Suzanne Brockmann addresses serious social issues like homophobia and alcoholism in her latest installment in the Troubleshooters series, FORCE OF NATURE. That aside, she still manages to throw in two equally compelling love stories with the right amount of humor and suspense!
First introduced in GONE TOO FAR, Ric Alvarado is a private investigator and former police detective who has his hands full with Annie Dugan, his receptionist who wants to be his assistant, and Pierre, her neurotic mini-mutt. Ric and Annie are working what they think is a missing person case and end up in the good graces of a local crime lord, Gordon Burns, after saving his son's life. Things only go downhill. It turns out that Ric and Annie have stumbled into an ongoing FBI terrorism investigation.
Enter Jules Cassidy, openly gay FBI agent extraordinaire, a regular in the Troubleshooters series since THE DEFIANT HERO. Jules is leading the FBI team looking into Burns since their undercover agent went missing. Anyone who was eagerly anticipating Jules' story will not be let down.
This was a great read that I did not want to put down. Several past characters in the Troubleshooting series make appearances, but this book can be read as a stand alone. For this long time reader and fan, it will definitely be a keeper and one that I reread. Jules finally gets his happy ending! Of course, Annie is a strong character and one I hope will appear in future Troubleshooting books because she starts out as a tomboy but becomes a woman who does what needs to be done no matter how painful. Who doesn't love a heroine with a lot of spunk, a good sense of humor and a canine sidekick?
Hard-driving suspense and intense passion are the hallmarks of bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann’s pulse-pounding thrillers. In her tales of daring, danger, courage, and desire, men and women of action fight fiercely, love deeply, and time after time raise the bar for adventure. Force of Nature is no exception. 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’ s 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.
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