From BooklistIn Mexico, unknown assailants posing as Mexican authorities attack a U.S. embassy vehicle, killing all of the passengers except one, whom they take with them, holding him hostage until the American government arranges for a drug lord to be sprung from federal prison in the States. Charley Castillo, the retired U.S. army colonel and Secret Service agent attached to the presidentalthough his relationship with the new Oval Office occupant is decidedly more contentious than with the previous presidentlearns about the kidnapping and immediately suspects that it could have been deliberately staged to get his attention. Could the abduction be part of a plot by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin to capture and erase Charley once and for all? And, if it is, can Charley count on any of his former government colleagues to help him out? The father-and-son writing team of Griffin and Butterworth keeps the Castillo series interesting by throwing their hero into new situations, e.g., taking him from being a highly respected government agent to something approaching a full-on outlaw, operating in an environment in which key players in the government would like nothing more than to see him eliminated permanently. Another solid entry in an always-popular series. --David Pitt A storyteller in the grand tradition.Tom Clancy A writer of true virtuosity and talent.Fort Worth Star-TelegramGriffinunderstands the psychology and motivations of military and clandestine service officers.Publishers Weekly About the AuthorW.E.B. Griffin is the author of the bestselling Brotherhood of War, Corps, Badge of Honor, Men at War, Honor Bound, and Presidential Agent series. He has been invested into the orders of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association and St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association; is a life member of the U.S. Special Operations Association; and is a member of Gaston-Lee Post 5660 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, China Post #1 in Exile of the American Legion, the Police Chiefs Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, South New Jersey, and Delaware, and the Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Pensacola, Florida, chapters of the Flat Earth Society. He has been named an honorary life member of the U.S. Army Otter Caribou Association, the U.S. Army Special Forces Association, the U.S. Marine Corps Raider Association, and the USMC Combat Correspondents Association. William E. Butterworth IV has been an editor and a writer for more than twenty-five years, and has worked closely with his father for a decade on the editing of the Griffin books. He is the coauthor of nine Griffin novels in the bestselling Presidential Agent, Honor Bound, Badge of Honor, and Men at War series. He is a member of the Sons of the American Legion China Post #1 in Exile, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society, and life member of the National Rifle Association and the Texas Rifle Association. where can i buy books besides Covert Warriors (A Presidential Agent Novel)
124 of 126 people found the following review helpful. Couldn't put it down..should have dropped itBy Victor M. LabellaI read it in almost 12 hours. I was so pumped for it. I am an avid devotee of Presidential Series. My opinion? GREAT LET DOWN! For instance, I enjoyed the different stages of drama 1) Possible presidential meltdown of an incompetent CIC 2) Possible retailiation by Putin 3) Drug war influence with introducing a new ally for Castillo 4) But what was delivered by Father and Son was good background intrigue but no follow-up on anything dramatic. Too many open ended questions. For instance, 1) It was implied that Montvale may be involved in the coup d'etat but nothing explored. 2) So much was written about the transfer of Ferris that hardly anything was mentioned on his plight or what was happening behind the scenes that led up to the next to last chapter! Only 1 chapter on the planning and execution of the extraction? 3) No other mention on what Abrego's people were doing or planning or how that played out. That was disappointing. 4) It appeared the rest of Castillo's men or "the Other People" took a break from this book. I don't know why the author's did that especially after the confrontation in the beginning of the book 5) Castillo and Sweaty are going to be parents? That got 2 sentences and nothing else was mentioned. 6) There was also an implication that Abuela's involvement may be the heaviest since the series started but nothing afterwards. 7) There was mention of Naylor and McNab maybe playing a role in making things right, but that was another let down. 8) I'm not sure what side of the fence Montavle, Lammelle, and Cohen are on now. Based on the last book, Lammelle and Montavle owe Castillo and the gang for being in the positions they're in but I'm not sure whose side they're on now. Usually, Natalie Cohen knows everything but she was unusually out-of-the-loop until she and Charley talked. But nothing led up to her being untrustworthy. In closing, I am very disappointed in ending of book. There wasn't the usual excitement in the planning and execution of the mission. Thumbs down.50 of 52 people found the following review helpful. Disappointed - but tolerantBy CustomerI have read Mr. Griffin for more than 25 years and love his work. The Brotherhood of War is clearly his finest work and what I cut my teeth on. Honor Bound was a delight until the last few - but tolerable. It may be reader loyalty, I just don't know - the characters in his novels