her specifically, it isn’t about her being a woman. But we don’t ever see him interact with other women (except the porn star) and all of his actions, and his reactions to Annie’s participation, do, in fact, come across as sexist douchebaggery. She repeatedly does an excellent job with the spy shenanigans. She realizes he’s about to be caught by the badguys and sneaks in to provide cover for him -- and he yells at her for doing something risky. She sees the porn star is about to shoot at him, there’s no way to warn him, and no one else there to help, so she jumps out a window and takes her out herself -- and he yells at her for doing something risky. She kicks butt on the firing range -- and while he doesn’t yell at her, he storms off, and then later gets pissy and explains it’s because now she’ll never stop doing risky things.
A lot of books in this series feature heroes having moments of revelation that the women they love are able to take care of themselves. Ken has that moment with Savannah in the jungle. Sam is repeatedly really uncomfortable with not being able to protect Alyssa, but always eventually checks himself and reminds himself that she’s extremely capable. Cosmo and Izzy both have moments where they realize the women they love are reckless -- but doing dangerous things for good reason, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ric never has that moment. Instead, through the whole book he continues to act like the fact that he’s in love with Annie gives him the right to force her out of doing important, risky things -- when she is not just very good at them, she’s way, way better than he is. It is incredibly patronizing and infuriating. Ugh.
II: BUT WHO CARES ABOUT ANY OF THAT, BECAUSE JULES AND ROBIN.
Jules has been angstily pining for awhile now, but at the end of the day, he was already basically a perfect human being. It’s Robin who’s had to change to become worthy of him, so FORCE OF NATURE picks up with him not quite there yet. Two years post-American Hero, Robin has come to terms with his sexuality. He definitely knows he’s gay (and that he’s in love with Jules), but because he’s also the hottest rising star in Hollywood, he isn’t willing to come out. Doing so would, without a doubt, flatten his career.
He has not, however, come to terms with the fact that he’s an alcoholic. He thinks of himself as a partier, with plenty to celebrate. Jane and Cosmo have made it clear they’re worried about him (and they don’t trust him to babysit their kiddo), but despite the fact that he’s still regularly getting blackout drunk, he just does not admit he has an issue.
So Robin is getting there. He won’t admit he’s an alcoholic, and he’s still fooling himself into thinking he’s happy, but he’s also overall a kind, competent person. Fast on his feet, and physically very, very fit. Which I bring up because he does transform from movie-star-action-hero to real-life-action-hero. (Uh. “Real life.”) And that’s actually how he and Jules crash into each other again - Jules’s investigation of Gordon Burns brings him to town while Robin is promoting his latest movie, and Jules, smartie that he is, decides it’s better if they meet in private beforehand instead of blindsiding Robin in public, so he shows up at Robin’s hotel room AND IT’S SO HOT ;LKAJSDFL;KJASDFJKL;ASFD
Um, like I said. Not gonna be a great review. But I have that scene, and a few others from the book, bookmarked on my Nook to reread on dreary days. Because the emotions when Jules walks in are INTENSE, as is the making out. And what’s extra-great is that from that moment on, Robin is wonderfully determined. Jules wants to keep him at arm’s length; Robin immediately gets himself embroiled in Jules’s investigation. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because he refuses to let Jules go this time and is determined to prove that he’s worth it.
AND THEN THEY BANG IN A LIMO.
I may have mentioned that already, didn’t I?
Anyway - the buildup of their emotions and the fallout is brilliantly well done. Robin still refuses to admit to his drinking problem, but when Jules gets the news that Ben is dead, and he thinks Jules had just been using him, it makes total sense that his devastation leads to him getting drunk and nearly dying; Jules’s heartbreak and rage as he finds himself, once again, taking care of an unconscious Robin, is palpable. Followed by Robin’s determination that he’s not an alcoholic so he can totally totally fix this, and look, Jules, if he stops drinking and you’ll just wait for three movies he’ll come out and…
Ohhh it’s so good.
