Customer Reviews

Close Combat (Unabridged)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Book 6 of the continuing Corps series. McCoy, Banning and the others are back. SSgt. Galloway leads his fighter squadron in a fierce air battle against the Japanese during the first year of world war 2. i've read all 7 of the books, and am reading them again. in reading the books, it feels like i'm just not reading the book, but reading the thoughts of these men who came before me. i have characters i admire, and some i hate.
i try to read only for a little while, but a few minutes becomes 10 minutes, 10 minutes become a half hour, and the next thing i know, i've been reading for 2 hours, and still want to read more. this is not you're everyday military book. it's more.
W.E.B Griffin researches his material and for those who don't know military language very well, or military history, he adds footnotes at the bottom of some of his pages which i find useful. i know alot about the war, but am finding out even more through his books. though the lives, thoughts, and some adventures of the characters are fiction, all of the scenes, and places are are true. for anyone interested in the military, world war 2, or just well written books, i suggest this one, as well as the other 6. Pfc Martin Lambert (austincup@hotmail.com)

In this,the sixth volume of The Corps series,Griffin seems to have all of his characters introduced and is now starting to utilise them in some action. The novel picks up at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal with Billy Dunn and VMF-229. The Marines are hanging on to the field (and the island) by a thread. After several battles in which the Japanese are soundly defeated,our heroes (Dunn , Jake Dillon , McCoy,Zimmerman,and "the Easterbunny") are all returned to the States. We see an expansion of Jake Dillon's role as the tour director for a War Bond tour featuring the Guadalcanal Aces and Ken McCoy's idiot brother Tommy.

The novel introduces the Guerrilla potential of Wendell Fertig on Mindinao and also the problem of the Gobi desert weather station required by the Navy and sets up the next two novels in the series,which I happen to like better than this particular episode.

I gave this particular installment 4 stars based on the character development of many of the minor characters in the series. Griffin really brings people to life--I feel as though I KNOW some of these individuals in real life. I do get a bit bored at times with "Pick" Pickering's poor little rich boy behavior,and some of the Scotch guzzling scenes get on my nerves.
In spite of these few warts,I really enjoy these books as much as any I have read. Perhaps if Griffin had given us a little more firsthand smell of gunpowder and sped things up a little more I would have rated the book 5 stars. Overall highly recommended!

I really like this series as well as "The Brotherhood of War" series. The stories are great, the characters are very likeable and the little bit of history you can get from the books are nice. I have read each of Griffin's series at least twice. I like them that much.

However, I AM REALLY GETTING TIRED OF THE SAME OL' THING. Follow me here. Have you noticed:

1- The guy always gets the girl
2- The girl is always "so ... beutiful"
3- It is nearly almost always love at first sight.
4- The main characters generally start out young and enlisted
within a few chapters they are being gererously promoted.
Most are promoted to officers, some right out of boot-
camp or basic training. It appears promotions are handed
out like meals.
5- The girls are all easy, but they are still "nice girls".
6- None of the main characters die or become handicaped.
7- They all drink scotch (famous grouse)
8- Most of the main characters are rich and of course from
Philly or near there.
9- They all make wonderful and reluctant heroes.
10- etc... etc...

All-in-all, I would recommend Griffins series to anyone who is male. I don't think women would much like them.

Needless to say, if you are reading Corps: Close Combat, you are either a fan of Griffin, a fan of the series, or you found a copy propping up the corner of your bed at the Motel 6. For whatever reason, you found the book or the book found you. Griffin delivers once again with his veritable mix of smell the gunpowder graphic and fairy tale doubtful character interludes. There is nothing like coming home from the gritty front to your millionaire girlfriend, your million dollar trust fund, your Hollywood beach house or as the creme de la creme, your multimillionaire boss and benefactor with a luxury hotel in every city, a beach house in every port and enough Old Grouse to fill a swimming pool.

Griffin delivers a romantic war epic and despite my disdain, having a millionaire or two close at hand definitely keeps the story line interesting. Besides, who wants to see our heroes pulling OOD duty when they can be sipping whiskey and romancing the next available nurse! Close Combat lasted a day and a half for me so even as I point out the implausible, I must also state: Enjoyable.

I'm going to have to stop buying this series...I just can't justify this pricing model. The books have been out for 20 years or so, and are available for pennies on the dollar EVERYWHERE...it just makes no sense to have these priced at $7.99.
These books should be $2.99 or less for the Kindle version...there is no printing or distribution cost to associate with it, and the publisher provides one digital copy for re-distribution.
I'm done with greedy publisher & greedy authors...I have WAY too many other ways to spend my disposible income...time they all understand that and price accordingly.

I for one am truly enjoying these books set during the Second World War. Most of the battle action is set in the Pacific, and this book is set during the latter part of 1942 when the Americans were facing some real problems on Guadalcanal. Although there weren't as many battle scenes in this book as in others, it does advance us further into the war, and we really get to know the main characters. There are some surprises here. for example a very young corporal who acts very bravely on "Bloody Ridge". These books, I think, display a real pride in the United States Marine Corps. Griffin handles this tribute to a great Corps very well. And he writes wonderful stories!

Griffen is one of my favorite authors, and this novel didn't change my opinion. The book is well balanced, in that it concentrates more on the interaction of military people, their foibles as well as their strengths, and not just the violent battles. It, like all his others, is hard to put down. He makes his characters so real that a person with a military bent will certainly recognize many of his peers, and superiors. It is the kind of book that the Berkeley crowd would enjoy burning.

Griffin pulls off what so many writers get close to but never quite seem to manage -- an authentic, if slightly romantic, portrait of the US military during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. True, many of the protagonists are wealthy, but many are not. For example, Ken Mccoy is dirt poor until he marries up. There are a lot of promotions to keep things moving, but there's also a number of guys who stay enlisted. What is captured accurately is the look and feel of serving in the pre-Vietnam US military. The Brotherhood of War and The Corps both remind me of Bernard Cornwell's series about Richard Sharpe, tracing his advancement from a Redcoat private and then sergeant in 1799 India to his elevation to Lt. of the 95th Rifles at the Battle of Assaye, and then through the Napoleonic Wars in Portugal, Spain, Denmark and ultimately Waterloo. He retires a Lt. Col., which was almost unheard of for someone raised from the ranks of the British Army, but the chronology is plausible, particularly given the wartime death rate. all in all, I go through the Griffin novels like Doritos and beer -- you can't read just one of them. He is indeed the poet laureate of the American military. Read the Sharpe books too -- you will really enjoy his ability to put you in the action of a 19th century battlefield. They also were made into a first-class series of fourteen 2-hour movies by the BBC, starring Sean Bean as a very convincing Richard Sharpe.

I have all of WEB Griffins books and rate him along with Wilbur Smith as my all time favorite author. His sagas span several different action themes, but they are all either military, police or intelligence services. The author has residence both in Texas and Argentina and has spent a great deal of time with our military so he uses his familiarity with these settings and people to cast a very nice spell in his work. My wife also enjoys the books so I would say they are suitable for all readers.

Love to read Griffins books. Seems to have a lot of facts then he goes from there. Recommend his books highly.