The Unsung Hero (Troubleshooters, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Four plot lines are expertly interwoven to create a love story-cum-thriller in the latest work by veteran romance author Brockmann (Bodyguard), winner of two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards and a two-time RITA finalist. Navy SEAL Lt. Tom Paoletti, on medical leave after a near-fatal head injury, returns to his New England hometown and is drawn into an unresolved relationship with the girl he left behind. Kelly Ashton, now a pediatrician, is caring for her dying father when Tom returns to disrupt--and enrich--her life. Then Tom glimpses a terrorist he once pursued who's supposed to be dead, but his antagonistic superiors attribute the unlikely sighting to his head injury. Brockmann keeps the tension high, while also revealing the heartbreaking wartime secret shared by Kelly's father and Tom's beloved uncle. Another subplot involving Tom's niece also plays nicely into the dramatic finale as Tom and a makeshift team must take on terrorist bombers unaided. With its shift in focus from romance to the action subplot, this novel would make a terrific movie. (June)

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Thanks to Suzanne Brockmann's glorious pen, we all get to revel in heartstopping adventure and blistering romance."
-Romantic Times -- Review

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ivy Books (June 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080411952X
• ISBN-13: 978-0804119528
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,748 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Troubleshooters Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, June 11, 2000

By	Mary Stella "Mary Stella" (South Florida) - See all my reviews

I admit that I'm a big fan of Suzanne Brockmann's books, so I may have been predisposed to like The Unsung Hero. However, I can objectively say that the book surpassed even my high expectations with its attention-grabbing mix of action/adventure, long-simmering romance, young love and an important secondary story told in flashback.

Intricate? You bet, but Suzanne does an incredible job weaving it all together in a way that kept me spellbound.

Everything in this novel works for me. The plot of injured Navy SEAL Tom Paoletti returning to his small-town Massachutsetts home to recover from a possible-career-ending head injury and spotting someone who could be a deadly terrorist is a great set-up.

The conflict between hometown doctor Kelly Ashton and her terminally-ill father Charles touches the heart.

Even though there's a lot going on, the primary romance between Tom Paoletti and Kelly Ashton is dynamite. I love having two people who have known and been attracted to each other for years finally meet up again.

Some readers don't like the addition of the WWII backstory involving Charles Ashton and Tom's great-uncle Joe Paoletti. I disagree. I think the flashback segments are extremely well done and make for compelling reading. I HAD to find out the whole story.

So, count this a rave for The Unsung Hero because it is definitely at the top of list of my favorite books of the year.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, June 6, 2000

By	M. Draper (Carmel, IN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being a fan of Suzanne Brockmann's series on Navy SEALs for Silhouette Intimate Moments, I felt I knew what to expect when buying this book -- scrumptious Navy SEALs, a strong heroine, and a great action plot.

UNSUNG HERO provides all of those things and more. The mainstream qualities of this book impressed me, and I hope to see more of her Navy SEALs' books take this direction.

The plot was dual-leveled: the action plot ran alongside and deftly interwove with a plot of unrequited love and a subplot of new-found love. The secondary characters, David and Mallory, in this book were skillfully drawn and realistic. Their story of two social misfits overcoming societal stereotypes and finding love was wonderful. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about it.

Tom's and Kelly's, the main characters, attempts at renewing and understanding the attraction between them was believable. Overcoming misunderstandings and preconceived notions, their relationship is brought to an equally satisfying conclusion.

As for the action plot about a terrorist attack on United States' soil, it was fast-paced and all too realistic.

You can't go wrong with this book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The one the started it all, September 9, 2005

By	Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the book that started it all, Navy SEAL Team Sixteen Commander, Tom Paoletti is at his childhood home recuperating from a head injury when he thinks he has seen a ghost of sorts - this one in the form of a dangerous terrorist thought to have been killed several years earlier. His superiors don't believe him, and when he sees him again at Home Depot purchasing items that could be used to make a homemade bomb, he feels compelled to contact some of his SEAL cohorts just to check things out.

We get to meet XO Jazz, bad boy Sam, excellent marksman Alyssa (the couple that will torture each other for most of the series), as well as the good girl that he almost slept with in his younger days, Kelly Ashton. Kelly, now a divorced Boston pediatrician, is commuting from her father's home as he is succumbing to cancer. This is the first time that she and Tom have seen each other in over a decade, and the old sparks are still there. When they start an affair, Kelly assumes it is just for a couple weeks of no strings se, and tries to play along, with disastrous consequences.

A secondary romance between Tom's grown niece Mallory and a nerdy comic book illustrator is very cute and romantic, and gives a sense of puppy love.

A lot of foreign dignitaries will be in town to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the end of WW2, and the heroes of Baldwin Bridge, Massachusetts. Tom puts 2 & 2 together and comes up with a good reason for a terrorist to set off a bomb. With the government not listening to him, it is up to Tom, his three Navy friends, two elderly former soldiers and two teens to thwart the plot.

"Unsung Hero" does a good job of setting up the series, that will reach it's pinnacle with "Over the Edge," arguably the best of the series so far.