Customer Reviews

The Saboteurs (A Men at War Novel)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

I have read and in many cases reread 28 W.E.B. Griffin novels. I've grown accustomed to his usually marvelous blending of historical fact and pure fiction, tight plots, believable characters, powerful narrative: thrillers in every sense of the word.

Thus I am saddened to report that "The Saboteurs" possesses none of the qualities listed above. It is, in fact, boring.

Griffin has excelled at running several stories at once in his various military series. Such simultaneity helped push breath and life into his characters. In "The Saboteurs," co-authored with his son, William E. Butterworth IV, there are only three primary plot lines and each of them fails.

There is the Major Richard Canidy, an unbelievable hotshot OSS operative who is supposed to rescue atomic scientists from various parts of Europe. Gone is the vitality of earlier Griffin military characters. Instead Canidy isn't even a cartoon character. The authors apparently kept running into brick walls, so they used a simple plot device when they lacked a bridge: Canidy goes to the bathroom. Eight times, by my count, within 130 pages. (I stopped counting.) Perhaps there is a hidden message here: Canidy has an overactive bladder; he drinks too many diuretics. Whatever, his visits serve no purpose and are, to put it mildly, puzzling.

Trying to add historical color, Canidy becomes involved with the 1940s Mafia with a backstory about J. Edgar Hoover. Here, Griffin makes a major error when he claims that Hoover made his reputation battling "mobsters" in the 1920s and 30s. Not so. Hoover wouldn't even admit to the existence of the organized crime (the "Mafia") until the late 1950s. Rather, Hoover went after bankrobbers like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, who had no connection with organized crime. This kind of mistake is unthinkable for the Griffin of yesterday.

None of the characters have the memorability of those in earlier works.

Another backstory is the infiltration of German saboteurs into the United States. This plot line never quite makes it. The Germans are feckless. Griffin never brings this story to the point of interesting the reader: you know that one way or another the Germans will be captured or killed. No suspense there.

Much of this novel is given over to describing the decor of various locales (i.e., the pattern of the wallpaper in Canidy's hotel room); pouring coffee, wine and Griffin's trademark single malt Famous Grouse scotch. These devices in moderation served Griffin well in earlier novels, but here they are excessive, boring and add nothing to the story.

In Griffin's earlier novels, there was always a sense of danger: some of his characters put themselves in harm's way and didn't return or suffered substantial injury. In "Saboteurs", there is no apprehension for any of the characters: the story is so slim that you know no harm will come to them, lest the book end abruptly in too few pages.

It pains me to be so negative about a W.E.B. Griffin war story. As noted, I've enjoyed 28 of his works. But "The Saboteurs" is worlds removed from Griffin's work. The dedicated fan might want to pass it by to avoid disappointment. Those unfamiliar with Griffin would be well advised to start with his earlier works: they will keep you entertained for years.

Jerry

WEB's books are always a mixture of great character development (we CARE what happens to those people), history, and action. This book was almost all character, some history and the barest taste of action.

The character portion was abysmal. No real development on any front (except one minor cliff-hanger), lots of cameos and recaps of past novels in the series and paper-thin newcomers (who certainly won't be in future novels).

The history was based on one fact and a lot of fiction around it. One has to suspend normal levels of disbelief in order to accept the coincidences.

As for action, the major event promised throughout the story takes place in the last 20 pages. Butterworth seemed to be in too much of a hurry to cash his advance check. His father would have taken 200 pages to make that portion real and exciting.

If this were the first Griffin that I'd ever read, there would never be a second. As it is, I'm so enamored with the various series I'd probably give Butterworth one more chance. However, I'll buy it used or take it from the library, rather than rush to pre-order.

This was the weakest of all of the W.E.B. Griffith books that I have read. I think the co-writer of this book was really the primary writer on this one since it really did not feel like Griffith's other novels. The character development was lacking and the "heroes" of this novel were really by-standers throughout the book. I never really felt involved with them and they were never really involved in coming up with the resolution. The resolution was through the stumblings of the villains and not anything positive by the "heroes". I felt that the "heroes' were not even the main characters of the book. Overall, a very poor imitation of Griffith's past works. PLEASE write the next one yourself!!!

Don't waste your time nor money on this "short story". Griffin, sadly, is going the way of Tom Clancy and his Op Center fiascos. Using his name to foist another writer and this book upon his loyal readers reeks of greed. As a devoted fan of Griffin, I never hesitated to buy any of his novels, but this ends that knee jerk faith. Once the excessive descriptive verbage is stripped away, the plot and story line is simplistic and uninteresting. This is a sad departure from entertaining books such as The Corps.

Big, big disappointment. Not up to standards. Just ends with about a half dozen subplots unresolved. I assume the son wrote this book--at least that's what I choose to believe. If Dad wants these series to continue--and we readers hope he does--then find yourself a good co-author and don't have your son continue. At a minimum, get him a good editor.

As a long time reader of Griffin, I would say this is his poorest by far. I have read and re-read the Corps and Men at War series several times and always feel warmed by the characters each time. I felt let down by this effort. I can only hope that Butterworthless wrote this while Dad was out of town. The characters are barely tollerable much less believable, the plot very loose and the ending should have taken another 200 pages. I really he hope he gets back on track.

