Gone Too Far

Okay. If this review was just of the heroine it would struggle to even get one star. But Sam - oh Sam - I was ambivalent towards him until this book, but now I love him. On top of that, my beloved Max and Gina are back, and Tom and Kelly - characters I didn’t much care for before - were great. This book signals the beginning of the end for many characters - after this one a whole lot of people are going to lose their careers, and I’m not sure I liked that. The series is moving into a new stage, but I liked what it was before.
I came into this one desperately wanting to like it more. I knew it would be a struggle - the ‘Ice Bitch’ ‘heroine’ is a nasty, self-serving piece of work, and it would have taken nothing short of a show more miracle for me to care about her happy ending.

Navy SEAL Sam’s estranged wife and his daughter have disappeared. When he goes to their house to track down the divorce papers he instead finds a murder scene. Alyssa - the supposed love of his life - is an FBI agent who is sent there to deal with the case. All this would be bad enough, but another member of Sam’s team has just been wrongfully accused of playing a part in a terrorist attack on home soil. All of this combined is starting to look like someone wants to frame SEAL Team Sixteen. There are a whole lot of other side stories going on too - when I say don’t start the series here, I’m really serious!!
The main relationship (or non-relationship as it’s been most of the time) has been going for six books, and the terrorist attack the story revolves around took place in the previous book. The secondary story involving Max and Gina began three books ago. You might be able to catch up on what’s going on but the emotional impact of it is going to be nonexistent unless you’ve already been through the dramas with the characters.

I have a lot of negative things to say about this book, but I did absolutely love how everything came together at the end. All these seemingly separate storylines were pulled together in such a complex way. Sam’s childhood parts were very moving. There were so many little moments in the book that were brilliantly done. It was whenever we came back to Alyssa that I remembered what I didn’t like about the story.

At the beginning of this book when Sam discovers what he thinks is his estranged wife’s dead body he calls the FBI for help and ends up talking to Alyssa. And what does she do? She immediately assumes Sam is the murderer. I couldn’t believe it. Then - when I thought she couldn’t get any worse - she is stupid and selfish enough to believe she can make out with Sam a bit and he’ll choose to NOT go looking for his missing daughter - because, you know, she’s so fantastic he’ll choose cheap sex in the back of a car over the life of his daughter. Nasty, horrible, self-absorbed woman.

I don’t think Alyssa would have the fan following she has if she wasn’t paired with Sam. On her own she’s not worth the effort. In fact she’s my least favourite character in this entire gigantic cast of Troubleshooters characters. She’s never nice. Never.
She's a Mary Sue - from an author who I didn’t think could ever write one. She stands up as a platform for all of the issues Suzanne Brockmann likes writing about. She’s mixed-race - apparently some mix of exotic races that basically make her the most beautiful woman in the world or something. She has a gay best friend. She’s making it big in a man’s world. She is a big enough person to let the love of her life walk away, for the sake of others. She even gets a couple of Brockmann’s beloved pregnancy scares. She’s benevolent and beautiful and talented at everything she does, and every person - male, female, young, old, bad, good - they all love her and think she’s superior and fantastic. The woman's only flaw appears to be that she wears a bum bag (fanny pack - I’m sorry, but that term’s just too rude!).
And yet she’s always cold and even nasty, especially when it comes to Sam.
Sam - who I came close to hating in the last book - redeemed himself here in a major way. On top of showing us more about why he was so depressed and why he did certain things, we also got to see how smart he is and how good he is at his job. If only he’d been given a woman capable of loving him as much as he loves her.
One thing against Sam though - it was absolutely not fair that he told Alyssa not to take a morning after pill, comparing it having an abortion. That made me so angry. Maybe Alyssa should just ditch the contraception altogether and spend the rest of her life pregnant and giving birth. Because, yeah, that sounds like a whole heap of fun. It was such a sexist thing to say.

The main theme of the book is interracial relationships, but it was done with absolute overkill, and came across as preaching (particularly as Brockmann included an entire 1940s civil rights side story). I do not have a problem with these issues being raised in a book, but I have a major problem with an author who seems only able to get their point across by on one hand demonising certain characters, and then giving us tolerance overload on the other. We had Sam and Alyssa, Mary Lou and Ibrahim, Walter and Dot, Max and Gina (to an extent), and Sam and Noah’s friendship. Instead of the relationships being about people caring for each other, all we heard about were the characters’ differences in race. The 1940s storyline was complete overkill - with the murder and terrorism and romance and Navy and mystery themes it was far too much and detracted from the story.

I am not very happy about the end of so many characters’ careers as we know them. I like a Navy SEALs series to be about Navy SEALs, and the SEALs were not the only people giving up jobs in this one. It is clear the series is going to head in a completely different direction now, and I’m not sure I’m happy with that.

There were a few things that perplexed me about this book. It was very full of many secondary stories, but where were Joan and Mike?! The heroine and hero of the last book should have been in this book - something major happens involving someone in their family, and they weren’t there. I don’t care how overcrowded the story already was. The World War Two stuff should have been taken out then. It had nothing to do with the plot, whereas Joan and Mike did.

Mary Lou is still an idiot. It annoys me that so many people are in trouble and so many lives are being ruined throughout not only this book but the one that preceded it solely because Mary Lou chose not to report a gun she found in her car. If it weren’t for her caginess and her stupidity things would have turned out so much better for so many people. And I still can’t forgive her for lying to force Sam into marriage. That said, she does have some redeeming features here, and she is coming into her own as a character.

I’m not sure why Max has so many reservations about his age difference with Gina when he doesn’t have the same dilemma with Alyssa, who’s not that much older than her. Maybe it’s because Alyssa is ‘perfect’ in every way there is, so nobody has any reservations about her... Grrr... But the Max and Gina story is interesting. Max was helpless to do anything when Gina for was raped by terrorists. It’s tragic and frightening, and such an incredible story for these two characters.

