INTO THE FIRE

Author: Suzanne Brockmann ISBN: 9780345501530 7/2008 SUSPENSE Publisher: BALLANTINE

Vinh Murphy—ex-Marine and onetime operative for the elite security firm Troubleshooters Incorporated—has been MIA ever since his wife, Angelina, was caught in a crossfire and killed during what should have been a routine bodyguard assignment. Overcome with grief, Murphy blames the neo-Nazi group known as the Freedom Network for her death. Now, years later, Freedom Network leader Tim Ebersole has been murdered—and the FBI suspects Murphy may have pulled the trigger. To prevent further bloodshed, Murphy's friends at Troubleshooters scramble to find him and convince him to surrender peacefully. Murphy himself can't be sure what he did or didn't do during the years he spent mourning and lost in an alcohol-induced fog. He does know he occasionally sought solace from Hannah Whitfield, a former police officer and the very friend who'd introduced him to his beloved late wife. But Hannah, still grappling with the deafness that resulted from an injury sustained while on duty, was fighting her own battles. For years Hannah had feelings for Murphy, and one painful night their suffering brought them together in a way neither expected—and both regretted. Murphy is ready to rejoin the living. As always, he finds himself knocking on Hannah's door, and as always, his longtime friend welcomes him back into her home. Yet even as Murphy slowly rebuilds his splintered life, he continues to fight his growing feelings for Hannah. Then he learns of Ebersole's murder and comes to believe that the Freedom Network has targeted him—and Hannah—to avenge their leader's death to violence. Now Murphy must face the terrifying prospect of losing another woman he loves. As the Troubleshooters desperately search for him, Murphy races toward a deadly confrontation with the Freedom Network and ultimate choice: surrender his life in hopes that Hannah will be spared, or risk everything to salvage whatever future they may have together.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

New to the Troubleshooter series by Suzanne Brockmann, I found her latest novel, INTO THE FIRE, to be filled with equal parts suspense, action, and romance, all of which were enough to keep me reading long into the night!

Hannah Whitfield and Vinh Murphy have been through hell and back with each other, but their friendship has always lasted the ups and downs of life. But when Murph falls off the radar and is suspected of murdering the leader of the cult he holds responsible for his late wife Angelina's death, Hannah will stop at nothing to prove the man she has secretly loved from the beginning is innocent. It is in this shared quest that the two are forced to face the demons of the past in order to have any kind of future together. The story is great as it starts out six months before the present, but along with that, readers are given glimpses into the past of both main characters and how they became the great friends that they are. I loved that and I found myself wanting more, though what I received was more than enough. Instantly, Hannah and her "bwee," her nickname for Vinh, were my friends too, and I wanted the best for both of them after the horrible loss they had both suffered at the hands of crazed, homegrown terrorists.

INTO THE FIRE is supported by several plotlines, the second of which is the budding romance between Navy SEAL Izzy Kanella and young Eden Gillman, the sister of one of Kanella's SEAL teammates and an adversary. As the SEALs are called in to help the Troubleshooters Inc. in trying to locate Murphy before the FBI does, we are given the story of these two young people that are thrown together by a series of events, as they try to fight their feelings for one another while dealing with an impending marriage and baby. By the end of this novel, their story is not completely told and I very much look forward to when they will have a novel of their own (fingers crossed) in the future.

The third storyline that I felt pulled the novel together was how the death of Angelina Murphy, years before, had affected different members of the Troubleshooters team, including Team Leader on that horrible-ending mission Lawrence "Larry" Decker, and TS operators Dave Malkoff and Sophia Ghaffari, amongst others. As they are all forced to deal with the role they played in that mission and how it has affected their lives, along with other things from the past, the reader is pulled that much deeper into the lives of these people. There was laughter and there were tears, and I found myself becoming attached to these characters so quickly, which is a true testament to this author's capability in penning greatly complex and very real characters. After I hit page 400, there was absolutely nothing that was going to stop me from finishing this book, and as I read that last few lines, I was already looking ahead to Brockmann's next release, which unfortunately won't be out until early 2009.

I actually have purchased a few of Brockmann's novels in this series before, but quickly relegated them to the To Be Read pile. But no more. I will be quickly searching for and dusting off those novels and making sure I find the others in this wonderfully captivating series. INTO THE FIRE completely pulled this reader in from the very beginning, and I want to know more about all of these characters and make sure they each find happiness in some manner. Run to pick up your copy of Suzanne Brockmann's latest novel, INTO THE FIRE, because you will not be disappointed by the gripping story within its pages!

Maame Kanbi