are old friends I visit frequently. Charley and his Merry Band are fun to read and at least this installment reduces covering old history (except in the last 10% (!) - that was irritating). I will stick with him but he needs to go to his roots and pound out good, reinforced, storytelling that I am used to.I will keep getting his (and his son's) books - just to see how the old friends are doing. I miss the Old School Griffin. This story would have been 100% better if he had just done what put him in the niche.12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. A disappointing continuation of a series that is alternately engaging and annoyingBy Jon Eric DavidsonI have read a few of W.E.B. Griffin's novels from some of his other series, but never got engaged in any of those in the same way as I did for the Presidential Agent series. I locked in from the first book of the series, and have continued on with the subsequent works. Initially, the series was really engaging. But with each passing installment, the novels got to be alternately engaging and annoying. Since I am somewhat invested in the series, I purchased "Covert Warriors", and found that the scales have tipped to more annoying than engaging.The Presidential Agent series has some very relevant, current-day plots that always seem to easily suck the reader in. It leads one to hope that there will be gripping content that will propel the reader through the novel. The problem is that the plot resolution in each book seems to come later and later, with fewer and fewer pages being devoted to it. "Covert Warriors" didn't seem to have any resolution; the hostage rescue - one of several plot threads - was almost summarized in a few pages at the very end of the novel, as if you were listening to a conversation in passing. The dispatch of the suspected moles was also so glossed over that it almost wasn't worth the couple of paragraphs devoted to explaining that in the same ending chapter. The other plot threads involving the President's paranoia, the potential for a coup d'etat, and so on were all left hanging, and the way "Covert Warriors" ended almost made one think that some of that was just conveniently resolved, too.Character development is an engaging element to the Presidential Agent series, including "Covert Warriors". I do enjoy that several of the primary and secondary characters are fully fleshed out, so as to make them all believable and realistic to the reader. Some of the secondary and tertiary characters through the series aren't of interest to me, but at least the development makes the lack of interest feel more valid because I have gotten to "know" them over the course of the series. However, as with the plot, the annoying part is that with each passing installment, Mr. Griffin and his cohort have leaned too heavily on repeating Charley Castillo's life story ad nauseum. I don't think any reader remains in the same circle of colleagues/family/friends and spends hours re-hashing every detail of one's life - particularly if you know the person really well. This happens multiple times in each novel, and in "Covert Warriors", the life story was re-hashed three or four times (at least). This is definitely not realistic in any way. More importantly, most of the readers of "Covert Warriors" are readers like me who have followed the series from the start. We already know full well Castillo's story, and the overarching plot theme of the series to date, so there is no need to spend so much of the book flogging this same information.The storytelling seems to get increasingly bogged down with each installment of the series, and "Covert Warriors" is no different. The recurrent trend is that there is much talking/deliberating, traveling, bad jokes told repeatedly, and detail about meals and other trivial details. Early in the series, there was enough of a healthy mix of action woven in to keep the novel moving and the reader engaged. However, as the series has progressed, the bits of action seem to have largely disappeared. "Covert Warriors" is the worst of the series in terms of having to slog through the entire novel without having any real passages with action or any sense of suspense. It just seemed to plod on endlessly, with the overly repetitive elements I mentioned above.Oddly, I feel some sort of conflict after reading "Covert Warriors". There is a part of me that just wants to give up on the series - assuming it continues - because each passing installment leaves me increasingly underwhelmed, and "Covert Warriors" is (for now) the acme of that disenchantment. But there is another part of me that knows that if/when the next installment comes out, I will very likely read it, because I've already invested myself in the Presidential Agent series and want to see it through to the end - however frustrating it may continue to be.I suspect that I am not alone in my sense of conflict about the series and "Covert Warriors" specifically. What I have seen of previous reviews suggests there are plenty of readers who do agree with me. I think we are all wrestling with this aspect of having the engaging elements of good storytelling, countered by the annoying elements that I have summarized here. I can't recommend "Covert Warriors", whether you have read the previous books in the Presidential Agent series or not. For those of us who have read everything in the series to date, it is yet another speed bump to wherever the Charley Castillo story is headed, and - unless Mr. Griffin and his cohorts pay some heed to the reader frustration - it will continue to be an annoying ride.