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    Troublemaker: A Novel
    Troublemaker: A Novel
    Troublemaker: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    Troublemaker: A Novel

    Written by Linda Howard

    Narrated by Tanya Eby

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A thrilling, fast-paced novel of romantic suspense from sensational New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Linda Howard.

    For Morgan Yancy, an operative and team leader in a paramilitary group, nothing comes before his job. But when he’s ambushed and almost killed, his supervisor is determined to find out who’s after the members of his elite squad—and why. Due to worries that this unknown enemy will strike again, Morgan is sent to a remote location and told to lay low and stay vigilant. But between a tempting housemate he’s determined to protect and a deadly threat waiting in the shadows, keeping under the radar is proving to be his most dangerous mission yet.

    The part-time police chief of a small West Virginian mountain town, Isabeau “Bo” Maran finally has her life figured out. She’s got friends, a dog, and a little money in the bank. Then Morgan Yancy shows up on her doorstep. Bo doesn’t need a mysterious man in her life—especially a troublemaker as enticing and secretive as Morgan.

    The harder they fight the intense heat between them, the closer Morgan and Bo become, even though she knows he’s hiding from something. But discovering the truth could cost Bo more than she’s willing to give. And when Morgan’s cover is blown, it might just cost her life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 10, 2016
    ISBN9780062467171
    Troublemaker: A Novel
    Author

    Linda Howard

    Linda Howard is the award-winning author of many New York Times bestsellers, including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, and Dying to Please. She lives in Alabama with her husband and a golden retriever.

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    Related categories

    Reviews for Troublemaker

    4/5

    272 ratings21 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      This book is all about the dog. Whole story revolves around the dog very disappointing

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Another solid romantic suspense novel from Howard, featuring one of her alpha male heroes, a woman strong enough to stand up to him, and a very appealing dog.Morgan is a covert ops specialist, working for a secret government agency. While home on leave, he is ambushed and nearly killed. His boss sends him to recuperate--and to hide--with the boss's ex-stepsister in rural West Virginia. Bo, whose short-lived career as a house-flipper ended with the real estate crash, is a tech writer and part-time police chief (administrative only). She agrees to take Morgan in because she needs the money and because he is in no shape to go anywhere else at that point. As Morgan recovers, these two wary people forge an unexpected connection, helped along by Bo's dog Tricks, an implausibly bright golden retriever.Solid suspense, appealing characters, believable romance, hot sex, and a very smart dog.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Loved this romantic thriller! Great storyline and characters. Linda Howard is one of my favorite writers. Morgan Yancy is an operative team leader who is home on leave and gets jumped and stabbed by Russian operative. His team leader knows it’s only a matter of time before whoever wants Morgan dead will send someone to finish the job.so he sends Morgan to live with his step sister Bo, from along ago marriage. What happens when you take a man whose life is a dangerous and secretive and put him with a woman has kept the walls around her heart high and a golden retriever who is more human then dog!!! A great love story!!!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Suspenseful and interesting...sweet, funny, sexy, and full of action.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Linda Howard is always a good bet, good reading or listening
    • 3/5
      Male voices TERRIBLE. So distracting. Sounded like Snuffaluffagus. Ruined the Book. The book was well written but the Narrator trying to do a male voice completely took me out of the book. It was painful to listen to. I've heard several people narrate for the opposite sex and this has never been an issue. But this time I only made it half way through the book and stopped. I tried to find the book on Scribd just to read it myself but could not. I will probably just order a copy online so I can finish the story.
    • 5/5
      Great book I love story and enjoy the reader ?
    • 3/5
      Is this a multi-part story? Yes
      Does it end in a cliffhanger? Sort of
      Genre(s) : Romantic Suspense
      Instalove? No
      Do the MCs act like: HS, YA, NA or Adult: Adult
      Was cheating involved? No
      Any major triggers to be aware of? No
      Listening Speed? 1.25

      3.5 Stars for me!
      My rating range of this story... 2.5 - 4 Stars
      If significant, why? 0.5
      Biggest deduction? The lack of a resolution

      Main Character Ratings...
      H (Morgan) = 7/10
      h (Bo) = 6/10
      TSTL Moment(s)?

      Narrator Rating(s)
      M () = n/a
      F (Tanya Eby) = 7/10
      If below 5/10, why?

      If Comedy... Type? n/a
      Funny, Cute, Cringe Inducing, Mixed or Just No!

