First, no matter what the blurb on the back says, the primary story here is a love story between the two male principals. Sure, there's a woman, but she's mostly boring. How did Nash and Decker meet? Why are they an inseperable, unstoppable team? Why does Decker trust Nash so much when Nash is totally fucked in the head? Why does Nash listen to and trust Decker alone in the world? Why is Nash so fucked in the head? When did they fall in love? I just don't care that much about which of them ends up with Tess (who is BORING) because I'm so caught up in the (totally unexplained!) man!angst. Nash is trying to think of something bad enough to do that Decker won't want to work with him anymore, and Decker is worried Nash is in trouble and they clearly adore each other but no one will tell me WHY.
Second, this book is heinously guilty of tell-don't-show. Not once but twice the main couple has sex -- offscreen. It would be one thing if the book was prudish, but there are three other vivid sex scenes, so I kind of don't get it. They're kissing, cut to someone else, cut to him taking the condom off and her angsting about it for the next ten chapters. Later, Nash gets captured by the bad guys in what ought to be a really pulse-raising scene, but we hear about it from him later, once he's home and clearly safe. The Big Plan at the end is also at least partially off screen. Tess's escape from a madman's dungeon is mostly off-screen and narrated later. I was never emotionally caught up.
In a nutshell: If you're going to give two characters a complicated emotional relationship you must explain it. If you're going to put characters in peril, you must let the reader experience it. Ugh.
The book's borderline, but I like Brockmann so I'll go with a C.
Originally posted 2007
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