About the AuthorW. E. B. Griffinis the author of seven bestselling series: The Corps, Brotherhood of War, Badge of Honor, Men at War, Honor Bound, Presidential Agent, and now Clandestine Operations. He lives in Fairhope, Alabama, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. what websites can you write stories The Colonels (Brotherhood of War, Book 4)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Excellent writing and engaging charactersBy WatchmanThis is the third book in the Brotherhood of War series and it follows the characters developed in the first two books, plus, as expected, it introduces a few more. Each character interacts with the others, so it is an enjoyable read. Having read this series in book form many years ago, I still remember a lot of the pieces mentioned in this book and that was enjoyable. However, I do recall that as the series moves on, there are more and more pages devoted to cocktail parties and other non-military events that you might just want to skip through. W.E.B. Griffin paints some very nice images and interesting characters and intertwines them with events that happened in the period of this series; at Book 3, the time period is the late 1950's when America was looking at both Cuba and Viet Nam and these are the backdrops for some of the action in the book. Maybe military life consists of long periods with not much going on but putting up with petty tyrants punctuated by short periods of sheer terror (to paraphrase the life of a pilot), but this series overall is good and much in keeping with the other books. It would be nice if more time were spent on the action rather than the politics. For example, (without giving away too many plot points) one character saves another character by showing up unexpectedly, and as soon as they identify themselves to each other, they get out of the jam somehow as the very next paragraph puts them both relaxing somewhere else some months later. It would have been nice to find out how they actually escaped tragedy rather than just have the characters literally see each other and then suddenly everything is okay.That being said, I am still enjoying this series because by now you more or less know the characters and you can see them work their way through the various scenarios, sometimes with surprising talents. I decided to buy the rest of the series as I am hooked and while a bit more action would be good, this is still a good read. The writing is extremely good and that is what carries this series along. Would have given it five stars if only more time was spent on the military side and less on the proper way to serve a martini.9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Great SeriesBy Michael GallagherI've read this series several times over the last 20 years or so, and just started it again after a 5+ year layoff. Reading it again I've forgotten how good of a storyteller Griffin was before writing with his son in his last few books. While this one sets the stage for each of his other series (i.e., Corps, Vigilantes, Philadelphia police series) with a rich guy who always bucks the system to beat up the bad guy, with this one you have good character developmet and dialogue, and get a history of the Army from WWII through Vietnam - Korea, tank development, army aviation, Green Berets, you name it.I always liked rooting for Lowell, and each of us has a very tight stickler to the rules Bellmon in our lives - Griffin portrays his characters similar to people ni each of our lives.Reading each book in this series is well worth it - wish I could say the same about his latest books with Butterworth the IV!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Green Berets launch in the run-up to the Bay of Pigs and VietnamBy Dan BergerTheres very little bang-bang in this one.It mostly takes place in the aftermath of the Christmas 1958 events at the end of The Majors, when Greer is killed and Lowell risks his career to demonstrate the new gunships' capabilities. A full third of it is run-up to a New Years Eve party a week later, bringing many principal characters together, and affecting the career of one.Our characters fret their failure, so far, to get promoted. Lowell and Parker have black marks on their records. Felter has to keep a low profile; a civilian cover for his intelligence ties means he isn't even identified usually as military. MacMillan is still a non-com at heart and will never master the bureaucratic skills a field-grade officer needs as much as, if not more than, battlefield ones.The book has romantic stirrings, something Griffin tends to do in series installments when external events are in a lull. Lowell, whose rovings have jeopardized his career, launches another affair, this with a prominent townsmans wife, and is found out. Greers brand-new widow Melody scandalizes people when she starts seeing another man way too soon.Theres development of yet another new fighting branch the Green Berets. Felter and Lowells old CO from the Greek civil war, Hanrahan, has been given the unenviable mission of launching a special forces unit without visible support from Higher. Felter, as Eisenhowers aide, possesses fearsome clout but cant run interference on this one.MacMillan, who becomes a PNG at Ft. Rucker, takes a transfer to the brand-new unit despite sizing it up as a probable career killer. Parker puts in for the transfer because his career has stalled out. He must undergo training brutal even for those ten years younger than he. Felter wonders what will happen to him when Ike leaves office, and his wife meanwhile finds it hard to take his job's secrecy and danger. She can't even pal around with other military wives.Lowell is kept on the gunships project, but demoralized when he's not given command. He doesn't know it, but the Army is about eject him.One thing I like about this series is how well Griffin works in the Armys modernization of itself after World War II. Most of our characters distinguished themselves as tankers there or in Korea, then moved on to other fields such as paratroops. But the farsighted see that these wont figure much in upcoming wars. Gunships and special forces will. And so Griffin lets us see, through his characters, how they develop and despite resistance from much of the brass.Griffin does love the deus ex machina. Lowells money and private airplane qualify, but so too does Felters White House access and MacMillans Medal of Honor, which makes him unbustable. Plus there are their friends in high places, the generals like Jiggs and Black who bail them out. So the gang of friends continue to help each other as they maneuver against the bureaucracy, usually for the Armys own good.New characters include Ellis, a plucky young lieutenant whom MacMillan picks up hitchhiking; Jannier, a gallant young French officer sent to Rucker; and journalist Cynthia Thomas, from the same upper-crust circles as Lowell.The winds of war are brewing. Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs are just around the corner.