Special Ops

Brotherhood of War, Book 9

By: W. E. B. Griffin

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Length: 23 hrs

Publisher's summary

In November 1964, Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara went to the Congo with two hundred men, intent on making it his first step in taking over Africa and South America. He failed, thanks in large part to the efforts of an intrepid band of Green Berets. Licking his wounds, he retreated to Cuba to recruit more men and try the same thing in Bolivia. He failed there, too. In fact, he died there, and thus, despite his incompetence, became a glorious martyr to the cause. But who was trying to kill him, really - and who was trying to keep him alive?

The brotherhood is back - Craig Lowell, Sandy Felter, Jack Portet, Geoff Craig, Robert Bellmon, George Washington "Father" Lunsford, Master Sergeant Doubting Thomas - and their mission has never been more dramatic and deadly.

©2008 W.E.B. Griffin (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Strongly reminiscent of modern American military classics From Here to Eternity and The Winds of War.… An intricately layered, epic novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

Fun Read

Final book of the series, but not chronologically. Old and new characters chase Che' in the Congo; a strange mix of tactical operations combined with President Johnson's hands-on approach. I enjoyed the book and the series. Will try another Griffin series.

The Last Book in a Great Series

The first fifteen percent of this novel follows very closely the action that was already related in The New Breed and The Aviators and that was a very sad mistake on the part of Griffin. Many of the lines and descriptions are exactly the same and since I’ve been reading the books in quick succession, that almost deterred to me from finishing this final book in the series. I pushed on because I have an eight-book investment already, and I’m glad I did, but the first chapters tried my patience.

The plot of the story is a U.S. special operation to try and deal with Che Guevara by humiliating him and therefore breaking his effectiveness as a communist leader (as opposed to simply killing him and turning him into a martyr). The majority of the focus is on Che Guevara’s attempts to destabilize the Congo. As is usual for Griffin, most of the book is about military politics and the behind the scenes actions necessary to support a special operation in the fields. A significant subplot is the need to keep the operation secret, something endangered both by tragic accidents in the field and by self-important military officers who have a hard time accepting that there is something they don’t have a need to know.

This is the last of The Brotherhood of War series and it’s significantly longer than the other books. It’s not, unfortunately, the strongest of the novels and the ending very much has an ‘I need to wrap this up’ feel to it.

Great Author, Great Series, Great Book!

Amazing character development. Believable & entertaining plot that is fun to follow and easy to suspend disbelief. Authors was detail oriented when describing anything military so interactions didn't seem like a civilians thought on what military life is like. Only wish I could read it again for the first time.

Characters

The cast of characters nearly forces you to continue listening. Overall it adds bits and pieces to the story.

RIP WEB Griffin

love the series been through it five times will do it again in a couple of years. sad that we won't get any more books from Mr Griffin or should I say Butterworth. thank you for all this enjoyment sir
also Eric g Dove does a wonderful narration of most of his books I believe

Good Special Opps Read

overall a good read. There were too many time/date stamps, but I guess they were necessary to the plot. The story ends very abruptly. I will listen to it again and recommend it to others who like special opp type books.

Not as good as it could have been

I have read this entire series and this book doesn’t meet the usual standards. Too many army reports and too little new story. I would not recommend this book. Just stop with the last one!

Outstanding!

Looking forward to book 10 of this Series. Loved the characters!
Book nine was excellent!

disappointing

whole chapters have been copied word for word from previous books I think author just wanted to end the series without to much work. The final 40 mins are just reports, but no story very disappointing

T[ much repetition

It sounded as if the author was paid for each word. Much of the book repeats entire pages from earlier books in the series. Much of the other prose is repeated over and over to the point that it becomes irritating. Good story but fluffed up way too much.