Retreat, Hell!: A Corps Novel (Corps Series) [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [MP3 CD]

W.E.B. Griffin (Author), Dick Hill (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2004 | Series: Corps Series (Book 10)

It is the fall of 1950. The Marines have made a pivotal breakthrough at Inchon, but a roller coaster awaits them. The bit in his teeth, Douglas MacArthur is intent on surging across the 38th parallel toward the Yalu River, where he is certain no Chinese are waiting for him, while Major Ken McCoy, operating undercover, hears a different story entirely, and is just as intent on nailing down the truth before it is too late. Meanwhile, Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, shuttling between two continents, works desperately to mediate the escalating battle between MacArthur and President Harry Truman, while trying to keep his mind from the cold fact that somewhere out there, his own daredevil pilot son, Pick, is lost behind enemy lines - and may be lost forever. Before Retreat, Hell! is finished, all their fates will be determined - and for some of them, it will be a bitter pill indeed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Megaseller Griffin (Honor Bound; Brotherhood of War; Men at War) musters another solid entry in his series chronicling the history of the U.S. Marines, now engaged in the Korean War. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, nicknamed El Supremo by his subordinates, is taken by surprise when the North Korean Army surges south across the 38th parallel. After early losses, he rallies his troops and stems the tide, but not for long. Intertwining stories of literally an army of characters reveal how MacArthur and his sycophantic staff overlook the entire Red Chinese Army, which is massed behind the Yalu River and about to enter the war. Brig. Gen. Fleming Pickering attempts to mediate the ongoing battles between feisty, give-'em-hell Harry Truman and the haughty MacArthur, while worrying about his pilot son, Malcolm "Pick" Pickering, who has been shot down behind enemy lines. The introduction of the Sikorsky H-19A helicopter into the war by Maj. Kenneth "Killer" McCoy and sidekick Master Gunner Ernie Zimmerman details the invention of tactics that will become commonplace in Vietnam. Readers looking for guts and glory military action will be disappointed, as barely a shot is fired in anger, but fans of Griffin's work understand that the pleasures are in the construction of a complex, big-picture history of war down to its smallest details: "There were two men in the rear seat, both of them wearing fur-collared zippered leather jackets officially known as Jacket, Flyers, Intermediate Type G-1." Veterans of the series will enjoy finding old comrades caught up in fresh adventures, while new-guy readers can easily enter here and pick up the ongoing story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Griffin is the author of five series, including Honor Bound, Brotherhood of War, The Corps, Badge of Honor, and Men at War--33 books for those readers who are still counting. In this latest book in The Corps, Griffin sets the action in Korea in 1950 during the war. The plot involves a disagreement between General Douglas MacArthur and Major Kenneth McCoy on just where the Chinese are waiting to engage U.S. troops. Another protagonist, General Fleming Pickering, is kept busy mediating the growing quarrel between MacArthur and President Truman. Pickering's son, a marine pilot, is missing after being shot down behind enemy lines. There are lots of other characters, all keen on destroying the bad guys. Like his other novels, this one is filled with military jargon and tough talk. The setting is worldwide: locales include South Korea, a neuropsychiatric ward in a San Diego naval hospital, Tokyo, Wake Island, the Sea of Japan, and the White House. There also are lots of top-secret memos and military abbreviations but not much suspense. In Griffin's novels, the good guys always win. However, the author has a knack for smoothly combining fact with fiction, giving his work a realistic veneer. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• MP3 CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD; MP3 Una edition (June 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593352646
• ISBN-13: 978-1593352646
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,576,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Griffin, W. E. B.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killer McCoy Goes to Korea, Part II : Inchon to Chosin, January 21, 2004

By 

Roy Jaruk (Patterson, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Retreat, Hell!: A corps Novel (Hardcover)

A major improvement over the mediocre Under Fire, Griffin returns to form with Retreat, Hell! He shows his usual impeccable attention to detail and histoical accuracy, which was sadly lacking in Under Fire.

This novel covers the peiod in the Korean War in which the situation turned around for the UN forces and the overextended North Koreans were chased back across the 38th Parallel with the US Army and its allies in full pursuit. The Pick Pickering-is-MIA situation is resolved in an imaginative way I didn't see coming; a couple of new characters are introduced who seem very interesting (and don't I just wish Griffin could rewrite the Brotherhood of War series to integrate them into it!); and a character is killed off in a way that is utterly consistent and tragic, with the potential for serious impact on others in the next book. Good writing.

