Customer Reviews

Shoot to Thrill (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Shoot to Thrill by Nina Bruhns is very thrilling. I read this author when she wrote for silhouette and loved her books. Having a fuller length novel by her is fantastic. The basic plot is Kyle"Kick" Johnson meeting Nurse Rainie Martin at a speed dating event. Kick is a former CIA agent trying to stay "out" of the business and Rainie just needs a date and hopefully some sex with a hot guy. At least thats the plan when she agrees with her friend to attend the speed dating. I loved Rainie and all of her hang ups. Kick wasnt perfect and I loved that even more. He's coming off of painkillers and has a bad leg from an incident in A-stan. From the very beginning you can tell that Kick is a sweet guy under the hot agent disguise. The secondary characters were REALLY good and I dont usually get distracted from the main story to care as much until they get their own story but Bruhns had me fanning each time she cut to a scene with Gina Rainie's best friend. The plot was good and while I could have done with a little more protesting from Rainie about tagging along with the CIA, it didnt take away from how much I enjoyed this. This is the 1st in a trilogy from what I can tell and the blurbs about the other 2 look as thrilling as this one. Good amounts of romance, enough suspense not to drive you crazy and the right balance as the story goes along

** edited for spelling errors

This is one for the `Made Me Mad' stack.
It is possibly the most implausible book I've ever read. It's beyond ridiculous, and has a stupid, inconsistent heroine to boot.

I thought I would like this book. I've read the third one and liked it. I spent much of the time I was reading this book trying to convince myself I liked it, because I didn't want to go below three stars with my rating. But it's not the crazy story that earned it one star; it's the fact this book made me furious. Over and over again.

I started this series out of order, which I learnt was a bad idea. You could try to read these as standalone novels, but they work a whole lot better when read as a trilogy. Some romantic suspense is emotional, moving, true to life, somehow relevant to us. Then there's romantic suspense like this, which is like watching an over the top action movie and there solely for entertainment. You MUST suspend your disbelief, and you might enjoy it. I'll read the others, but the cheesy cover should have warned me what I was in for.

So here, in dot points, is why this book earned one and only one star:

* The book got off to a terrible start.
Here's how it played out:

The hero (Kick, yes, Kick) goes to a speed dating party for hospital staff, pretending to be his doctor friend. He goes with the intention of picking up a medically-trained woman so he can sleep with her, stay at her apartment for a few days, and have assistance going through withdrawal from drugs.
The hero ends up taking the woman/heroine (Lorraine/Rainie) back to her apartment by force - at gunpoint. He then kisses her even though she doesn't want it, demands she get on the bed - while still pointing the gun at her - and produces a set of handcuffs. THEN he becomes furious with her for thinking he might want to hurt her!
Then they proceed to have sex for a number of hours.

* Rainie is then captured by `the good guys' and forced to go on a major international, anti-terrorism mission with Kick. Why? Because they need a nurse to help Kick. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't one of the many multi-national organisations be able to provide a doctor or nurse who not only understood the situation, but also knew about weapons and terrorists and all the important stuff?! Preferably a man, so they didn't have to spend the entire book worrying about Rainie being raped in the conservative, Islamic countries they visited? On top of that, are Special Forces and Black Ops men not trained in enough medical stuff to help Kick with his high blood pressure for Heaven's sake?!