Tom and Kelly were just okay in their own book, but I liked them in this one. I also liked the few tiny glimpses of the camaraderie between the SEALs, but there wasn't much of it.

This book has to be read if you're a fan of the series, and there are some things about it that are amazing. I guess it would have been a MUCH better read for me if I cared about the heroine, because unfortunately she was the book’s undoing. show less

This book made me so giddy with happiness I would give it 6 stars if I could! (The extra star would be for living up to every one of my hopes and expectations for Alyssa and Sam's story. Rarely is the hope so well fulfilled!)

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT:

Loved the Alyssa and Sam resolution so, so much, and was happily surprised by the bonus Tom/Kelly and Max/Gina storylines. I also enjoyed the flashback storyline, both in the way it continued with the WWII theme from the other Troubleshooter books and in how it supported Sam's backstory. Which was beyond wonderful, as far as I was concerned. After leaving me a little wanting in #5, I was also really happy with how the Mary Lou story evolved--a complete and welcome surprise. I hope we get show more to see more of her as a secondary character in future books.

Oh, and the brand new Paoletti Security Agency? I am so on board. show less

Gone Too Far
4 Stars

Six months after the terrorist attack at the Coronado base, Lieutenant Sam Starret arrives in Sarasota to collect divorce papers from his ex only to find a decomposing body in her house and his daughter gone. With the investigation more focused on him than finding Hayley, Sam and FBI agent Alyssa Locke reluctanly join forces in the search.

This time around the storyline is set primarily in the present and the WWII thread is minor even though the details surrounding the attitudes toward the Tuskegee Airment are compelling. The present day plots focus on Sam and Alyssa's second chances romance, FBI negotiator Max Bhagat and former hostage Gina Vitagliano's doomed attempts to move on from their past, and updates on Tom show more Paoletti and Kelly Ashton's relationship.

While Sam and Alyssa's story has been a long time coming and their happiness is well-deserved, there are times when their bickering and deliberate goading of one another becomes tiresome. It is almost as if they thrive on their conflict and misunderstandings.

In contrast, Max and Gina's tug-of-war relationship is a highlight. Max struggles with his feelings for Gina, and it is great watching the stoic leader brought to his knees by a slip of a girl with more resilience and determination than all of SEAL Team 16.

The issue of Tom and Kelly's endlessly pending nuptials are also resolved albeit with some heartwrenching scenes, and even Mary Lou gets her HEA even though her character is still intensely unlikable.

This installment brings to an end the ongoing arc from the past few books although there are new directions for many of the characters. The next book appears to focus on a completely new couple and I look forward to seeing how Brockmann merges the new Troubleshooters into the already established atmosphere of the series. show less

Gone Too Far takes place about six months after the events in the previous book, Into the Night. I think readers unfamiliar with that book will struggle to catch up in this one. For fans who've been eagerly waiting for the steamy, antagonistic, on-again off-again relationship between Navy SEAL Sam Starrett and FBI agent Alyssa Locke to reach its culmination, the wait is finally over.

Sam is going to Florida to work out a child custody agreement with ex-wife, Mary Lou. When he arrives he discovers a dead body, presumably Mary Lou, but there's no sign of his daughter, Haley. Meanwhile, Alyssa has been tasked with finding and arresting Sam for murder.

The Troubleshooters books are kind of unique in that they have multiple POV characters, and show more more than one story arc going on. I don’t think it’s a series one can easily pick up in the middle and understand. Traditionally there is a main story, in this case Sam and Alyssa. There's usually a teaser couple that will be featured in a future book. Here it is Max and Gina. There's a plot line featuring Sam's boss, SEAL Lt. Tom Paoletti and his fiancee, Kelly, who were in the first book of the series and are in some legal trouble themselves. Finally, Sam’s Uncle Walt and Aunt Dot are featured in flashbacks. Walt was one of the Tuskegee Airmen and he and Dot found love during segregation and Jim Crow.

I wasn't much of a fan of the Sam/Alyssa story but I ended up liking Sam much more in this book, probably because we get to know him better. I always enjoy the WWII backstory and can't wait to get to the future book featuring Max and Gina. Overall, much more enjoyable than I expected. show less

Sam's story - overly long at 18 hr 41 mins, but wow - I was looking forward to his book, and this is unexpected and revealing about this navy seal, as all the seal's story in this Troubleshooters series all turn out to be. I came to Suzanne Brockmann after reading Linda Howard. Two authors who excel at the romantic suspense genre. But the deep humour embedded in Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooter series is incomparably satisfying! If you know of another like it, readers, please send me your recommendations!

My favourite of the series so far. I loved all the characters and was pleased to see less of the WW2 subplots I usually have to skip over. The pace is relentless. I can't remember the last time I read a book in 24 hours before this one, but there I was up 'til all hours unable to put it down. It's almost like it was the final book of a series and the action just exploded. I guess it is in a way, as after this one, Team 16 appears less frequently. Word of advice, make sure you read the books in order. This one in particular will be lose you if you read it as a stand alone.

Wow. This one was a non-stop rollercoaster ride of a book! All the major plot points left somewhat dangling from the last Troubleshooters book (and a few from some earlier ones) were resolved, and a whole lot of things finally came together. The WWII-era story this time dealt with two groups who don't get nearly enough recognition--the Women Airforce Service Pilots and the Tuskegee Airmen--nice touch; I really like how each book in the series features a story from that era yet they are all so different. Gone Too Far has a bit of a bittersweet ending--some situations had gone too far (pun not *entirely* intended) for them to go back to normal, but there is still hope for the future in the end. I'm anxiously awaiting my next Audible show more credits so I can download book seven! show less