IMO if Brockmann is being true to life then Eden’s stepfather was the father of her baby. The stepfather’s behavior when Eden moved out, the skeevy BJ scene with Izzy and the maybe voluntary/maybe not porn all scream abuse victim to anyone who has worked with them.

Having worked at both a rape crisis center and with abused kids I can say without a doubt that the abused kids have a much tougher time healing. I could go one for days about how much it screws you up to be harmed by a person who is supposed to take care of you. Add in the fact that Eden would think her mom knew and did nothing (whether the mom actually knew or not) and the whole thing is just a nightmare. An HEA in the form of a healthy, honest relationship for Eden is a long way and a ton of therapy down the road. She needs to work toward it as an independent person, not as part of a couple trying to work out their problems.

And while Izzy is not even close to being old enough to be her father, the gap is large enough to create a power imbalance that’s hard to navigate in a healthy way. Izzy’s impulse to save her was well intentioned, but it just reinforced the idea that Eden has no way to take care of herself except by manipulating men who have power in her life. And frankly Izzy doesn’t have the emotional maturity to deal with any of this.

My 2 cents.

But I do hope Brockmann doesn’t take a short cut with them, and either gets Eden professional help (and really, the whole Gillman family at this point needs to seek help) or finds someone a little less damaged for Izzy since he seems to have his own childhood scars.

Can I also say that I wish we got to see more of the old members of Team 16? I was glad Kenny was back in this book, but I also want to see John Nilsson (whose step-daughter has to be about Eden’s age at this point, maybe she would be a good influence?) and Tommy’s niece!

As for Sam and Alyssa…I’ve always found the dynamics of their relationship fascinating and frustrating at the same time. One minute they’re all lovey dovey and the next they’re snarking at each other like two year olds. I still haven’t fully forgiven Alyssa for all the crap she put Sam thru leading up to their HEA…or HFN or whatever you want to call it.

My favorite book is All Through The Night because it’s JULES! Yay! Jules is one of the best written characters ever, which is why he’s on the my desert island with me. Of course, he’s gay, so we don’t actually DO anything together, but whatever. It’s my fantasy and all that good stuff…right?

General comment: I’m an Izzy girl (sorry). I never really saw him and Tracey working out in the long run, and thought both of them made some dumb mistakes in ITS.

As for Eden, I’m not bothered by her age or the age difference. As far as I’m concerned, she’s an adult and he’s only 10 years older. I do think she is extremely manipulative and immature (Izzy is also really immature, although the more I date, the more I see how well he represents men age 25-35), and they both need to grow up a bit before their HEA is possible.

Random Wrap-up: I enjoyed Tracey/Deck pairing, and would rather it be a work in progress with a little more development of the BDSM than an open/closed case.

@c2 you’re on a roll. You’ve made me laugh out loud twice in the last 5 minutes—and I really appreciate it. I just finished a paper that was seriously unfun so the laughs were very welcome.

Also, I can totally imagine Suz doing this. Sam & Lys could join the ranks of fictional crime solvers that are like some really violent version of Typhoid Mary. Everywhere they go people drop dead like flies.

Maybe she’ll manage to have it both ways if she spins Sam and Alyssa off into their own sub-series? She can focus more on the suspense elements since they already have their HEA?? She wouldn’t be able to kill off any of the cross-series characters without people going wacko but she could introduce new people to kill. LOL

Ooo yes! Izzy didn’t do it for me, but I know other readers love him. I thought he was a bit of a rat. And yes to Ken, too. I, yes, punched the air, and when Something happens later, I was so worried about the poor dear that it overbalanced the plot a bit for me.

It’s a bit like watching the British “Spooks/MI5″ as opposed to watching, say, “CSI.” In Spooks, nobody is safe, the whole cast has been decimated and replaced over the years. In CSI, the goodies are good and the baddies are bad, and if anybody is going to leave the show it’s well telegraphed in advance, and they don’t usually die. Though with the high ratings on Warrick’s death, they might think again about that. But did anyone really think they’d kill off Horatio?

With Brockmann, I get the feeling that she’d love to take the world into the suspense mainstream, so she can play with the characters. Nobody would be safe, then. And I think that would be fun, but switching genres mid-series has never been a successful strategy.

I agree with you about the unreliable narrator thing though. I wouldn’t have described it that way but it is one of the things that keeps me following the books. I also think that it’s one of the reasons that opinions on the development of the story arc are so polarized. What you see depends on who you believe and why.

It’s the deep pov – her characters think what they think, and you know why they think those things are that way, and so you buy it, because their judgement is sound in other ways. However, those two things aren’t the same, even if it’s easy to conflate them. Clever.

Also, this book made me think (more so than I did before) that hell, Izzy is an asshole. Mostly because Tracey got mostly labeled in my head on account of his testimony, and we see this time round just how biased his perspective was on that. Love that.

I too saw Decker / Tracey as a HFN; but one that could be a HEA, just with time, and work.

I have no problem with Sophia & Deck not ending up together because I always thought they were too dysfunctional even for a Brockmann couple, but I still wasn’t completely happy with either of the final pairings. I had way more problems with Deck & Tracy than with Sophia and Dave.

Like Lynn, I thought of Joey Hill’s books and Tracy is no Violet. I would be much happier if they turned out to be a “happy for now” and had their HEAs with other people later. Sadly, I assume we’re stuck with them. Once a pairing has done the mutual “I love yous” they’re pretty much carved in stone.

On the plus side, Wildcard put in an appearance. When he showed up inside my head I said “Ken!” the way the patrons at Cheers used to say “Norm!”

Also, if anyone cares, I didn’t call myself an all around good gal – Gwen did. Thanks Gwen.