* In the first few chapters I thought it was going to be the hero I hated. Turned out it was the heroine. There are two kinds of heroine I can't stand. Gun-toting She-Men, and innocent little idiots who becoming self-righteous little misses when the hero has to use violence to save them. This heroine had the worst of both worlds, morphing backwards and forwards between the two terrible types.
The book was very uneven in the characterisation of the women. Rainie in particular was all over the place. At the beginning she's so traumatised by her parents' murder in a carjacking that she can't even get in a moving vehicle. She hates guns so much that even though she knows the hero spends time in the Middle East she's shocked he might actually kill someone with all of those weapons he has.
Here's a timeline of her stupidity:
#1 Having hours of sex with the man who's holding her at gunpoint.
#2 Rainie knows Kick is a former military man who now works in the Middle East and North Africa, stopping terrorists. So what does she do when the terrorists show up at a village they are trying to trade with, and said terrorists start shooting the villagers? Well, of course she becomes furious with Kick for helping the villagers - stopping them being shot, and saving a young girl from being raped. HOW DARE HE fight the terrorists?! HOW DARE HE???!!! Because terrorists are people too, and deserving of her endless compassion. Path-Et-Ic.
#3 Kick tells the Sudanese villagers Rainie is his wife, to prevent her being raped or treated like a whore. Naturally, she becomes angry at him for doing that.
#4 Rainie suddenly decides she isn't scared of moving vehicles anymore. A couple of days after having major panic attacks in a car, she decides that while the hero is sleeping she'll drive the truck they stole through the desert for hours. And she does.
#5 They are attacked by more terrorists, and Rainie stabs one of them to death with a knife. She who hates violence, cars, guns, knives, men who aren't doctors. So is she traumatised by killing someone for the first time? Nope, of course not. Are you crazy?! She's OVERJOYED. Why? Because apparently committing her first kill has cured her of the trauma she's been carrying around since she was a kid. Now that she's killed a man she rides a camel with incredible expertise - while whistling the Lawrence of Arabia theme and grinning the whole time - and is no longer frightened of anything. This made me feel sick. Have an anxiety disorder? Murder someone and you'll be cured!!
#6 They reach the terrorist training camp (Al Qaeda by a different name). They're there so Kick can assassinate an Osama Bin Laden wannabe. BUT! Rainie sees them praying and decides it's wrong to kill such devout, principled men. Oh please.
#7 Don't worry though. A few hours later the heroine is charging into the camp, guns blazing. SHE calls in an air strike. She who doesn't even really know what an air strike is, let alone know the military lingo they use. She's become She-Man. Or He-Ra. Or something. Remember, It's only been a few days since she was a timid little idiot who hadn't been ten blocks from her workplace in years (because she couldn't get in a car). Now she's Rainie-Ra, international terrorism fighter extraordinaire. That's too much suspension of disbelief even for me - the reader who loves some crazy stuff.

* So, all of that leads me to the question; why in the hell was it left up to a couple of men to set up and complete such a major international anti-terrorist operation? How was it possible Rainie just `had to' be there with them, and continue with them? Why was it a highly-trained, unbelievably experienced military/CIA operative was dividing the workload with a silly little self-righteous nurse from Manhattan? I'm sorry, but it was so implausible. I really, really tried to suspend my disbelief. I couldn't. It was too much.

* One week after Miss Panic Attack couldn't even get in a taxi in Manhattan, she has this to say about flying on an aeroplane from Egypt to the USA:
"Actually, I enjoyed it. Seeing all those clouds below was unreal. And the little fields and houses and cars. An amazing sight."

* Using CAPITALISED terms such as "STORM" twelve times on one page is just plain annoying.

* I have read Gregg and Gina's story in the third book, so it was good to see their side story here. But I'm glad I knew a bit more about Gina already, as she doesn't come across as a very appealing character in this one.

* I can't stand books that introduce characters with, "Merv was five-two and three hundred pounds, had dark brown hair to his shoulders and fluorescent pink eyes." But I also can't stand books that don't give us any details until we're in the middle of the story. We aren't told the heroine's hair colour until page 109, which was about a hundred pages too late for me. The woman on the awful, tacky cover has brown hair, and coupled with nothing in the text to go by, I got over a hundred pages in and then had to completely change my idea of how she looked. I hate that.

* In one chapter, Gina brags about her FBI ex-fiancé. A few chapters later, she wonders how Gregg knows her ex-fiancé is in the FBI. Gee Gina...I wonder how... Through the whole book she congratulates herself on being such a smart woman, but she does very little to demonstrate that.

* It was working its way towards a 2 or 2.5 star, but then the author pulled the ultimate `piss me off' card and turned her French character into the Devil Incarnate. He's only in the book for two appearances of about four seconds each. The first time he proves the hero's superiority by not stealing the heroine's affections. The second time he arrives at the terrorist camp just long enough to be EEEEEVIL EUROTRASH (the author's word, not mine).
I'm surprised she didn't give him a beret and a moustache. I certainly lost a lot of respect for the author then.
I am so bloody sick of English-speaking authors demonising French characters. You know what? Of all the countries I've spent time in, the French are the nicest!!!!
These days you know to assume that the second a French character walks onto the page the author's going to make him turn on his friends. Gee, what a surprise! Grrr. I saw it coming from a mile off. Even if it wasn't a pet peeve of mine, it's been done to death. How about negatively stereotyping another nation for once?!
On the plus side, at least there weren't any blonde jokes in this one. Then I would really be mad.

