Into the Night

The Troubleshooters, Book 5

By: Suzanne Brockmann

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor, Melanie Ewbank

Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Beloved and best-selling author Suzanne Brockmann writes terrific edge-of-your-seat novels of romantic suspense set in the world's exciting danger zones and exotic hot spots. Now, in her sensational new novel, she comes stateside for her most action-packed adventure yet.

It was supposed to be a dog and pony show, an elaborate demonstration of SEAL rescue techniques to celebrate a presidential visit to a California naval base. Professional, no-nonsense White House stafferJoan DaCosta arrives early to scope out the area. Assigned to be her SEALliaison is Lieutenant Junior Grade Mike Muldoon, a born leader - strong, decisive, tough, and fearless.

Against her better judgment, Joan finds herself drawn to the handsome young officer. Skilled at being "one of the guys" in the mostly male world of politics, she is dismayed when Muldoon breaks through her defenses. While tension mounts between them, fueling their growing attraction, a far more sinister danger is lurking, as terrorists plot a daring attack against the president. To protect their commander-in-chief, Joan and Muldoon must risk not only their hearts but their very lives.

©2014 Suzanne Brockmann (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Sweet Mike

As always . A great story , characters and action. Left me wanting to get Sam happy. He and Alyssa always my favorites.

Pretty Good...just not Great.

This was a pretty good addition to the Troubleshooters series. it set everything up for the next book. Honestly the story between Mike and Joan wasn't nearly as exciting as the couples in the previous books. Don't get me wrong Mike was just as dreamy as the other Seals...something was just missing between him and Joan to me. Now the side story of Mary Lou and Ibraham made the book for me along the with the WWII story. Of course at the end of the day a so-so Suzanne Brockmann novel is better than some of the best work of other authors. I'm a fan through and through and I will be picking up the next book. I'm so excited to FINALLY read Sam and Alyssa's story! Not to mention continuing Max and Gina and see what happens with Mary Lou and Ibraham. Come on Brockmann, don't let me down!

The book you need in order to enjoy Gone Too Far

The story is really 3.5 stars. If you’re wanting a lot of Joan & Mike or a lot of action, this book is lacking. The secondary & tertiary storylines heavily outweigh the main characters. (and are more intriguing). But to really enjoy the next book in the series (Gone Too Far), you need the extensive foundation this one provides.

Joan, after Meg (The Defiant Hero) is my least favorite “heroine” in the Troubleshooters series. Mostly for being whiney & taking too long to get her head straight over minimal things. MaryLou, at 22, shows more growth and emotional maturity as the book progresses than Joan does. Brockmann’s ability to consistently give us strong, even if flawed, heroines in most of her books makes Joan (and Meg) a disappointment. Fortunately, we don’t see such characters again after this book.

I’m also not a fan of “insta-love” though Brockmann pulls it off well in other books by giving us a LOT of conversation to get to know and love our couple. Because Mike & Joan got so little “screen time” and what time they did have was spent with Joan stuck on her “issues” ~ I just didn’t feel it.

Patrick Lawlor is *fantastic* as always. Melanie Ewbank was good here, but something about her pacing was sort of off. She’s phenomenal in 90% of the books I’ve listened to with her as the narrator. Though, she did a great job with all the voices/accents, her range is great.

Threads of Story Connecting Subsequent Books

Where does Into the Night rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's in the 'good' section, not the 'great' one. It's important for understanding the continuation of character arcs, but Muldoon and Joan aren't that interesting taken on their own.

What other book might you compare Into the Night to and why?

Probably Over the Edge, book 3 in this series. Similarly, it features two semi-compelling main characters, with lots of secondary character development.

What does Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The ability to 'read' while driving?

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I think what this book most noticeably evoked in me was awareness that a background character that the reader might have formerly disliked and seen as simplistic and trope-ish can be brought into a "POV" role and become sympathetic and complex. In my mind, Mary Lou - prior to this book - was an insecure gold-digger effectively. In this book, the listener gets to hear more of her back story, childhood, and really her growth as she sees beyond some of her own prejudice.

Any additional comments?

What's really neat to me is the easy-to-miss small threads that tie these books together; as an example, the team mentions in this book that they are preparing for Operation Black Lagoon. Not a lot is said about the mission here, as the story ends before the mission occurs, but in a subsequent book, the operation comes up as significant to one character's backstory in particular.

Into The Night

After listening to the book I remember why I only read this particular book only once. Many subplots! It was better listening to the story being read to follow the various subplots but this was one story that I had to pay attention to. Narration was great - loved the accents used by the narrators really added depth to the characters.

Good

Good story but find male narrator very distracting. He does poorly with Texas accent as well as voice changes for different characters. I'm going through the series and the narration is most disappointing!

Intense

This is one of the more intense books in the series. I like Mike Muldoon, but Joan DaCosta, not so much. I had no problem with their age difference; but I guess her hangups and biases were the point. And I was appalled at how Joan handled the situation with the P’s daughter, and how snarky she was.

I love the WWII past and present day stories of Vince and Charlie DaCosta, Joan’s grandparents.
It’s sad to see the huge chasms that lie between Sam and Mary Lou in their marriage. I felt really turned off by how grasping she was; sympathetic for what she and her sister went thru growing up; how decent she was to Donny; and proud of her efforts to stop drinking and give her daughter better.
This book has a major turning point for the main characters and Team 16 which evolves into the next book’s story of Sam, MaryLou, Alyssa, and Ibrahim.

Again, Lawlor does a good job of narration. Ewbank is good at 1.75 speed.

Even better on the second pass

I enjoyed this book the first time I read it. After reading the rest of the series, I'm making my way through again quite a while later. There are so many important plot twists that are planted here. I didn't notice half (or more) at the time. Very impressive story line across so many great stories!

Perfection

Perfection every single time. Story. Characters. Narration. Really dig this series. Getting the next one now.

love this series!

i like reading about the seals in this series. The author has true to life characters and life situations