Death and Honor (Honor Bound)

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 480 pages
• Published by: Putnam Adult June 3, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0399154981
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0399154980
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Product Review
“An immensely entertaining adventure.”
--Kirkus Reviews

Product Description
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.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Death and Honor (Honor Bound Series) (Hardcover) Sad to say, but I have had negative things to say about the last four Griffin books before "Death and Honor" and this makes the fifth. The qualities that once made Griffin books compelling, the mix of history and fiction simply isn't there any more. The characters which at one time had some depth and believability are now cardboard cutouts, whose dialog you can practically predict. The same is also even more true of the plots: you can see plot developments long in advance. Why bother reading the entire book when you already know what will happen to these boring, transparent characters early in the book? W.E.B. Griffin has been collaborating lately with his son, William E. Butterworth IV. Obviously there is no way of knowing how their collaboration works. Who writes, who edits, none of that do we know. One thing I have developed an opinion of, however, is the success of the collaboration - there is none. It is a failure. This is the fifth deadly dull book in a row to emerge under the Griffin name. I will not divulge many details of the story because it is always possible someone else may find the book readable. I did not: I gave up (in disgust, frankly) at page 246, when things became unbelievable to the point of being nonsensical. I'd love to describe the scene that did me in so you could laugh too without having to endure reading a single page of this book, but alas, that would be a major spoiler. The story in short is that Cletus Frade, the long estranged son of a powerful Argentine military leader and entrepreneur was sent to Argentina by the WWII OSS to reunite with his father and to further the strategic interests of the United States. Frade, the elder, is conveniently dispatched and the son inherits all. Griffin has used this tactic of the rich young man frequently and it used to work. Having his characters wealthy enough to do anything helped tremendously when the character would have otherwise been a low-ranking military officer having trouble making economic ends meet. With Cletus Frade (and others in the last few books), Griffin has worn out the device. Frade encounters or already knows almost every important, wealthy, powerful or famous person in the Western Hempisphere. Though a junior officer of the United States military, he is casually entrusted with secrets that in real life were entrusted to very few. Frade is supposedly crossing swords with the Germans in wartime Argentina. In reality, the novel is deadly dull up through page 246 where I stopped. It is obvious that one or both of the authors are conciously trying to ape the work of someone like Alan Furst who written some powerfully evocative novels of WWII Eastern Europe. The emulation fails. The reader is supposed to believe that Frade as an uncanny ability to find Germans who are intent on betraying their country. It doesn't fly. Likewise, the "enemies" Frade encounters are described as brilliant and dangerous, but turn out to be fools who don't even notice what Frade is doing. As noted, I made it through page 246 of the book's 470 pages. I should have saved my time and stopped at about page 100 when it became apparent that this was going to be another Griffin dud, the fifth in a row, I am sorry to say. The writing style is still okay, so if you're stuck at an airport or aren't a critical reader, it's possible you may enjoy this to some small degree. If you are a Griffin fan and remember the thrill of reading the much-awaited new novel from Griffin way back when, I think you will be disappointed. Jerry