* There was far too much time spent talking about, riding, thinking about and trading for camels. Far too much.

* The book ends with a "Buy my next book!!!!" cliffhanger to end them all. I didn't appreciate that.

So, even if you personally loved this book, surely you can see why I didn't.

This was my first time reading this author and I was not disappointed I thought the main characters of Rainey and Kick were fabulous but then I found myself even more interested in the secondary characters Gina and Greg. There was plenty of hot romance and hot action.

I am looking forward as another reviewer has stated for Ginas story.

I liked this, I really did but... SHOOT TO THRILL is a roller coaster ride in more ways then one. This 1st in a trilogy takes us from Manhattan to the Sahara and starts out with huge potential. A sexy tortured hero on the run, action filled storyline, smoking hot love scenes and some seriously funny dialogue. And except for the H/h's names (Kick and Raine really!?) I wondered how I'd managed to miss author Nina Bruhns until now? Unfortunately though as the book progressed things kinda fell apart. Granted the whole story requires a huge suspension of reality (in a Romancing The Stone sort of way) but still, there's a fine line between going along for the ride and the ridiculous.

Kick Jackson is a junkie on the run. This former CIA spec-ops sniper has had enough of being owned by "Zero Unit" and all the bloodshed. In fact if it hadn't been for his little addiction to painkillers (developed after the last mission went bad) chances are the Unit wouldn't have been able to find him at all. As it stands though they've offered him a deal he can't refuse; identify and take down a known terrorist and they'll tear up his contract... one last mission. Yeah right. The problem is he's going to be going through withdrawal pretty soon and that's where the kidnapping comes in. Nurse Raine Martin will do nicely, one last affair before he ships out (and more then likely gets killed) and a safe place to detox. The thing Kick hadn't counted on was Raine getting thrown into the deadly international spy game or that he'd end up caring.

One of my biggest problems here was with the heroine who while remaining TSTL throughout also manages to transform from wimpy, useless and agoraphobic to (in the author's words) a warrior; Able to wield a knife, carry a gun, detonate bombs, kill and generally save the day while still having childish arguments. It was too much -I kinda hated her. Then there was also the issue of our couple having sex at the most inappropriate times, like outside of a terrorist compound in the Sahara sand dunes while trying to rescue a POW.
Anyways I won't be too harsh because there's a lot to like and with several of the storylines continuing throughout the trilogy I know I'll be continuing on. I really enjoyed Bruhns' style of writing, filled with witty dialogue and fantastic sub plots and secondary characters. "Pig's" sporadic POV was heart wrenching and intriguing as I tried to figure out how he fit into everything. And I absolutely adored Gina and Van Halen. However in saying that, because their storyline was so combustible (jeez the sex on the table scene!) I also found myself disappointed when we returned to the main storyline. Kick and Raine paled in comparison to those two, and when your secondary couple outshines your main it isn't a good thing.

Sexy black-ops heroes and gorgeous heroines. What else do you want? I loved all three book in the series. They are page-turners and you cannot put them down. So if you have something important to do read these at a better time. Every single book by Ms. Nina Bruhns is more exciting than the other. The stories are provocative, original, funny, passionate, and intriguing, with captivating characters. I do strongly recommend all three books in this series to readers that love FBI suspense stories. I loved them and will reread them in the future. I am hoping that Ms. Bruhns write more of these stories. Is there one waiting to be printed in the near future!!!?

Kyle "Kick" Jackson wants nothing to do with his old life. He actually shot the last guy they sent after him. He's been hiding since he was nearly blown up on his last mission. But the CIA has other ideas. They want him to finish that mission.

Rainie Martin lets her friend Gina talk her into attending speed dating for medical professionals. For a woman whose fear of life keeps her within a ten block radius of her apartment, this is pushing her limits. Then she spots a man that just screams danger and she's toast. The added bonus--the man is Doctor Nathan Daneby of Doctors for Peace. A man she has never met but has greatly admired for many years.

It soon becomes excruciatingly clear that, though this man is walking sex, he is NOT Nathan Daneby. The gun he pulls is a dead give away. And though she knows it is a huge mistake, Rainie wants him and has him. She is confused by her feelings for him; they can't possibly be real.

