The Defiant Hero


Troubleshooters, #2
Suzanne Brockmann


Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Narrator: Patrick Lawlor, Melanie Ewbank,
Date of Publication: August 15, 2014
Abridged or Unabridged: Unabridged
Length of Production: 15 hrs and 41 mins

There are eight words Meg Moore has never been able to forget: the United States refuses to negotiate with terrorists. But what was merely a chilling warning when she worked as a translator in a European embassy now spells out a potential death sentence for her daughter and grandmother, who have been kidnapped by a lethal group called the Extremists. Meg has to act and quickly. Going against everything she was taught, she will now do anything to meet their unspeakable demands; anything even kill to save her child.

When Navy SEAL Lieutenant, junior grade, John Nilsson is summoned to Washington, DC, by the FBI to help negotiate a hostage situation, the last person he expects to see holding a foreign ambassador at gunpoint is Meg. He hasn't seen her in years, but he s never forgotten how it feels to hold her in his arms. John could lose his career if he helps her escape. She will lose her life if he doesn't.

I had requested book 1, The Unsung Hero, at the same time as this book from Audiobook Jukebox. I believe that I received ARCs of the stories, simply from some of the minor sound issues that I experienced during the listen. Though my biggest problem was with one of the names of the characters being pronounced differently throughout. There is a character discussed who's name we hear as Rafe, but apparently was spelled as Ralph. The difference being English versus American pronunciation, and this is mentioned in the story. Unfortunately, the narrator kept flip flopping back and forth between the pronunciations. I am hoping that this small but irritating error was fixed before final production.

I had some problems with the style of the narration of the first book, so I had been a bit leery about starting this one.  I don't know if I had gotten used to the 2 speaker narration or the transitions from Melanie to Patrick were smoother, but I didn't have as many problems with this one.  Each one had a much more defined "time" when they would be speaking and it kept it easier to keep track of what was going on.

As with the first story, there are multiple story lines going on throughout.  We had the Meg/John romance, the Eve/Rafe flashback WWII romance, and the Allysa/Sam romance. All of these are being spun around the kidnapping of Meg's daughter and grandmother by terrorists.

I have read a lot of books that called Meg TSTL (Too Stupid Too Live). I didn't think that. Did I get frustrated with her? Yes. But mainly because I wanted to see the Seal Team storm the terrorists hideout and be all action hero-y. But Meg had major trust issues. And how can you trust someone you don't think you know to save your loved ones, when you know you can. She refused to be patted on the head and taken care of. Was it risky and probably stupid? Yes. But she was desperate. And desperate people can be the most dangerous of all. As a matter of fact, all the women in this book showed that true strength doesn't lie in how much you can bench press. It has to do with your heart and the determination to do whatever needs doing when you love someone.

I liked this book much better than the first one and look forward to the continuation of Allysa and Sam's storyline. This was worth 3 stars.

The Unsung Hero


Troubleshooters, #1
Suzanne Brockmann


Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Narrator: Patrick Lawlor, Melanie Ewbank,
Date of Publication: July 15, 2014
Abridged or Unabridged: Unabridged
Length of Production: 15 hrs and 15 mins

After a near-fatal head injury, navy SEAL lieutenant Tom Paoletti catches a terrifying glimpse of an international terrorist in his New England hometown. When he calls for help, the navy dismisses the danger as injury-induced imaginings. In a desperate, last-ditch effort to prevent disaster, Tom creates his own makeshift counterterrorist team, assembling his most loyal officers, two elderly war veterans, a couple of misfit teenagers, and Dr. Kelly Ashton-the sweet "girl next door" who has grown into a remarkable woman. The town's infamous bad boy, Tom has always longed for Kelly. Now he has one final chance for happiness, one last chance to win her heart, and one desperate chance to save the day...

I got this audiobook from Audiobook Jukebox for an honest review. I liked the premise of the story and from the brief clip on audible, I liked the sound of the female narrator.  First of all, let me start by saying that this is a new recording of a book originally published in 2000.  The first audio recording was done back in 2008 and only has 1 narrator. To be clear, the version I heard was with Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank and was recently released. That didn't change the fact that it was a little bit dated due to the story being 14 years old. It wasn't crazy noticeable, but there were a few places that I did the Huh? at.

There were 3 story lines going on here. The main story is about Tom and Kelly and their second chance romance. The second is about Tom's teenage niece Mallory and David, a boy she meets.  The third tells the story of Kelly's father and Tom's uncle during WWII in occupied France and their love triangle with a local French woman who is head of the local resistance.  Sound confusing? They really aren't and all the threads eventually weave into a cohesive story.

My biggest problem was with the two narrators and trying to figure out the rhyme or reason to who was talking.  It wasn't like the Melanie did all the female voices/thoughts and Patrick took the men.  Nope. It wasn't even like male/female perspectives, or every other chapter or anything I could figure out. I swear I spent more time trying to figure out why this person was speaking versus that person, it distracted me from the story.  I think that either one could have done a credible job on their own. But together, it was just a hot mess.

Since I had already requested the next book, The Defiant Hero, it is next  up. But I don't know whether I will be requesting anymore.  I'm just not sure how I feel about the dual narrators. Maybe it will grow on me, but I just don't know. I would have gone 3 stars for this, but I just couldn't get a handle on the narration. 2 stars.