I have to admit that I find what Griffin is doing with Ken McCoy a little disconcerting. He seems to think McCoy's name is Mac MacMillan and that he is running Task Force Able. However, as Griffin seem to have no intention of crossing any Brotherhood of War characters over to The Corps (given what he has his characters doing, I would have expected at least passing references to the activities of MacMillan and Mouse Felter, if not to Duke Lowell and his panzers), I suppose there are no grounds for complaint.

The timeline is heading into the final confrontation between Truman and MacArthur. The one thing that surprised and disappointed me, given El Supremo's frequent appearances and conversations with Brigadier General Pickering, is that there is no sign of the animosity that was building, not even at the Wake Island Conference (or 'summit') between Truman and MacArthur; at which he has Pickering present at Truman's orders. Both men commented extensively on it in their autobiographies, but their dislike for each other is absent here. Griffin usually has a better feel for interpersonal relations between major real people than that.

Griffin also, which earned him my respect, addresses the issue of medals for valor that are awarded for other than the type of actions for which they are supposed to be presented. The problem was epidemic in Vietnam, but I didn't realize its roots went back to Korea. This subplot, involving Ken McCoy, Billy Dunn, Pick Pickering and General Clyde Dawkins (and I wish we saw more of The Dawk), offers an informative look not merely at the process by which medals are awarded, but also at the warrior ethos which permits warriors to accept them - or not.

The bottom line: While I wish W.E.B. Griffin would go back and finish the World War II portion and the interbellum part of this series (in particular the sections dealing with McCoy's time at the Command & General Staff College, how and why he was reduced in grade from major to captain when by time in grade he would have been in the zone for promotion to lieutenant colonel, how on earth the cowardly, self-serving Macklin was promoted and why he wasn't run out of the service, and whatever happened to a number of characters I care about), this book is a page-turner I gulped down in one afternoon. The tempo is fast and the visual melody sharp and clear. It's well worth reading, and more than once.

The trouble is, now I have to wait impatiently for the next one!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great story, June 1, 2004

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Retreat, Hell!: A corps Novel (Hardcover)

This book is an epic, in the grand style, set during the Korean War of 1950-53. Following the Inchon landings, the North Korean Army is on the run. But, even as they follow, the leadership of the American army is locked in internecine war of its own, even as General MacArthur plunges ahead taking advice only from those who tell him what he wants to hear. But, this is not just a story of generals. This is also the story of a downed Marine fighter pilot who begins to learn humility, and an intelligence team whose hard-earned information is not wanted.

OK, I must admit that this is the first W.E.B. Griffin book that I have read, so I cannot compare it to any others. But, what I read impressed the heck out of me. This is a great story, less about wars than about the men who fight them; their loves and hates, their sense of duty and their overweening pride. I really enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to you.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars going strong and getting better, January 5, 2004

By 

J. K. Kelley "literary mercenary" (Eastern WA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Retreat, Hell!: A corps Novel (Hardcover)

After _Under Fire_ I felt the _Corps_ series was at a bit of a crossroads. We'd skipped the end of WWII, deactivated a number of great characters, and had a mostly combat-free book. What was coming next?

Now that I know (thanks to a bookstore that was casual about release dates), I like the direction it's going. In this installment of the _Corps_, the Korean conflict is under way. The old warhorses are summoned to the colours again, or at least those Griffin has kept.

Griffin has always portrayed military and naval culture superbly; I think he could do it in his sleep if he cared to. He is the Gale Sayers of the genre; like the Kansas Comet in his own field of fame, there just isn't anyone who can catch him. The strength of the story lies in some fairly vicious twists that left the ending very much in doubt: might this character die? Would Griffin kill him off? I am a veteran of every Griffin military book, and I could not predict the story's outcome. It clamped on--and held, to the end.

I have never really let up on Griffin over the years with regard to the instant defloration of virgins and speedy bed-jumps, and fair's fair: he's improved this to where I think we can let it go. I can't say that it's gone--and it remains just about the only area in which his stories are quite predictable--but it does not dominate this story. There is also decreased dependency upon rich smartalecks with trust funds: the book takes that shortcut less than I've seen from Griffin for a long time.

In my mind there is little question: while we might not have in Korea a backdrop as rich and desperate and high-stakes as World War II, we have a great story going on here. I hope that we'll see Stecker and Rickabee again, from the old _Corps_ books, but even if we don't, Griffin has revitalized one of the best military fiction series there is. I hope it continues for a long time.