The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann

Hero: John "Nils" Nilsson
Heroine: Meg Moore
Grade: B+
Date: 2/22/06

"The United States refuses to negotiate with terrorists." Meg Moore remembered the warning from her job as a translator in a European embassy. Those same words will spell out a death sentence for her daughter and grandmother who have been kidnapped by a lethal group called the Extremists. Meg will do anything to meet their unspeakable demands; anything—even kill—to save her child.

When Navy SEAL Lieutenant, junior grade, John Nilsson is summoned to Washington, D.C., by the FBI to help negotiate a hostage situation, the last person he expects to see holding a foreign ambassador at gunpoint is Meg. He hasn't seen her in years, but he's never forgotten how it feels to hold her in his arms. John could lose his career if he helps her escape. She will lose her life if he doesn't. . . .

I don't remember enjoying John and Meg's story nearly as much the first time (which was so many years ago) as I did this time around. This is the only Troubleshooters book that I haven't done a thorough reread of (I only reread my favorite scenes). So, by reading this entire book yesterday, it was like I was reading it for the first time, because I didn't remember a lot of what happened in the book.

Whoa.

Johnny Nilsson is a stud.

I never paid much attention to him and his story the last time around, because I was so wrapped up in Sam and Alyssa's secondary story. I was dying for them to finally get their own story told, their entire story and not little scraps of a story in between the bigger and main storylines of the books. This time around, I paid a whole lot more attention to John and Meg's story, but throughout the book I found myself obsessing over Sam (my friend Holly will tell you just how much, because after I realized the error of my ways, I called her, crying and whining about it for three whole hours, I'm certifiable, I know it.).

But I really liked all of the stories told in this book. Meg Moore, who is some kind of language specialist working at for the government has her worst nightmare come true, well any mother's worst nightmare really...terrorists kidnap her daughter and her grandmother and hold them hostage, until Meg kidnaps the head of another terrorist group. As a mother, it's hard to say how much you would go through for your child, you would like to think that you would everything in your power to help someone, not trust ANYONE to help you, not even a SEAL, so I shouldn't have been so pissed off at Meg throughout the book because if you put yourself in her shoes, would you have trusted anyone to help you? If it meant the life of your child, would you go against the directions of the kidnappers and trust someone you think you might love?

Honestly?

I would honestly like to think that I would, but I'm not 100% sure. But whatever, this book was the bomb, plenty to love with the grandma (dude I totally forgot her name) and Ralph then Meg and Nils and most definitely...SAM AND ALYSSA!

With all those to die for characters and storylines, what's not to love? Get it, read it and love it!