I am a great W.E.B Griffin fan. I have enjoyed most every book up until now. It was difficult to follow at first when the time line went from Feb to Mar then back to Feb without any real reason but to follow the two story lines. When my wife mentioned that this book must not be as good as all the others because I keep putting it down, I had to agree. Most of the others kept my interest and they were real hard to put down.
The plots could have been more exciting. The Germans could have been more interesting. Fulmar could have started back at the beach where the young man Coast Guard man went missing. Then at the bar when the bar tender/friend was killed after thinking things were not right. But this was once stated and moved on. Investigation into the crime was not started it was just assumed they were out there doing bad things and that the FBI or the OSS would catch up with them. Then to have two blow up in a train and two shot by the Mafia because they didn't pay... boo hiss the OSS didn't have anything to do. Then to start with the Sicily thing and the yellow fever but then dont' say to much about it once Canidy got there, then throw in the nerve gas right at the last, that was lame. What happened to Oh whatsher name in England???? Ann or is this where the next story picks up. She is safe and Canidy meets up with her again and bangs her again and leaves and she gets blown up again.... (what a future plot) Then meeting up with the Mafia in Sicily, after all the research and worrying that there would be trouble, Canidy walks in get the professor and walks out. Not too much of a plot there. Why not some adventure, some misunderstanding... and then let Frank come into the picture and help. Geeee I almost want to change my name to Butterworth so I can help W.E.B with his next book. I am sure it would be better than this one. (The key is with all these bad reviews, no one is going to want to buy our used books.)
Better luck next time Griffin. I too will read the reviews before I buy the next one. I bought this one on preorder, now I wish I hadn't.
Hope this helps anyone who reads this.

I have read all of Griffins books and have enjoyed each and every one. This "book" is a complete joke. The promised story about Sicily is an afterthought at the end of the book. There is no character development and subsequently I didn't really care about what happened to them. Of course because nothing really happens we don't need to care what happens.

Griffin should be ashamed of himself for putting out a piece of junk like this with his name on the cover.

Prior to purchasing this book, I first read the other reviewers' comments and was all set for a major letdown. Unfortunately, I wasn't disappointed.

I first got turned on to Griffin's works with the Badge of Honor series. I had grown up in the Germantown section of Philadelphia - home to the 14th District, scene of many of the antics of Matt and others in that series - and many in my family were cops. I myself was a police officer for nearly 12 years, and these books really resonated with me, particularly the settings in neighborhoods and places that I'd long since left. I moved on from these books to the Brotherhood of War series and was initially quite pleased.

However, while reading one of that series, I detected many errors and discrepancies with characters and locations, leading me to believe the novel was "ghosted." I'm sure it was, hence the "correction" novel, "Special Ops." The most glaring example was the consistent reference to Camp Mackall as `Camp McCall'. Anyone who ever served any time in Fayetteville knows what the reservation's name is and what goes on there. So, whether his son, WEB IV, or some other author ghosted it, it was pretty obvious it wasn't the original.

I next moved on to the simultaneously published Corps novels, and again enjoyed them quite a bit. In particular, the McCoy character is the `everyman' we all long to be, but most of us cannot. The satisfaction received by living vicariously through a fictional character in a series of books we enjoy is particularly relishing. However - and speaking of eating something with relish, another of Mr. Griffin's pet phrases - there are many problems that show up in this series, too.

I've read all of the series books many times over. As an author myself, and former network television producer, I find crisp, clear writing stimulates me to do my best, so I read other works a lot. But each time I pick up one of these books, something else, to be quite frank, peeves me off.

There are numerous - far too numerous that any copyeditor worth their salt would miss - errors in spelling, names, locations, dates, ranks and many other seemingly arcane details to be excused. How, for example, does Ken McCoy move from having a sign outside his home in Tokyo reading Cpl. McCoy to being Capt. McCoy within a few pages, even before his pater familias Fleming Pickering has heard the story of McCoy's being "kicked out of the Corps" in Book IX? Other examples, of which there are many, have names transposed, and even one character talking to himself! And whatever happened to the years 1943-1950? There was a lot of good stuff, interesting times and even better human interest-type plotlines left go when he jumped from the Gobi Desert to Korea.

And so it was with some trepidation that I first picked up The Saboteurs. My anxiousness to read another great story - trying hard to forgive the mistakes, as the "yarn" was a good one - gave way to despair rather quickly. Caniday, a character I'd come to like, although he could have used more development once moving to England, has descended into hell, suitably redecorated as a bathroom, according to many other readers. I found the storyline not fragmented as much as a series of short vignettes which, while seemingly related, really never gel let alone weave together. In short, the book became boring to read and a disappointment to own. I'd rather have borrowed it from the library and spent my money on something else more worthwhile.

While we're on the subject of problems, I was wondering if anyone else picked up on the fact that Final Justice in the Badge of Honor series seems to have moved forward thirty years in time, even though the characters only age two years or so? Laptop computers, high technology, NSA-like erasing software with multi-gigabyte drives? Yet the originally books took place in the 1973-1974 time period, when computers were not on the desktop yet - and the smallest mini's were literally still the size of a large executive desk. While it makes for an interesting detective story, particularly with the reliance - as often is the case - on high technology to aid in solving a crime, there really is no place for it in this novel, and I believe it was a device invented by whoever ghosted this book to cover for a lack of plot development. Matt Paine has become the Jim Kirk of the Philadelphia Police Department, "spreading VD throughout the city" as it were.

It's a shame to watch a revered sports hero hang on too long, unable to play up to the standards they and their fans set for them. It's just as big a disappointment to see a favorite author begin that long, slow descent into oblivion. A good ghostwriter, son or not, should be able to follow the "bible" of the series and produce a seamless continuation.

Where is Franklin W. Dixon when you need him?

I can see where Griffin attempted to shore up the writting in this book but the plot was weak, not sharp, and drifted. My recommendation to the son is not to quit the day job.