Customer Reviews

The Hostage: A Presidential Agent Novel (Presidential Agent Series)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Until now, I suppose I was the only person left in America who had not read anything by the prolific W.E.B. Griffin. Glad that's changed AND what a great book The Hostage was. At nearly 500 pages it is sort of long for a thriller, but I can't say there was very much if any real "fat" in the book.

This is the second book in Griffin's new Presidential Agent series. For what it's worth, if you have not read the first book in this series, I don't think you really need too. Griffin does a very thorough job of bringing you up to speed on how his "presidential agent" actually got the job he now holds. The editorial review from Booklist is a good plot review so I won't repeat that, but I can add that getting Major "Charlie" Castillo into his current position involves on-going turf battles with a lot of governmental intelligence agencies, and while you may not think that would make for good storytelling, it actually does. Put another way, each encounter is a satisfying adventure in and of itself. The book is as timely as reading today's newspaper or watching the evening news, only more exciting and more authoritatively reported!

This is an easy read, primarily because of its extremely accurate conversational quality. I have read countless books about soldiers or former soldiers who are doing the things that soldiers do, and I would think to myself that soldiers don't talk or act that way. Griffin however, has the lingo and the mannerisms cold. Hostage will appeal to a wide variety of people and especially people who are familiar with the areas portrayed in the book. I am amazed at the sort detail and "insider" knowledge Griffin shares with the reader. If you ever served in the 11th ACR (Germany) or the 3AD you will be very familiar with the description of the towns and terrain in and around what used to be the border between East and West Germany. Charlie Castillo's description of the purpose behind that barrier between freedom and communism is a hoot!

Personality wise, I would put Major Charlie Castillo and how he acts, somewhere between the tightly wound Mitch Rapp (CIA agent) by Vince Flynn, and the more cerebral and introspective Gabriel Allon (Israeli Intelligence) by Daniel Silva. The stories are all of the international espionage type and all very similar in plot.

Highest recommendation, but my guess is, mostly for guys.

As a public librarian I've handled almost every Griffin book published though I've never read one. For some reason, the cover, the author's rep, the advance publicity for the Hostage...who knows, I grabbed this book when it arrived at the library and read it. What a pleasant experience. There are more plot twists and surprises in the Hostage than a roller coaster has dips and turns.

Charles Castillo who works for the Department of Homeland Security and is a personal troubleshooter for the President is assigned to look into the death of an American diplomat in Argentina. In fact, the husband was shot in the head, and the wife taken hostage by terrorists who believe her brother has information related to the U. N./Iraq oil for food scandal.

Economically written with interesting characters and a timely, right off the front page story, Hostage will keep you in suspense. Grab this book if you get the chance.

The second book in the Presidential Agent series is excellent. The character, Carlos Castillo, was introduced in the first novel of this new series. The exposition of the backstory is done very well and is not as obtrusive as it was in some of the other series. Another review comments that you don't have to read the first book to enjoy this one and that is true. The author is in top form. He combines a topical subject with his favorite scenes in Argentina and Germany.

Griffin fans like me know that his novels follow his own life story with the addition of inside information that he is privy to through old friends in the military. The lead character Charley Castillo is also a German national named Karl Gossinger. His father was a Green Beret and helicopter pilot who was kiilled in Vietnam. His mother is a wealthy German woman who was not married and who knew nothing of what had happened to the father of her child. She dies young in the first book leaving Karl an orphan. An Army officer acquaintance traces the father at her request as she is dying and finds that he has been dead for years. That is why he never returned to her. The grandparents, wealthy Texas Hispanics, come to Germany, bring the boy to America and he assumes his second identity. He graduates from West Point and becomes a helicopter pilot like his father.

Griffin was a young soldier in Germany during the occupation after WWII. He then attended Phillips University in Marberg, as do many of his characters. He served in Korea, called up from the Reserves just as some of his characters were. In recent years he has lived part of the year in Argentina and the Honor Bound series, also excellent, explores the history of that country when Peron came to power. Griffin's history has been shown in other books to be accurate, even when the facts are not well known. For example, several of his Brotherhood of War books tell a story of Green Berets in Africa during the era when Che Guevara was trying to foment revolution. Other non-fiction works verify Griffin's facts. An example is Heart of a Soldier, the story of Rick Rescorla. Rescorla joined the American Army after meeting Green Berets in Africa and later was a hero at the battle described in We Were Soldiers Once and Young, referred to by Griffin in his front matter for this novel.

The novel is a thriller and is topical. The first of the series told of a hijacked airplane; this one concerns Argentina and UN corruption. Charley Castillo could be a composite of the lead characters in the Brotherhood of War and Honor Bound. The story of Special Forces here is probably more accurate than newspaper accounts. Griffin knows everybody and has sources that make his plots come to life. He is in top form.

I anticipate new W.E.B. Griffin military and spy novels like a kid waking on Christmas morning. I've never been disappointed until "The Hostage." It's still a cut or two above the average, but on the whole it lacks the spine-tingling feeling of his earlier works.

C. G. Castillo, introduced in "By Order Of The President," is an Army Major assigned to the Department of Homeland Security. In the first novel, Castilo hunts down a stolen 727 by order of the President when the intelligence agencies can't find it.

