Bodyguard by Suzanne Brockmann

Threatened by underworld boss Michael Trotta, Alessandra Lamont is nearly blown to pieces in a mob hit. The last thing she wants is to put what’s left of her life into the hands of the sexy, loose-cannon federal agent who seems to look right through her yet won’t let her out of his sight.

FBI agent Harry O’Dell’s ex-wife and son were tragic casualties in his ongoing war against organized crime. He’ll do whatever it takes to bring Trotta down -- even if it means sticking like glue to this blonde bombshell who unwittingly married into the mob. She needs him if she wants to stay alive. But staying alive is nothing next to the explosive attraction that threatens to consume them both -- and puts them into the greatest danger of all...falling in love.


I've already read SB's The Unsung Hero and The Defiant Hero when I got my hands on this one. It was kinda weird to have SB's name in front of the book and not read SEAL in the entire story. As it turned out, this was a good read.

I absolutely love Alessandra Lamont's character. Probably because I really thought that she was going to be a disappointment when I first started reading the thing. You really can't blame me 'cause in the first few pages it did sound like that.

But by the time I read the last page I was hoping that, when I finally grow up, my 'character' would be half as good as hers. She was eternally optimistic about a lot of things that already seemed hopeless. She said she was stupid but I don't think so. Naive, but never stupid.

And her emotional strength was something. After having the rich life, she didn't have any complaints cleaning houses as a new job--well, she had to do it as part of her cover. She had to start her life with nothing to her name, not even family or friends. I would likely have jumped the nearest seawall if that had been me.

Clive Owen comes to mind whenever I read the name Harry O'Dell. I dunno why, it just does. Harry O'Dell gave a new meaning to the term emotional baggage. I perfectly understand the recoil that led him to (almost) sign away his kids--he felt guilty that he knowingly abandoned them in his quest for revenge and he actually believed the kids didn't need him.

That's why Allie was perfect for him. She made him see that the case was the exact opposite--that the kids needed him as much as he needed them for all of them to really move on.

And this was where I first met George Faulkner. Which was a good thing 'cause I don't think I could stand the thought of him, all FBI business in later SB books, and then just read here that he was almost caught by his ex-wife being 'serviced' by his current lover. George, of course, is the kind of sidekick that just grows on you--like Wildcard. (*sigh*)

I hope one of these days...uh, books...Harry's security consulting firm gets to work with TS. And ever the romantic, I wanna know if Shaun did hook up with Mindy. Just like I wanna have Tom Paoletti mention in passing that his niece Mallory had married David.

Oh, well. We can't have everything.

Final verdict: 7/10. Must read.