“Party Girl Producer” Jane Mercedes Chadwick is struggling. She’s working on a shoestring, making a “comeback” but mostly determined to do whatever it takes to get her American Hero movie made. The fact it’s about a decorated WWII hero who happens to be gay sparks some nasty hate mail that turns deadly serious. She doesn’t want 24/7 bodyguards but her studio insists. When she’s reluctantly convinced the FBI takes the threats seriously she agrees to have Troubleshooters, Inc. secure her home. She expected to have to keep up her “Hollywood” act but she didn’t count on tall, dark and scary Cosmo being so incredibly attractive.

Hot Target stars one of the SEAL Team 16’s most elusive men. And oh yes, Cosmo is quite the sexy hero! Jane is just the lady to shake him up with her mix of femme fatale Hollywood shark whose “real” personality is much more pizza and sweatpants. The sparks fly between these two from the beginning. Jane makes some bad choices for publicity and Cosmo makes some bad assumptions judging J Mercedes Chadwick without really observing what lies behind that persona. When they both realize they have “public faces” they use to keep the world at bay their reluctant attraction grows stronger. In the long nights, when tension induced insomnia strikes, they let down their guard and their romance really blooms.

A strong sub plot surfaces when Jules Cassidy is the FBI agent assigned to the case. He is in an emotional crisis with his ex-lover and finds himself growing more and more attracted to Jane’s supposedly heterosexual brother. The SEAL Team and Troubleshooters books all have a theme of defending our country’s freedoms but this story shows how those freedoms can also be threatened on our own soil by hatred and intolerance. Ms Brockman writes the complex mix of emotions surrounding love, no matter who feels it, in a very sensitive and engaging way. The fast paced action spiced with romantic tension made Hot Target hard to put down. I like the f! act I can both deduce some of what will unfold and yet still have that “holy cow didn’t see that one coming” reaction! Both my husband and I enjoy Ms Brockman’s stories and that’s worth it’s weight in gold in my book! In my opinion Hot Target is even better on many levels than formulaic mega-hit political thrillers.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Very sensual

Reviewer: Patrice
February 18, 2005