Breakpoint
JoAnn Ross
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Buy *Breakpoint: A High Risk Novel* by JoAnn Ross online

Breakpoint: A High Risk Novel
JoAnn Ross
Signet
Paperback
400 pages
July 2009
rated 4 of 5 possible stars

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Murder on an aircraft carrier?

The fourth in JoAnn Ross’s "High Risk" series follows a group of military men who forged a bond during combat in Afghanistan but are all working out their new life paths now that they have joined civilian life.

Breakpoint focuses on Dallas O’Halloran, former Air Force combat controller, who appeared briefly in Shattered and Crossfire (I haven’t read the first book in the series, Freefall) but about whom I knew very little since he has been a fairly minor character until now.

I had begun to wonder if Ross follows a rather similar plot theme in her books; the hero and heroine of both previous novels had already shared a previous relationship by the time we met them in the story. In Breakpoint, though, Dallas already knows Julianne Decatur - but as an opponent in a court martial (she was prosecuting his friends over the helicopter crash in Afghanistan).

Breakpoint actually begins a year or so later, when Dallas is tasked by THOR (a high-up government agency) to investigate the suicide of a female pilot on an aircraft carrier. Dallas is teamed up with Julianne, a woman he finds himself attracted to. But why are they investigating a suicide when NCIS could do it? Might they uncover some more significant events that are taking place on the carrier?

The detail Ross employs to build the aircraft carrier setting makes it clear the author has done her homework. The growing relationship between Dallas and Julianne feels more solid than some of the other books’ main relationships.

Less successful is the pacing, which is quite slow at times, and the actual mystery; neither Dallas nor Julianne seems particularly good at investigating. Given a ship of 6000 people, they limit their investigations to just a handful of people on that ship. How fortuitous they choose the right handful, even if some are a bit of a surprise.

I like Ross's books, particularly the military detail, although reading three in quick succession reveals a fair bit of repetition (“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy,” “the only easy day was yesterday,” etc. pop up over and over again), and the military setting is perhaps more successful than the romance part of the story. But overall, it’s a good enough read.



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox, 2011

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