Death and Honor (Honor Bound) (Paperback)

~ (Author), William E. Butterworth IV (Author) "The Fieseler Storch, a small, high-wing, single-engine aircraft, flew at one thousand feet over the verdant Argentine pampas..." (more)
Key Phrases: casa chica, Sturmbannführer Kötl, Fräulein Hässell, Buenos Aires, Don Cletus, Estancia San Pedro (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This is Griffin’s fortieth novel, the fourth in the Honor Bond series, and the third written with Butterworth. It involves one Cletus Frade, a Marine fighter pilot who is also a spy in the Office of Strategic Services in 1943. Frade’s father was murdered by the Nazis, and Frade is asked to set up an airline in Argentina using Lockheed Lodestars. The story concerns two secret German operations—a Nazi scheme for German Jews to purchase freedom for their relatives in concentration camps and where that “dirty money” is really going, a plan labeled Operation Phoenix. The aim of this plan is to set up safe havens in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay for top Nazis who realize they have lost World War II. As in his other books, Griffin’s new novel  deals with honor and courage. And, as always, his many fans will want to read this one. --George Cohen --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Solid...In a story that's more spy-vs.-spy than military action, the authors meticulously recreate place and time."
- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"Good escapist reading."
-TAMPA TRIBUNE

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Jove; Honor Bound Novel. edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515146382
• ISBN-13: 978-0515146387
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,552 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More of Cletus Frade, June 9, 2008

By	Michael T Kennedy (Mission Viejo, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Death and Honor (Honor Bound) (Hardcover)

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.

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fifth bad Griffin book in a row, June 11, 2008

By	Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

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

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death and Honor - 4th in Honor Bound series, June 5, 2008

By	ROBIN MCCALL "LTC (Ret.) Robin McCall" (Chula Vista, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Death and Honor (Honor Bound) (Hardcover)

This new book in the Honor Bound series takes us back to the WWII OSS in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and the US. For those of you who have already enjoyed the first three books in the Honor Bound series, this will be like visiting old friends, particularly Cletus Frade, his friends, and his merry band of tough warriors. The saga continues into 1943, with the Nazis looking for a place to hide after they lose the war. I love all of WEB Griffin's books and this book is no exception. It has lots of action, but not as much shooting as the Army and Marine books, as you would expect. The book presents insights into Howard Hughes' personality, new insights into FDR's and Juan Peron's personalities, and it provides a unique insight into starting up a new Argentinean airline (run by Cletus) in an era when Juan Trippe did not like competition for his Pan Am airline.

Another great read that I finished overnight, as soon as I got it. It has lots of good guys and bad guys, and you can usually tell the difference, but not always. If you read all of Griffin's books like I do, you expect him to provide enough background on the players to allow this to be read as a standalone book. Authors have to do this in order to capture new readers. I don't consider this a problem, because I usually go back and reread all the books in the series before a new one comes out. Griffin's books have become my favorite gift to people who enjoy great stories about great military people, while pointing out the bad in every group. He knows the military and intelligence communities, and he tells it like it is. I have tried to read every book he has written, if I can get them, and I will continue to do that. He is the best, and most realistic author around. Not only do you get a wonderful story, but you always learn something new about history and the people who make it.