      Angst Level? Heavy
      Light, Moderate, Heavy or Please Stop

      Internal Monolog/Dialog? Please Stop
      Light, Moderate, Heavy or Please Stop

      Scenes with heat... Yes
      When does it start? 50%
      How much of the story? 10%
      Anything beyond M/F? No
      If yes, explained

      Heat Rating... 6/10
      Clean or Fade to Black - 1 or 2
      Normal to Descriptive 3-5
      Detailed Descriptive Sex - 6-7
      Um, Wow, Beyond Descriptive Sex - 8 or above

      Was there so much sex or unrealistic sex that you rolled your eyes and/or skipped forward? Almost

      The back story... The blurb says it all

      Romance or Gist: Lots of push/pull but once it got going, they did a good job of getting to know each other.

      The drama explosion... The bad guys find them
      Did it feel Real, OK or contrived? Ok
      Was it OTT? Yes
      Separation involved? No
      Was it resolved properly or rushed? Scratching my head

      Final Notes... This was actually a pretty good Story until the 60% mark for me then started to drag out. The lack of a resolution at the end of the story was frustrating but I am hoping that will be resolved in the next book in the series. Fingers crossed.

      HEA or HFN? HFN
      Book Source: Scribd
    • 4/5
      I read this novel as it was being rewritten and even then it captured my attention and didn't let go until the last page. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to hardy@novelstar.top or joye@novelstar.top
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Morgan Yancy, who is a team leader in a paramilitary group. He is shot & goes to a small West VA town to recuperate with the Chief of Police, Bo Maran. Bo is the step-sister of Morgan's leader. Bo isn't thrilled to have someone staying at her house but slowly gets used to Morgan. Bo has a golden retriever named Tricks who seems to understand English at a level higher than most dogs (who can understand like a 2 year old toddler). Tricks is a huge part of this story so if you don't like or understand the bond between an animal and their owners you might not enjoy this book.As Morgan recovers from his injuries, Axel (his leader) is trying to unravel who tried to kill Morgan. It is close to the end of the book when Morgan, with Bo's help, starts to figure that out. Things move really fast after that. I wasn't that satisfied with the way the killer or killers story ended.I rate this a 3.5 because I thought it was a slow moving story and didn't keep my interest. I would go a couple of days without reading it which is unusual for me once I am into a book. I like all the characters but weren't invested in them.
    • 2/5
      Disappointed. I really enjoyed the next in this series "the Woman Left Behind" - so I thought I'd go back and listen to the first one. They're nothing alike, in quality. Highly recommend the Woman Left Behind - it's 5 out of 5. This one (Troublemaker) is 1 part good (hence the 2 out of 5), 1 part mush, 1 part all about the dog
    • 5/5
      Good read. Story was enjoyable, however the ending was left somewhat hanging. Characters were likeable, especially the dog!
    • 5/5
      Loved all the characters especially Tricks. Great story with fun characters and Naked Pig
    • 5/5
      I moved the story. Tricky was the best. I love happy ending.
    • 3/5
      Isabeau (Bo) is a small town police chief who is forced to accept a house guest in Morgan, an operative who has survived a gunshot wound and needs someplace quiet and safe to heal. In the beginning, Morgan is extremely weak, but as he gets stronger, he and Bo become more and more attracted to one another. When Bo's beloved dog, Tricks, is threatened, Morgan saves her and the relationship is consummated. There really isn't much suspense in the story until near then end when the culprit who was responsible for shooting Morgan is finally revealed.
      The interaction between the two lead characters made for a light and fun developing romance which is enhanced by the love of a good dog, but the suspense aspect of the story is left shortchanged. The middle of the story drags on a bit as the relationship between the characters is explored for almost too long. A good light read by Linda Howard, but there are so many of her books that I liked more than this one.
    • 3/5
      I thought that this was good. Years ago I read a ton of Linda Howard but I stopped picking up her books for one reason or another. I decided to give this one a try and I found that I do still enjoy her writing. I found this to be a really enjoyable listen.I really only have one main complaint with this book. I can't believe that I am going to say this but too much of this book was about the dog. I love dogs. My world revolves around my three dogs and I have to admit that they are incredibly spoiled. I love it when dogs are a part of the story. This book took things a bit far even for me. I felt like I had spent hours listening to how Tricks liked to play catch, how smart she was, how she liked to be fed, where she thought she needed to sit in the car, and the list goes on. Do you see that cover? It should have had the dog in the foreground with the humans in the background because that would have been more accurate.Now, on to the humans. Morgan works for an elite unit and is enjoying some time off at the start of the story. He is attacked near his own home comes close to losing his life. Once he has recovered enough to leave constant medical care, his supervisor arranges for him to go to the home of his step-sister, Bo, who lives in a small remote town. Bo is the part-time police chief of a small town. It's is an administrative position and she fills in the rest of her time with computer work out of her home. She does not expect to find an incredibly sick man on her doorstep but he is in such bad shape she can't bring herself to send him away.There is a lot going on in this book. Not only do they need to figure out who is responsible for the attack on Morgan at the start of the book, but Bo also has some issues in town