ANYWAY, it makes total sense with where they are, emotionally, that Jules would be more than willing to risk his life to save Robin’s at the climax; and that Robin will do the same. But the moment Robin tearfully confesses that yes, he is an alcoholic and yes he did have a drink (so he could stop his hands from shaking and set up the C4 they needed) is lovely, and Jules telling him that he’ll wait is beautiful, and Robin deciding NOT to wait because he realizes he’d rather have Jules and no career than be famous and lose Jules is just ;LKJASDFL;KJASDFLJK;ASDFJKLASDFL;JKASFDL;
ANYWAY
THAT WASN’T A REVIEW, JUST A LOT OF THINGS THAT HAPPENED
THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED WERE GOOD
IT’S A GOOD BOOK
JULES AND ROBIN BANG IN A LIMO, DID I MENTION
III: I guess also there’s a plot. It isn’t anything super amazingly extraordinary, but I wanted to note it because this is one of the books where Brockmann’s tools are all used perfectly.The romances are both well intertwined with the plot, so there’s no dead time when it’s only about people having feelings and nothing actually happening. The plot moves quickly and the stakes are raised throughout, so there’s no Sudden Action Climax at the end; it’s just a natural progression of what’s happened so far. It’s deadly and dangerous enough to be enticing, and gives the characters fun and exciting ways to play off each other.
Obviously I’m biased, but I think FORCE OF NATURE is legit one of the best books in the series. And not just because of the previously mentioned limo scene. Really! The only reason this doesn’t get a perfect five star score is because, ugh, Ric. Everything else is wonderful.
BROCKMANNISM TALLY
Description from Goodreads: Florida private investigator and ex-cop Ric Alvarado's life is spiraling out of control. His beautiful new girl Friday, Annie Dugan, is far more interested in fieldwork than filing, and despite Ric's best efforts to ignore the attraction, sparks are flying between them. Then one of Ric's clients turns femme fatale and tries to gun down an innocent man. Thanks to quick thinking and even quicker reflexes, Ric comes to the rescue, only to learn he's done a very good deed for some very bad people. Suddenly Ric finds himself deep undercover with Annie, working for notorious crime boss Gordon Burns. One mistake from Ric's painfully inexperienced partner and they're both dead.
FBI agent Jules Cassidy's life isn't in much better shape. For years the FBI has been trying to prove Gordon Burns's ties to terrorist activity. Now, thanks to Ric and Annie, Jules has found a way into the lion's den. But in the course of his investigation he comes face-to-face with Robin Chadwick, the charismatic but self-destructive and closeted movie star for whom Jules feels a powerful attraction. Robin's in town promoting his latest film and Gordon Burns is a star-struck movie buff. With Robin and Jules's help, Ric and Annie are soon entrenched in Burns' organization, surrounded by killers who may already have executed an FBI infiltrator. Before long the couple realizes that many more lives besides their own will be at stake if they make a false move. As the heat between them reaches dangerous levels, so do the risks they're willing to take-in the line of duty, for the sake of loyalty, and in the name of something that runs even deeper.
THIS IS THE ONE WHERE JULES AND ROBIN BANG IN A LIMO. Also other things happen. I… I don’t have a ton to say on this one.
I: Annie is great! Ric is the wooooorst
II: JULES AND ROBIN THO
III: I guess also there’s a plot
I: While this book resolves Jules and Robin, finally giving Jules his happily ever after, I am always surprised upon rereading to realize they are technically the subplot. Yes, a very important subplot, but I always expect the book to be split about 50/50 between the two romances, and it really isn’t. So let me hold off on all of my capslock squee (and apologize in advance that this is not going to be a very good review) and talk about Annie and Ric.
Annie is wonderful. She starts the book coming out of grief, looking for a change in her life; she wants to do something fun and physical and above all interesting, rather than returning to life as an accountant. So she convinces former-cop-current-PI Ric to take her on as an assistant. He was thinking receptionist, but she wants to be an investigator -- and she’s awfully good at it, and won’t settle for less. Annie has no real training in any of this, but she’s naturally very gifted (eventually it turns out she’s a better shot that Ric, even though she’s never fired a weapon before). She is incredibly quick on her feet and fits into the world of espionage and danger immediately and seamlessly -- by the end of the book, Troubleshooters is already trying to recruit her. Basically, Annie is great.
Ric is...not.
