Play Book Tag discussion

I don't know if this is what you all mean by the term male bodice ripper, but there was a lot of testosterone in this book AND a lot of romance. This romance thriller is very different from what I normally read, but I really enjoyed the change of pace. It's part of the troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann, with Navy seals, an FBI agent, working on various high impact missions. I sampled several of the books in the series before settling on this one, and I can already see that there is an ensemble cast of recurring characters, with friends, colleagues, and lovers. I picked this one (# 3 in the series) because of the story and the female helicopter pilot.

This author seems to have a lot of military knowledge, and she's able to combine the action of a mission with the romance. In this episode, a plane is hijacked and the team is brought in along with a top FBI negotiator to try to save the passengers.

I enjoyed the story, but I really hope this is not realistic. As a citizen, it frightens me to think that Navy seals and FBI agents are fantasizing about women while in the middle of an important mission! Men are supposed to be good at compartmentalizing the different parts of their lives. Some of these guys sounded like love struck 16 year old kids, with inner thoughts rhapsodizing about the charms of the women they desire. I was only planning to read the one book, but I find that I'm now curious about what happens next for many of the characters. Thank you Theresa for recommending it!

I like Brockmann's series, although of course some are better than others. Her later ones have a strong LGBTQ untraditional romance narrative as well, one of the few popular mainstream authors to incorporate it quite naturally into her stories.

And while there are elements here of a male bodice ripper, to really be one it needs to be a testosterone driven thriller or suspense or such openlyv read by men - think Tom Clancy, Nelson DeMille, Steve Berry. I have yet to see any men openly reading Suzanne Brockmann.