Customer Reviews

The Vigilantes (Badge of Honor)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

I have read, and re-read all of W.E.B. Griffin's books. Admittedly the "Badge of Honor" series is my least favorite.Even with that caveat I have enjoyed most of the earlier books in the series. Unfortunately the series is getting worse, not better. I felt "Final Justice" was mediocre, and that it was a mistake to resurrect Matt Payne and company. "The Vigilantes" was even worse. Uncle Denny, the Black Buddha and most of the colorful characters are conspicuous by their absence. Mickey O'Hara is a mere cameo, Peter Wohl is a no-show. The plot is convoluted and meaningless. The bad guy gets free, there is a play on words here. I can only think the bad guy is left standing to prolong the series. This book is so bad I can only conclude it is maximum Butterworth and minimum Griffin.

Whle i generally like the products of W.E.B Griffin and his son, this is undoubtedly not one of the highlights of their writing careers. I do not anticipate recommending it to those folks who usually query me about what I'm reading.

I was looking forward to this book, having preordered it. Usually, I will pick up W.E.B.'s books and put down anything else I'm reading at the time. They are usually interesting reads and can be completed in a couple of hours with good pacing and excitement in the writing. This time, it put me to sleep. The vigillantes don't even appear to be the subject of this snoozer...rather the criminal activities of a Philadephia councilman...the subject vigilante almost appears to be a undeveloped distraction.

Sorry guys, I wasn't impressed.

I have read all of the Badge of Honor series books. From the beginning of the series until the last two books, the stories were well developed, and the characters seemed very real. The stories were very well-thought out, and richly woven. Unfortunately, this one isn't like those.

The character development seemed as if it was "borrowed" from the earlier books, and even though all of the previous characters were referenced again, not all of them were present. The story was disjointed, with an abrupt and contrived ending. Having Matt standing on the bridge at the end talking to his girlfriend was ridiculous. Where was the wrap-up of the whole story? There was none.

I also found the different story lines to have only a slight connection, specifically Badde and the urban renewal stuff.

It just didn't match the previous efforts. I love the premise of the series, and have enjoyed all but the last two. Hopefully, the son can get the Dad to give him some more direction on the next effort.

I have read all of Griffin's books and loved them, but the last two that have been written with Butterworth have been terrible. You write a book in the Police Series and leave out most of the characters that you worked so hard to develop over the other books. Wohl isn't in it at all, Coughlin and Washington make a few what I call "cameo" appearances and up until the last part of the book Matt doesn't do anything except stay in the office. There is more pages on his love life than anything. This can't be the writing of the man who gave us the wonderful Men At War series with Lowell, Hanrahan, Feltner, etc, the Marine Series with Mackoy and Pickering, the great presidential agent series. He's going to lose all of his loyal readers if he continues to put his name on a book that doesn't meet the standards that he got people to expect.

I've read everything WEB has written, and like 99% of it a great deal. The two most recent _Badge_ books, however, have been awful. Sadly, I'm done buying anything with Junior's name on it. I'm sure they'll be on the shelf in the library, or in huge quantities at Half-Price Books, soon enough.

This portrayal of Philidelphia is a little grimmer than most of the Badge of Honor series, but it brings home the lesson that the police are fighting a constant battle in large cities, where the police are not always viewed as the good guys. Life in the City of Brotherly Love is shown as dangerous, with drug addicts and dealers, rapists, murderers and dirty politicians. In other words, a typical large city today. This book kept me on the edge of my seat, and it left me wanting even more at the end. As always with Griffin, it is another great book. That is the only kind that the Griffin/Butterworth team writes, even though most of us have our favorites. My personal favorites are the military books, but I am sure that someone who has been in law enforcement prefers the Philidelphia police stories, or wishes that this team would write about their cities.

The book provided some excellent insights into the unique problems that Philadelphia faces today, including some antiquated legal and political procedures. This is an excellent police procedural book, describing some of the more modern technical systems that allow police to catch criminals even when the courts and jails can't contain them all.

I can well understand a father's desire to help his son succeed -- Butterworth is Griffin's son.
But unfortunately, the introduction of Mr. Butterworth as co-author has resulted in books with poor plotting, poor writing, and egregious editing errors. An example of the latter is an exchange of dialog that suddenly switches the character's "voice" so that the character who is "speaking" is misidentifed by an erroneous name. There are so many "copy-edit" errors I wonder if a copy editor was even involved in the Butterworth books.

I re-read the original Griffin books with pleasure. However, I have stopped buying where Mr. Butterworth is identified as the co-author in any of the series. They just don't measure up to the originals.

It's surely easy to tell that Griffin really isn't writing anymore. The things that really define Griffin's books are his superb characterization and great use of the English language. In short, he is a great storyteller and word mechanic. Sadly, the books he has allegedly 'co-authored' with Mr. Butterworth show little of Griffin's great storytelling. THE VIGILANTES is poorly written, illogical and the characters seem cardboard. It's just an OK read if you have nothing else at hand.

I too normally jump with anticipation when I hear a new WEB Griffin book is coming out, but the style of writing has really gone down hill in the last two Badge of Honor books. Perhaps I am overly critical as I have older brothers who have written books, but they were meticulous in their editing which we do not get with whomever is editing these books. In Final Justice there was a new mayor, now Jerry is back as mayor, Dr. Payne in the first books was the older child now Matt is the oldest, in the first book they had two brothers now it's just the two of them. (that really doesn't bother me too much)

I am sure there are more discrepancies but I am only on page 50, either way for those of you, who like me purchase WEB Griffin books and you want your collection complete, judging from the first 50 pages I would wait until it goes on clearance I know I will.

I have been reading W.E.B Griffin since before he started the Brotherhood of war; he even used other names first. Having said that, I loved most of his earlier writing and could not wait for the next book to be released. He was fun to read and had great insight into his subject matter - well researched - almost as if he had lived through each story in each book. BUT that is no longer to case.

Now I have had to struggle through "The Vigilantes." Since the introduction of "William E. Butterworth IV" as a co-writer, stories seem to be boilerplate. The team is not as good as the original and it really is sad. A great author seems to be in search of more money, or maybe just publishing more books, at the expense of good literature and well spun tales. I am so disappointed in this latest offering, I am not sure he can lure me back and, as I said, I have read all of his offerings (in the main series at least) to date.

I am also disappointed in the KINDLE prices of this and many other books. They have gone up and up and are now often as expensive and sometimes even more expensive than hard copies. Hard to believe that the promise of $9.99 did not stick.