Ric was actually introduced all the way back in GONE TOO FAR. Gina’s hotel room had been broken into, causing Max to freak out, and Ric was the detective on the case. He and Gina almost hooked up, but she told him about her hostage experience, and he was no longer interested (though still willing, out of pity; it was not a great experience for either of them). His description of her, looking back, is “crazy beautiful, as well as just plain crazy” which is...really not fair or cool. Hey, the girl who was gang raped has a little trouble with hookups, HOW CRAZY. (I probably shouldn’t have put quotation marks around that, since I didn’t look it up in the text, but I’m reasonably sure that’s it.)
Aside from that, there are basically two problems with Ric. The first is that it feels like the narrative wants to have it two ways with him. He’s a suave horndog womanizer -- Annie certainly believes that, and even though he claims it’s not true, he also allows himself to be (nearly) seduced by the book’s femme fatale, a former porn star (it doesn’t end up happening, but only because they’re interrupted). That also lines up with his portrayal in GONE TOO FAR. Yet at the same time, he’s supposed to be inwardly sensitive and not the womanizer Annie thinks he is. It seems like maybe Brockmann wanted him to be a reformed playboy, except we don’t really see any of that, we’re just told, at varying times, that he’s both a playboy and also not a playboy at all.
The other issue is that he’s a sexist douchebag.
He spends the entire book not just trying to protect Annie and keep her safe, but going on and on about how he doesn’t want her working for him, he doesn’t think she should be there, etc. The good news is that Annie calls him on it, relatively early on. They fight a lot, and she calls him on being patronizing and sexist. He answers that it’s not sexist, he just wants to protect her specifically, it isn’t about her being a woman. But we don’t ever see him interact with other women (except the porn star) and all of his actions, and his reactions to Annie’s participation, do, in fact, come across as sexist douchebaggery. She repeatedly does an excellent job with the spy shenanigans. She realizes he’s about to be caught by the badguys and sneaks in to provide cover for him -- and he yells at her for doing something risky. She sees the porn star is about to shoot at him, there’s no way to warn him, and no one else there to help, so she jumps out a window and takes her out herself -- and he yells at her for doing something risky. She kicks butt on the firing range -- and while he doesn’t yell at her, he storms off, and then later gets pissy and explains it’s because now she’ll never stop doing risky things.
A lot of books in this series feature heroes having moments of revelation that the women they love are able to take care of themselves. Ken has that moment with Savannah in the jungle. Sam is repeatedly really uncomfortable with not being able to protect Alyssa, but always eventually checks himself and reminds himself that she’s extremely capable. Cosmo and Izzy both have moments where they realize the women they love are reckless -- but doing dangerous things for good reason, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ric never has that moment. Instead, through the whole book he continues to act like the fact that he’s in love with Annie gives him the right to force her out of doing important, risky things -- when she is not just very good at them, she’s way, way better than he is. It is incredibly patronizing and infuriating. Ugh.
II: BUT WHO CARES ABOUT ANY OF THAT, BECAUSE JULES AND ROBIN.
Jules has been angstily pining for awhile now, but at the end of the day, he was already basically a perfect human being. It’s Robin who’s had to change to become worthy of him, so FORCE OF NATURE picks up with him not quite there yet. Two years post-American Hero, Robin has come to terms with his sexuality. He definitely knows he’s gay (and that he’s in love with Jules), but because he’s also the hottest rising star in Hollywood, he isn’t willing to come out. Doing so would, without a doubt, flatten his career.
He has not, however, come to terms with the fact that he’s an alcoholic. He thinks of himself as a partier, with plenty to celebrate. Jane and Cosmo have made it clear they’re worried about him (and they don’t trust him to babysit their kiddo), but despite the fact that he’s still regularly getting blackout drunk, he just does not admit he has an issue.
So Robin is getting there. He won’t admit he’s an alcoholic, and he’s still fooling himself into thinking he’s happy, but he’s also overall a kind, competent person. Fast on his feet, and physically very, very fit. Which I bring up because he does transform from movie-star-action-hero to real-life-action-hero. (Uh. “Real life.”) And that’s actually how he and Jules crash into each other again - Jules’s investigation of Gordon Burns brings him to town while Robin is promoting his latest movie, and Jules, smartie that he is, decides it’s better if they meet in private beforehand instead of blindsiding Robin in public, so he shows up at Robin’s hotel room AND IT’S SO HOT ;LKAJSDFL;KJASDFJKL;ASFD
Um, like I said. Not gonna be a great review. But I have that scene, and a few others from the book, bookmarked on my Nook to reread on dreary days. Because the emotions when Jules walks in are INTENSE, as is the making out. And what’s extra-great is that from that moment on, Robin is wonderfully determined. Jules wants to keep him at arm’s length; Robin immediately gets himself embroiled in Jules’s investigation. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because he refuses to let Jules go this time and is determined to prove that he’s worth it.
