The Book Gourmet

Someone is sending a Hollywood produced death threats because she's making a movie they don't want to be made, and her studio hires Troubleshooters Inc. to protect her. Since he's on leave, Chief Cosmo Richter offers his expertise to his former CO, Tom Paoletti, and nothing will ever be the same.


Once again, the story was good, and the plot, especially the suspense/mystery part, was tight, though the pacing was once more hampered by flashbacks and (too) many side plots and secondary characters, and the mystery/suspense conclusion left much to be desired in terms of actually making any sort of sense in concern with the villain and his motives. But maybe that's just me.

And once again, the characters almost ruined the whole thing. Jane was a publicity-seeking, emotionally-handicapped, sometimes TSTL idiot. Her brother was also an emotional cripple with image issues, and a huge drinking problem that stemmed from repression of his true nature and feelings. I loved the message Ms. Brockmann inserted into this story about self-acceptance being necessary to have a normal life (Robin) and the importance of knowing one's self-worth and not allowing oneself to be anyone's doormat (Jules).
But these two annoying creatures were counterbalanced nicely by the two leading men of this book. Cosmo with his taciturn nature that was finally given a worthy story (if not a worthy heroine), and through it the reader was offered a rare insight into his psyche and life. I love the men Ms. Brockmann has created in this series. They're "real" men, strong, courageous, resilient, capable, and despite having seen and done things that would give lesser mortals nightmares or worse, they don't let those things rule them, and they're not afraid of accepting or showing their feelings or even tears.

And now we come to the second leading man of this story, one of my favorite characters in this series, Jules Cassidy. I loved watching his growth throughout the stories, from sidekick, best friend, confidant, and sometimes comic relief, to the leading man we got to meet at the end of this book. He got his heart-broken, mended it, and gotten it broken again (much more this second time around, because he knew it was the real deal), yet he stood up, dusted himself off, and went forward, stronger, more mature, more confident, and finally knowing what he deserved. And yes, Jules deserves the best. His story (not the repeated fling with Adam or the budding went-nowhere thing with Robin, but the story of Jules as an individual) in this book, stole the spotlights from the main "romance" between Cosmo and Jane (which didn't push any of my buttons and left me completely cold). Jules being Jules was more interesting, and more intense than everything else that happened and I'm looking forward to reading what happens next. ;)