Just three weeks ago (July 7) in PW's Category Closeup on Romance, we reported on a group of the genre's rising stars poised to take the next big step. One of our interviewees, Suzanne Brockmann, has now taken a giant leap with her debut hardcover, Gone Too Far, landing on the fiction list in the #4 slot after just a week in the stores. Hers was not an overnight success—she's written 40 books in the last 10 years, steadily building a reputation as one of the leading voices in military/romantic suspense. Sales success began in 1996, when she began writing books about Navy SEAL heroes. First printing for Gone Too Far was 70,000 copies, and after four trips to press, the in-print figure has climbed to 92,000. Ballantine officially launched the book at a Manhattan book signing on July 15, where Brockmann brought along a Navy SEAL. The next day, she was mobbed by fans who waited in a lengthy line for her autograph at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York City (about 500 romance writers were signing). She was the focus of a New York Times feature article that appeared on the first page of the Arts section on July 21. Brockmann corresponds with thousands of her fans via her Web site, www.Suzannebrockmann.com. The Web site had a countdown to the on-sale date, and hosted a virtual signing of Gone Too Far, offering a coupon for a $5 rebate from Ballantine. Brockmann is doing an East Coast driving tour to 13 states, from New York City to Jacksonville, Fla., and back up to Boston, where she lives.