This is the third in Suzanne Brockmann’s now 15 volume Troubleshooters series, about Navy SEALS. I had also read the first installment, The Unsung Hero. I listened to it on audio (so I apologize if some of the spellings below are not perfect). The female narrator was fine.

Most of the action takes place in “Kazbekistan”, where terrorists have forced a hijacked plane to land. The SEALS are in an adjacent hotel, waiting for the signal to move in, should FBI negotiator Max Bhagat fail to secure their surrender. On the plane is hostage Gina Vitagliano, a Long Island native who resembles a young Sophia Loren, who has heroically posed as the US Senator’s daughter whom the terrorists mistakenly believe is on the plane. This Max and Gina storyline was the one that most intrigued me.

The main couple is the “older” (but still in his thirties??), not classically handsome Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok and younger, beautiful Navy Reserve helicopter pilot Lt. Teri Howe. Long attracted to Teri, Stan intercedes on her behalf in a sexual harassment situation. She notices him and returns the attraction. She does have some issues which Stan tenderly helps her work through. But they can’t be together because Stan believes he is “too old” for her, not good looking enough for her, that her motives are hero-worship rather than true love, that he is too set in his ways, that the life of a Navy SEAL is no life for marriage. This reminded me quite a bit of the hero in The Unsung Hero’s conflict. I didn’t find this haphazard set of barriers believable in that book either.

Foulmouthed alpha male Lt. Sam Starrett and lovely, poised FBI sharpshooter Alyssa Locke apparently slept together 6 months prior to the action in Over the Edge, and long for a repeat. But they can’t be together because they have one of those love/hate relationships. I actually have no idea why Alyssa says she doesn’t like Sam, or why she is so resistant to him, but I found their relationship, although immature, at least somewhat compelling.

For some reason, an Israeli envoy named Helga Rosen is flown out. It is never clear to me what the hell she is doing there (yes, the terrorists demand that Israel free their brothers in arms, but why exactly they need Rosen there is a mystery). Much of the book consists of Helga’s memories of the Nazi occupation of Denmark, specifically of doomed lovers Herschel (her brother) and Annabette (Stan’s aunt). She also suffers, very badly, from Alzheimer’s.

I have the same problem with this book that I did with the first Brockmann I read: people who are smart and mature in their jobs become 12 year olds when it comes to dealing with the opposite sex. Neither the Stan/Teri nor the Sam/Alyssa conflict made any sense to me at all, although at least the latter was somewhat hot. There was a ton of second, third, and fourth guessing of each other’s motives, little misunderstanding after little misunderstanding, and frankly bizarre interpretations of behavior. Let me ask you: if someone kissed the hell out of you, sticking their tongue in your mouth, breathing heavy, got glassy eyed, panted and clung … how would you interpret that? Well, Stan doesn’t think it signals desire from Teri. And Teri doesn’t think it signals desire from Stan.

My next comment contains a spoiler:

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The book was published in 19912001. Sam, it turns out, got some girl pregnant 12 weeks prior to the start of the action in this book. At the very end, he breaks it off with Alyssa to “do the right thing” and marry his fling. I get that he’s honorable. But honor would involve financially supporting this woman, and being a responsible parent to the child. I find it very hard to believe that anyone could think a loveless marriage is the way to go in this situation. Again, it felt to me like forced conflict. I think having just the pregnancy would have provided enough conflict, actually.

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END SPOILER

I know Brockmann has legions of fans, and I do understand why. I was genuinely gripped at times. I love the egalitarian politics in these books, the writing is very good (read Brockmann discussing an early scene in OTE from a writer’s POV here), and I can appreciate the skill it takes to weave together four different subplots. But I have to be honest: I find the characters and dialogue boring, the conflicts juvenile, the suspense nonexistent (the hijacked plane essentially disappears for large chunks of the book), and the flashbacks irritating. I gave them a shot, but I am sorry to say that the Troubleshooters just don’t work for me.

Tags: Over the Edge, Suzanne Brockmann