sorry for the lack of updates lately... but it should pick up again soon :) US Open just finished, (Maria Sharapova just won against my fave Justine Henin-Hardenne... NOOOOOOOOO!!!) Anyway, that means I'll have more time to read. In addition, I just finished my internship for my master degree :D That means that I'll be more free, even if I'm starting a new job Monday. The new job doesn't require me to think too much, so more time to read. Altho I still have a seminar and thesis to prepare for the winter, I'm going to take a short break :) So youppi! more reading! I have a couple of books in my TBR pile to finish, so I'll try to do that ;) Meanwhile, I read Ames' review of Into the Storm and got curious so I bought the book (yes, bought... I'm impulsive, what can I say?) and here's what I think of it.
I don't want to grade this book, because it wouldn't be a fair grading to the book... So here we go:
I can't muster the same enthusiasm for this book as Ames and I did try a lot. I like the review Ames gave, but I had a lot of difficulty to get into the book. My first problem is the number of characters. I haven't read all the books by Ms Brockmann and so I lack a lot of background and details... and believe me, you'll need all of them, so her books are really not stand-alone, but that, I knew already. By the way, if you really want a synopsis or an idea of what's happening in the book, I'm directing you to Ames' review.
So about the story, I thought a lot happened and nothing at the same time. Contradictory? Yeah, that's howI feel about this book. I mean, it's not like NOTHING NOTHING happened, it seemed a bit forced. They do special training, simulations and it's like a game between them... The readers are aware of the bad evil guy, but not the Troubleshooters or SEALS... It seems the evil guy was added just to have something happening at the end. To put some pressure, some feeling of danger. If she'd taken another route, I think the book would still be as entertaining. If you're not going to run or track the evil guy, by the way, this guy was really, really evil, then why have him in it at all? So yeah, the plot was okay, but nothing really catchy.
If the book was to win my heart, it would be for the relationships in the books. However, it got me more confused than anything else. Jenkins wasn't a bad hero, but he wasn't all that appealing. I'll give thumbs up to Lindsey tho :) however, I think that she should have dealt with her doubts about her origins earlier... but then again, if her father didn't, why would she? I also wonder why in most of the Troubleshooters/SEALS books, why can't the relationships be more straightforward? why always put obstacles in the way.... because most of the time, Ms Brockmann put HUGE obstacles in the way. Anyway... Dave, Decker and Sophia... my god, what a love triangle. Personally, I'm rooting for Dave and Sophia, but I doubt my wishes are going to come true. So yeah, I thought there was too many relationships problem going on: Lindsey+Jerkins, the love triangle btw Dave, Decker and Sophia, by the way, what's up with all the men hitting on Sophia? and Izzy and Tracy... too many characters, again, Ms Brockmann is setting up her future stories that we might or might not read in her next novel.
Basically, my opinion on the Troubleshooters/SEALS books stand: I'm not a fan. I tried reading Into the Night as well... boy, not my favorite either and it started well, but it just went downhill. So if you're a fan of the Troubleshooters/SEALS, you'll probably enjoy this book. If you're new to Ms Brockmann books, you might want to read them in order to enjoy them better.
ps - One thing I really liked, altho I wish Ms Brockmann would have expanded on it, Mallory and Sully got married :D by the way, do they appear in any of the other books?
