Not quite a 4, more than 3.5. I enjoyed the story but there were too many sub-plots and p.o.v.s for me and it distracted from the main story. The flashbacks were pretty clunky too. And for all that the suspense bit was a major plotline, it seemed to be resolved too neatly. And it turned into a bit of a farce. I'll be reading the next couple of books, but I am not sure I'm going to make it to the end of the series. ( )

This is a great book if you're looking for 40 pages of adventure embedded within 350 pages of romantic relationships that develop at a snail's pace. ( )

This is a great book if you're looking for 40 pages of adventure embedded within 350 pages of romantic relationships that develop at a snail's pace. ( )

Most of Brockmann's romances have these common details: Navy SEALs, kidnappings, an important grandmother, a terrorist or two, great looking people with hard bodies, and let's not forget roiling sexual turmoil. Unsung Hero is no different. Tom Paoletti and Kelly Ashton's conundrum is that they have history dating back to high school: Kelly was too young for next door neighbor Tom so he ran away to join the military a month early. Sweet and innocent Kelly was left with unrequited teenager lust never to be forgotten. But now, sixteen years later, Kelly is all grown up and just happens to be visiting her father. Tom is also back in town trying to convalesce after getting caught in a bomb blast. Kelly never lost the burn for Tom, so much so that even though her father is dying of terminal cancer, all she can think about is getting the doomed man back in bed. She needs to return to her fantasy about Tom and his um...hard body as soon as possible. Even though Tom is damaged goods, his one track mind is no better. He too carries the long burning torch of lust. He eyeballs Kelly's perfect ass as they blithely discuss her father's terminal cancer. Insert eye roll here. So sex aside, while Tom is home he catches a glimpse of a terrorist long thought dead. His superiors think the bomb has altered his reality and refuse to take him seriously, leaving Tom no choice but to cobble together his own counterterrorist team to take the man down. ( )

Somewhere amid my research as to what to read next, this book came up as a recommendation - probably because I've enjoyed Linda Howard novels. And I'm glad it did. At first I wasn't comfortable with the narrator's voice (William Dufris) - I thought his rough voice was a cliched choice for the narration - but I went back to the book after a week and now I think his voice was just right and he did a great job to the point that I'll look for other books he's read.

The novel is way too long, and I'm on the edge of giving it a half star less because of it, but then you may give this novel a miss and it really is quite good and has some beautifully tender moments. I enjoyed the subplots, which were so strong it was like triple value for money! They were just as engaging if not more so than Kelly and Tom's story. First, edit out the terrorist sighting storyline - that was the least interesting by far.

I see that Suzanne Brockmann has written dozens of novels and I'm sure I'll be listening to another before long. ( )