Fun Romantic Thriller - Do or Die by Suzanne Brockmann

I was offered, through my Vine membership, an ARC of Suzanne Brockmann's newest book, but it was on the leftover list, so it is actually now available to everyone already!

I picked it because I was a fan of Ms. Brockmann's Troubleshooter series, to a point. I probably didn't read the last three or four, after some of my favorite characters found their happiness.

One thing I love about that series was that couples' stories often lasted over an arc of 2-4 books, with maybe one focusing on that couple and relationship, but the stories lasted. I love, love, love character development over the course of a series, and Ms. Brockmann delivers. Thankfully, I see shades of this in this first installment of "Reluctant Heroes."



The core cast is new to me, at least, and the main story couple was certainly no one I recognized (though again, I missed the last few of the old series.) We have someone call Jules, but he doesn't even have a speaking cameo. ;) One of the main sidekicks knows Ric and Annie, and I know they were at least introduced in one of the last Troubleshooters books I had read. But, since this is a "reset" so to speak, new readers won't be missing anything. People know people we don't know ourselves, and since the familiar names' backstories don't come into play, they just come off as extras to a new reader.

This book has Brockmann's trademark fast pace, bloody action scenes, and hot romance. I cared about the main characters, and liked that they are not perfect. I'll be very interested to see where she goes with the core group that she introduced - there are a lot of fun possibilities for future stories.

I would have liked to know a little more about Phoebe, the main heroine. Unless she is a carryover that I didn't get to, the trademark character development is actually missing for the main protagonist. We got a lot more backstory on the people who will probably be covered in later installments. I liked Phoebe a lot, but wasn't sure quite where she was coming from. We're told she's a good lawyer, but there's not much proof there. We are shown, in detail, that she's a great improv actress, and that's awesome, but why? How? And after being slightly reluctant to get involved, I felt that her sudden devotion to the mission was a little unexpected, or at least under-explained. I would have liked to have known more about her and her motivations.

But, overall, I flew through this book within 24 hours and will definitely look for the next. If you're expecting a trademark Brockmann romantic thriller, I think you'll be happy. If you're looking for something deeper, you're up the wrong tree.