For this month’s DIK reading challenge, I reviewed Suzanne Brockmann’s All Through the Night.

While Jules and Robin plan their wedding, Adam, a man with whom both Jules and Robin have had a relationship of sorts, returns to their lives.  Adam is hoping that Jules, super FBI agent that he is, can help him with a frightening stalker.  When Jules tries to help, jealousy creates a strain on his relationship with Robin, as well as putting people he cares about in danger as the stalker transfers his attention to people Adam interacts with.  It doesn’t help that a nosy reporter is also trying to discredit Robin’s recovery from alcoholism in the hopes of getting a scoop.

So, that’s the short and sweet description.  Most of Jules & Robin’s romantic conflict occurred in the previous book, Force of Nature, when the two men finally got together.  All Through the Night is our cookie for being good and waiting so long and patiently for Jules to get the love he deserves.  Yes, Robin’s assistant Dolphina gets a romance of her own.  It’s a very nice, if a little abbreviated, story.  But then, this is Jules’s story, and Dolphina’s story is secondary.

Jules was an appealing and engaging character from the instant he first appeared (which, if I recall was Gone Too Far).  We’ve seen his heartbreak with Adam, we’ve seen his heartbreak with Robin, and with Ben.  I was rooting for him from the very beginning, and when he didn’t get his happy ever after in Hot Target, I was devastated.

Finally getting a beautiful and loving relationship was a long time coming, and I’m glad Ms. Brockmann gave Jules and his romance the attention it deserved.  Yes, there was action and suspense, too.  The Troubleshooters series consistently delivers fast paced, action filled stories and this was no exception.  But for me, the romance was the thing, because I think Jules had to wait WAY longer than any of the other couples did.  I wanted my cookie!

One of the things I especially liked about this story, though, was that the groundwork was laid for Adam to have his own redemption arc.  His previous appearances made us dislike Adam, but in this book, we see that Adam maybe isn’t as villainous as he seemed.  (Dark of Night and Hot Pursuit are still on my TBR, though, so if Adam gets any time in those books – no spoilers, please!)

I found this book awesome, but if you haven’t read the previous Troubleshooters books, you’d need to at least read Hot Target and Force of Nature (and preferably Breaking Point between them) to get full satisfaction from this story.