Excellent series continues

books:


	• Death and Honor (Honor Bound) W.E.B. Griffin, William E. Butterworth IV Putnam Adult, 2008 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

More of Cletus Frade

I have considered the Argentina series of novels, perhaps, the best of WEB Griffin's work. Honor Bound and Blood and Honor are outstanding for action and history. This novel is a half-step lower in my estimation as the characters begin to show the inflation of ability and stature that we see in the Corps series. Cletus is now hobnobbing with Allen Dulles and Howard Hughes and privy to the greatest secrets of the war, like the Manhattan Project. In the Corps novels, Killer McCoy keeps adding more languages to his list. Still these are adventures and fiction and are all well done. The most fantastic plot twist in this novel, the real reason why Juan Peron supported the Nazis in WWII, turns out, in a typical Griffin coup, to be true. He adds a newspaper story from the present right at the end of the novel confirming the plot.

The story picks up when the last one in the series ends. Peter has returned from Germany and married Alicia. Cletus and Dorotea are married. The Nazi investigators who have come to Argentina to try to identify Clete's source in the Germany embassy are still there. The backstory fill-ins are not obtrusive here.

A new development then starts a new plot line. The German cultural attache defects to the FBI agent, Lieberman. This leads to a trip to California and a meeting with Howard Hughes. My mother-in-law was close to Hughes and the character depicted here is close to the Hughes that I knew. The caricature seen later in books and press accounts was not yet believable as Hughes was still squiring starlets around. The story moves fast although the character development, so powerful in Griffin's other novels, is a bit weaker here. The plot moves fast but the people are more cardboard than usual. I don't know if that is his son's influence. Whatever it is, the novel is enjoyable and I hope he keeps working.

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Best "WEB" in years!

Death and Honor (Honor Bound)

several years have passed since WEB Griffin has written a book that I truly enjoyed. The Presidental Agent series apes Tom Clancy too much, and the Men at War series has been pretty flat to my tastes since it resumed a couple of years ago.

The present volume is the 4th book in the Honor Bound series of novels, and although I didn't think it would be continued, here it is --back in full force. To be honest, a couple of the other installments in this series were a bit disappointing, the present work makes up for previous shortcomings very well.

The protagonist--Major Cletus Howell Frade, exhibits a lot more depth of character than before. The plot revolves about a scheme that the sinister characters within the German SS have hatched to provide themselves with, what today would be called a "golden parachute", when the Third Reich eventually crumbled. "Special shipments" were being transferred to Argentina by submarine, consisting of gold, jewels, and currency extorted from the families of concentration camp inmates to effect a ransom release of loved ones. Criminal elements within the SS have chosen to divert these assets to themselves, rather than to the Reich.

The list of truly despicable characters is too long to enumerate here, but the steps taken by "Don Cletus" Frade, the son of an Argentine military officer, who is a Marine aviator cum OSS agent, are very interesting and entertaining in the way the plot unfolds.

There are some colorful cameo roles of Allen Dulles, and Howard Hughes as OSS insiders within the context of the story.

As has become a frequent complaint with WEB Griffin stories lately, there are several bonehead errors that escaped proofreading, such as Field Marshall Erich Rommel (should be Erwin!). This is my only quibble with the present work, which has the taste and feel of many of the earlier Griffin works. A solid and entertaining novel, Four Stars!

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Excellent series continues

I really enjoyed the first three books in this series, but was a little nervous when I saw that it was a father-son collaboration (the two collaborations in the "Men at War" series were, in my opinion, well below the quality of the first four titles of that series). Fortunately, the plotting, story line, and characters in "Death and Honor" followed seamlessly on the first three titles. The only real complaint I can make about this book is that the closing scene left me wanting the next installment with no solid idea on when it will arrive (at least a year, and possibly/probably longer). At least, with TV series you know that the cliffhangers will be resolved in just a few months with the start of a new season -- Griffin juggles multiple series and we know we're only going to get one or two titles a year.

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WEB Bouces Back

I have become an avid reader of WEB Griffin's books - his "Brotherhood of War," "Honor Bound," "Men in Blue," "Soldier Spies" and the latest "Presidential Agent" books. Although the latest entry in the Corps series and in the Philly cop series were great, the last couple of Spy novels seemed a little flat. But this latest entry in the "Honor Bound" series is again on a high level. Historical figures are brought to life and some Rubicon's are crossed. Knowing what we know about Argentina's history after WWII and the nature of the attept to assasinate Der Fuhrer, WEB and his son have set us up for interesting stories in the next volume in this book.

WEB gets alot of criticism for explaining background history in each new novel which repeats what happened in earlier books. I don't ming this as I understand that the background is necessary to explain the characters' relationships for those who missed the earlier books. In fact, this information led me to go back and read the earlier Brotherhood of War books when I started in the middle. Frequently, I note that his recaps differ from the original material! But he is a grat storyteller who really brings out human nature (good and bad) in each new book. We should all thank him for the many hours of enjoyment his books have provided.

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reviews: page 1, 2

The crackling new novel in the bestselling Honor Bound series by the #1 New York Times? bestselling master of the military thriller.

W.E. B. Griffin?s Honor Bound saga of World War II espionage in Germany and Argentina has long been immensely popular: ?Enough derring-do, romance and action to satisfy Griffin?s legion of fans and bring him new ones? (Rocky Mountain News); ?Cletus Frade?s services to his countries, his fealty to honor and his courage in the face of danger lift this thriller right off the bookshelf and onto the nightstand? (The Star-Ledger).

The year is 1943, and Argentina is officially neutral, but crawling with every kind of spy, sympathizer, and military official imaginable. The hero is Cletus Frade, a Marine pilot recruited by the OSS, with strong family ties to Argentina, and in Death and Honor?Griffin?s fourth book in the series and the first since 1999?he?s got a lot on his hands.

OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan has asked him to set up his own official-but-really-OSS airline in Argentina, using ?loaned? Lockheed Lodestars and Constellations. Of even more concern are two interwoven German operations. The first is a government scheme for Jews outside the Fatherland to purchase the freedom of their relatives in concentration camps, who will then be transported to Argentina and Uruguay. The second has to do with where that money is going: a plan called Operation Phoenix, which will establish safe havens for senior Nazi officials in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Needless to say, the OSS is very interested in both of them, and if Frade can somehow find out a little more . . . without getting killed, that is. Which, as Frade is about to find out, is easier said than done.

Rich with the special flair that Griffin?s fans have long come to expect from him, Death and Honor is another ?immensely entertaining adventure? (Kirkus Reviews) from one of our finest storytellers.

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