AND THEN THEY BANG IN A LIMO.
I may have mentioned that already, didn’t I?
Anyway - the buildup of their emotions and the fallout is brilliantly well done. Robin still refuses to admit to his drinking problem, but when Jules gets the news that Ben is dead, and he thinks Jules had just been using him, it makes total sense that his devastation leads to him getting drunk and nearly dying; Jules’s heartbreak and rage as he finds himself, once again, taking care of an unconscious Robin, is palpable. Followed by Robin’s determination that he’s not an alcoholic so he can totally totally fix this, and look, Jules, if he stops drinking and you’ll just wait for three movies he’ll come out and…
Ohhh it’s so good.
ANYWAY, it makes total sense with where they are, emotionally, that Jules would be more than willing to risk his life to save Robin’s at the climax; and that Robin will do the same. But the moment Robin tearfully confesses that yes, he is an alcoholic and yes he did have a drink (so he could stop his hands from shaking and set up the C4 they needed) is lovely, and Jules telling him that he’ll wait is beautiful, and Robin deciding NOT to wait because he realizes he’d rather have Jules and no career than be famous and lose Jules is just ;LKJASDFL;KJASDFLJK;ASDFJKLASDFL;JKASFDL;
ANYWAY
THAT WASN’T A REVIEW, JUST A LOT OF THINGS THAT HAPPENED
THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED WERE GOOD
IT’S A GOOD BOOK
JULES AND ROBIN BANG IN A LIMO, DID I MENTION
III: I guess also there’s a plot. It isn’t anything super amazingly extraordinary, but I wanted to note it because this is one of the books where Brockmann’s tools are all used perfectly.The romances are both well intertwined with the plot, so there’s no dead time when it’s only about people having feelings and nothing actually happening. The plot moves quickly and the stakes are raised throughout, so there’s no Sudden Action Climax at the end; it’s just a natural progression of what’s happened so far. It’s deadly and dangerous enough to be enticing, and gives the characters fun and exciting ways to play off each other.
Obviously I’m biased, but I think FORCE OF NATURE is legit one of the best books in the series. And not just because of the previously mentioned limo scene. Really! The only reason this doesn’t get a perfect five star score is because, ugh, Ric. Everything else is wonderful.
BROCKMANNISM TALLY
- USES OF THE PHRASE “SOUL-KISS”: One.
- COUPLE WHO KNEW EACH OTHER IN HIGH SCHOOL AND/OR SHE’S HIS FRIEND’S SISTER: Yep - Annie was Ric’s best friend’s little sister in high school, who he’s had a crush on since she was 11.
- PREGNANCY SCARE HE SECRETLY THINKS IS HOT: Yep, not shockingly, Ric and Annie forget to use a condom and he is sooooooo into it.
- SEX AT AN INOPPORTUNE TIME AND HE CAN’T PULL OUT BECAUSE REASONS: Yep, that same scene. Ric realizes that he’s not wearing a condom and can’t pull out, because the motion would make him come, so...he has to propose to her first. Sure.
- SOMEONE HAS THE FLU/FOOD POISONING/OTHERWISE VOMITS FOR NO REASON: Robin does not, in fact, have a flu, but he tries to convince himself he does while he’s actually detoxing. And of course there’s also plenty of drunken/hungover vomiting. Oh, Robin. You mess.
- JAY LOPEZ SHOWS UP, EXPLAINS THAT HE’S A MEDIC, AND VANISHES AGAIN: Nope. There are shockingly few SEALs in this book.
- JULES: Juuuuuuuuuules :ugly sobbing:
- SAM AND ALYSSA: Exchange some emails with Jules, in which they dispense some reasonably good advice (and also offer to hook him up with Tony, heehee). Sam himself does actually show up in person, but Alyssa doesn’t, alas.