Kick was just looking for someone to help him through his problem, not someone to fall in love with. And certainly not someone who ends up being dragged into a dangerous situation that he has no control over. But Rainie seems to be both of those things, whether Kick likes it or not. And damn--a desert in Africa is a hell of a place to fall in love.

Shoot to Thrill is beyond engrossing. I seriously could not put this book down. Around every bend in the storyline is another adventure. With their fears and trust issues in tow, Kick and Rainie burn up the pages with all the heat of the Sudan.

The secondary characters - Alex, Gina, Marc, and Nathan - are just as intriguing as the primary ones. With a secondary story that goes along with the back story and one that primes you for what is to come, Shoot to Thrill is one of the best books I have read this year. I can't wait to read the second book in the series. I Joyfully Recommend Shoot to Thrill.

Willow
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Although time has passed, Bellevue Hospital emergency room nurse Lorraine "Rainie" Martin still grieves the tragic loss of her parents murdered during a carjacking. Their sudden deaths haunt everything she does and she knows it, but cannot do much about it as she has not moved on beyond the grief.

Thanks to her BFF Gina Cappozi, Rainie attends a speed-dating gala with the belief she will meet no one. Thus she is unprepared when Kyle "Kick" Jackson using the name Dr. Nathan Daneby of Doctors for Peace and recent National Geographic fame also goes to elude his former CIA Zero Unit suits. Strangers in the night, she expects an incredible evening as he escorts her from the event. Instead she learns he is running from the CIA whom he works for as a field operative and is also detoxing from Oxycontin. However his peers catch up to the pair and they are sent as a team to fight terrorists in Egypt. Rainie must wear her rubber underwear to overcome her fear of travel ever since her parents died and help Kick kick his addiction to Oxycontin.

This over the top of the Pyramids and the Empire State Building, romantic suspense thriller is fast-paced and a lot of fun so the audience will ignore their plausibility meter. Fans will get a Kick out of the hero and the waves of shock that would overwhelm the average person, but an inner city ER nurse sees worse daily. SHOOT TO THRILL is an entertaining blast.

Harriet Klausner

This was my first book by Nina Bruhns. Shoot to Thrill was a sexy book and had some good secondary characters. But I don't think the book was proofed well. It got tiresome reading the phrases: Holy Jesus, God, Jesus H. Christ, Holy Christ, Sweet Jesus, God, Holy Hell,God,Dear God, Oh!God, my God, Thanks God, Omigod, God, Jesus, Holy Jesus, Good Lord, sweet heavenly God, Merciful Jesus, God Willing, Lord God Almighty, Etc. etc.

ER nurse, who suffers from panic attacks when in vehicles, has instant attraction with dangerous-looking Hero when she sees him at speed-dating event. She willingly has sex with him even after she finds out he's impersonating somebody else & is really a Oxycotin-addicted former special Ops member who's resisting an ordered mission. Both get caught the day after & find themselves in Sudan, where Hero must find & eliminate a terrorist leader.

My 1st Bruhns' book & I was hooked. Fast-paced action romance. Hot sexual chemistry & love scenes. I liked how Hero & heroine are shown to be imperfect & how they managed their imperfections in times of crisis. It was a little too hard to believe, though, how heroine went from being a phobia-filled individual to a knife-wielding, Jeep-driving, cliff-climbing one. I guess you can say that her survival instincts kicked into high gear in such life-or-death situation.

Recommended.

Why haven't I found Nina Bruhns earlier? Her romantic suspense is sexy and so fast paced you can't put it down. She does an outstanding job of creating flawed characters, who you just have to rout for. Nurse Rainie Martin gets a panic attack even looking at a moving vehicle because she'd witnessed her parents being killed by a drive by shooter while in their car. She's survived by living within 10-square blocks of her hospital. At a speed-dating party, Rainie meets this sexier-than-sin man, Kick Jackson. He spots her as someone who can help him get over his addiction to pain meds and who might be able to hide him for a few days so he can escape the jaws of the CIA, for whom he used to work. Too bad, the CIA catch up with Kick and toss both of them in a car, then make her get on a plane to monitor his rebah. Kick Jackson not only is an undercover sniper, but he believes he single-handedly caused the death of his men when an op went bad in Afghanistan. When their plane gets shot down over the Sudan, Rainie and Kick are forced to skydive to the big, empty desert below. With little equipment, they go on an unbelievably sexy and life-threatening mission. With terrorists at every turn, they have to overcome their hang-ups in order to keep each other alive. This is a must buy.