This time the wife of a diplomat in Argentina is kidnapped and the President tasks Castillo to solve the mystery. The wife is found alive in the company of her executed husband.

The story ultimately revolves - - or is supposed to revolve - - around the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal and a minor U.N. functionary who was the bagman. Supposedly players in the scandal want this man dead. He also happens to be the brother of the kidnapped woman.

But Griffin never pulls it off. Devices that have serve Griffin well in his prior military novels (i.e., characters possessing family wealth, extensive political connections) seem like artifices here. A romance between Castillo and a Secret Service Agent is entirely superfluous to the story though it is supposed to provide motivation for Castillo.

The story has surprising little action for a Griffin novel. It meanders. Not until about page 350 is the main plotline revealed.

Griffin spends far too much time describing the sights of Buenos Aires, Paris, Vienna and Germany. In some places, "Hostage" reads like a travel brochure, not a thriller.

Oddly, characters who seem well-developed in the series opener now seem flat and one-dimensional.

Finally, the story ends inconclusively. Whether that's preparation for the next novel in the series or simply the way Griffin decided to end it. Either way, it isn't satisfying to this Griffin fan.

While "The Hostage" is still better than many thrillers, it just doesn't deliver the same thrills I've come to expect from a Griffin novel.

Jerry

I am so dissapointed with this book, its so lame and drags for so long... no where near Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum's work.

I have read and enjoyed the other Griffin books and felt this one was not nearly as good as the others. The plot was not believable and the ending was very weak.

As I read Griffin's latest installment, two things occurred to me. First was that he's consistent. If you liked his previous works (e.g. By Order of the President, Under Fire, etc.), you'll probably like this one. Unfortunately, that consistency also brings about with it a bit of boredom. It occurred to me that there needs to be some fresh blood in this area. At friends recommendations, I recently picked up a copy of Arthur Bradley's "Process of Elimination." It's a different kind of read... about a world-class sniper out doing what we've all wanted to do on occasion... kill a few politicians. If you're looking for something really fun to read, and definitely different than the same hum-drum, give it a try. If not, we can keep up with the adventures of Charley Castillo until we all grow old and gray.

Oh my.

I have read every book W.E.B. Griffin has written. I have enjoyed them so much, in fact, that I pre-ordered The Hostage as soon as it was announced. For the first time, I am disappointed, and deeply so.

Do you Clancy fans remember when Clancy shifted gears from first rate writing to shamelessly churning out junk? You may wonder whether this book represents a similar turning point for Griffin.

One of W.E.B. Griffin's writing strengths has been his sense of what I would call "rhythm." His stories usually tick right along with a wonderful sense of pace that feels authentic. There are periods of quiet movement and periods of jolting, intense action. In The Hostage, however, the periods of quiet seem to occupy almost all the paper between the two covers.

Have you ever been on "hold" on the phone so long that you glance at the clock just to see exactly how long you have actually been on hold? That is the feeling that came over me. Yes, there are a few bursts of interesting action, but painfully few. Only a few of the characters are really interesting, and here I am thinking of Colonel Alfredo Munz who is sharp, unappreciated, and honorable but flawed.

Absent in The Hostage was the quiet but measured build-up of tension . . . a sense something was about to happen. After a hundred or two pages, you get over that and realize you are just... waiting. Don't believe me? You will when you get through pages 451-453 where, incredibly, you are dragged through the entire culinary preparation of Chateuabriand by one of the characters. Whatever Griffin's purpose might have been, the effect is that he is either (a) showing off his kitchen knowledge or (b) simply adding filler to his novel. The "cooking lesson" is a vignette of what is so wrong with the novel. It's a little like this review. Mostly, nothing happens. You wait some, then some more. Maybe just around the next bend. Finally, you realize that you are fast approaching the far cover, so you know something is HAS to happen and right quick. When the final action comes, it is fully expected, entirely devoid of surprise, and ultimately unsatisfying. You close the book, with a sad look on your face, and wonder how this book got published in its final form. Where were the editors?

If Griffin weren't one of my very favorite authors, I would not be so dismayed. In the end, it turns out that The Hostage is ... the reader. I see that others enjoyed this book and I am glad for them. However, if you are a big fan of W. E. B. Griffin, you may decide to do yourself a favor and skip this one. You don't want to feel pity for one of your heroes.

Like many W.E.B.Griffin fans, I have read all of his books, and, for the most part, enjoyed them. A wide-ranging global tale of this sort is certainly enhanced by the details Griffin is famous for. By mid-book, one gets to know the characters, the country(s), the love interests, and the (forever recurring)Famous Grouse. This book, however, never takes off. There is a hint from time to time of ominous characters waiting to pounce on Castillo, as he in turn amasses his own good-guy forces. Trouble was, it just took too darn long; 300 pages of stage-setting was too much for me. A big thumbs down on this one.

horrible writing style albeit old fashioned. snail-crawling storyline, textbook-like sentences, every page was a tormenting, lot of italic paragraphs that were supposed to be the thoughts of all those moronic characters in this book. none of the characters looked realistic and capable. have tried several of this writer's novels, but failed every time after 10 to 30 pages. never again.