that prove to be more dangerous than she counted on. It did feel like nothing happened with the mystery of who was responsible for trying to kill Morgan for the majority of the book and then everything came together really quickly at the end of the story. Bo's situation in town filled in the main part of the book nicely.I thought that Morgan and Bo worked well together. Morgan was pretty open and shared as much with Bo as he could. Morgan was in pretty rough shape for a long time in this story but when he started to recover he seemed to do so very quickly and that is when things started to heat up between the pair. I thought that they had good chemistry with each other and I liked them as a couple.I thought that Tanya Eby did a good job with the narration. It did take me just a bit to get used to her voice but once I did, I had no complaints. She handled all of the character voices very well and was able to add a lot of emotion to the story. I had no problem listening to her voice for hours at a time.I think that readers who enjoy romantic suspense and love dogs will enjoy this one. I didn't think that this was Linda Howard's best work but it was an enjoyable story. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of her work in the future.I received a digital review copy of this book from William Morrow via Edelweiss and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this story that is mostly about the dog Tricks but also about two people who end up befriending her.Morgan Yancy is just back from a tricky mission and now he's trying to relax so he heads out on his boat to fish. While there he meets some people he knows and he realises that somethings has gone badly wrong when he arrives home to an assassin. When he wakes it's in a hospital bed and he's in pain. He had survived the assassination but his boss, Axel, has no idea who and why he had been targeted.Axel decides to send Morgan to someone he hasn't seen in years and someone he seriously doesn't care for, her mother and his father were once married for a few months and they didn't get on then. She's distant enough and needs the money so Bo Maran agrees. Bo never intended to be in the house she is and part-time working as the Sherrif (mostly to get the paperwork done) and not a dog owner. But these things are what have her in the town she's in and she likes the community around her.I enjoyed the read, I liked how Morgan had to come to terms with his now body (though he didn't have enough falling over for long enough to be honest and never relapsed, it is a fantasy/thriller version of recovery). Things do get resolved fairly quickly and this is also more a romance with a taste of thriller than a full thriller. There's also a lot of dealing with a spoilt dog who walks all over the two characters (and a lot of other people in the town). I really did like how respectful Morgan was about her job and her and dealt with his issues like an actual adult.This appears to be part of a series and I'm looking forward to more and more by the author.
    • 5/5
      awesome dog
    • 3/5
      Isabeau (Bo) is a small town police chief who is forced to accept a house guest in Morgan, an operative who has survived a gunshot wound and needs someplace quiet and safe to heal. In the beginning, Morgan is extremely weak, but as he gets stronger, he and Bo become more and more attracted to one another. When Bo's beloved dog, Tricks, is threatened, Morgan saves her and the relationship is consummated. There really isn't much suspense in the story until near then end when the culprit who was responsible for shooting Morgan is finally revealed.
      The interaction between the two lead characters made for a light and fun developing romance which is enhanced by the love of a good dog, but the suspense aspect of the story is left shortchanged. The middle of the story drags on a bit as the relationship between the characters is explored for almost too long. A good light read by Linda Howard, but there are so many of her books that I liked more than this one.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Morgan Yancy, who is a team leader in a paramilitary group. He is shot & goes to a small West VA town to recuperate with the Chief of Police, Bo Maran. Bo is the step-sister of Morgan's leader. Bo isn't thrilled to have someone staying at her house but slowly gets used to Morgan. Bo has a golden retriever named Tricks who seems to understand English at a level higher than most dogs (who can understand like a 2 year old toddler). Tricks is a huge part of this story so if you don't like or understand the bond between an animal and their owners you might not enjoy this book.As Morgan recovers from his injuries, Axel (his leader) is trying to unravel who tried to kill Morgan. It is close to the end of the book when Morgan, with Bo's help, starts to figure that out. Things move really fast after that. I wasn't that satisfied with the way the killer or killers story ended.I rate this a 3.5 because I thought it was a slow moving story and didn't keep my interest. I would go a couple of days without reading it which is unusual for me once I am into a book. I like all the characters but weren't invested in them.
    • 4/5
      I have yet to find a Linda Howard book that I did not like. I have fun with the canine activities and the human variety was entertaining also. Bo was strong, independent and a determined to live life on her own terms. She had finally come to terms with life and knew what she did and didn’t want. One sexy, mysterious Morgan Yancy was of the didn’t want variety. She was just having trouble convincing the rest of her of that matter. Morgan had a lot on his plate to juggle around. Then to be place in a location where he was left to contend with a woman with a gun and a canine. Then to add to it the chemistry that was smoking the room. Howard gave me what I look forward to in her reads. A story. A fast pace romantic suspense where it takes just a little something extra to get the two together and a whole lot of something more to pull them apart.