The Hostage

The "Hostage" is another GREAT Griffin book. It helps to have read "By Order of the President", but it is not required reading to enjoy this book. It is a typical WEB Griffin book and I give it raving reviews. If you like Griffin at his best, you'll love reading this book. I am waiting for the third in this series 'The Hunters' which is due out in January.

The Hostage is book two of the Presidential Agent series. In both books a measly US Army Major is sent by POTUS to solve two "problems" that cannot be approached by conventional channels, mostly because the US intelligence community in present day is going through the same kind of unrest and turf fighting that happened during WWII. Those of us that have read most of WEB Griffin's books can easily recognize bits and pieces from the previous series, which means there are quite a few people quick to accuse Griffin of writing cookie-cutter books (Clancy has this problem too). That said, the book reads fresh, it does not read like he took Brotherhood of War, The Corps, the Argentine series and the OSS series and simply changed dates. In book two, the wife of an US Embassy official in Argentina is kidnapped. Predicting a turf war like with the incident in the previous book, the President sends his agent to Argentina to find out what happened before anyone has a chance to write a CYA report. The kidnapping is only a part of a much bigger series of events, and the president's agent is given an independent detachment and full authority to "render harmless" the individuals that triggered this series of events. I really liked this book, it is on par with the full Argentina/OSS series and the Corps series. My only problem with this book was that I had a hell of a hard time making it last. I read in the train and I try to make my books last, but this one just read too quickly. My other problem is that this book is placed in present time, and many times it mentions factual information that I had no clue about (and I am a news addict) so for example I would read something and I would end up googling it and getting sidetracked for hours. If you have not read Griffin before, the two presidential agent books are good enough as an introduction, but you will probably enjoy it more if you have read The Corps or the Argentine (the "Honor" books) series first.

The second book in the Presidential Agent series is excellent. The character, Carlos Castillo, was introduced in the first novel of this new series. The exposition of the backstory is done very well and is not as obtrusive as it was in some of the other series. Another review comments that you don't have to read the first book to enjoy this one and that is true. The author is in top form. He combines a topical subject with his favorite scenes in Argentina and Germany. Griffin fans like me know that his novels follow his own life story with the addition of inside information that he is privy to through old friends in the military. The lead character Charley Castillo is also a German national named Karl Gossinger. His father was a Green Beret and helicopter pilot who was kiilled in Vietnam. His mother is a wealthy German woman who was not married and who knew nothing of what had happened to the father of her child. She dies young in the first book leaving Karl an orphan. An Army officer acquaintance traces the father at her request as she is dying and finds that he has been dead for years. That is why he never returned to her. The grandparents, wealthy Texas Hispanics, come to Germany, bring the boy to America and he assumes his second identity. He graduates from West Point and becomes a helicopter pilot like his father. Griffin was a young soldier in Germany during the occupation after WWII. He then attended Phillips University in Marberg, as do many of his characters. He served in Korea, called up from the Reserves just as some of his characters were. In recent years he has lived part of the year in Argentina and the Honor Bound series, also excellent, explores the history of that country when Peron came to power. Griffin's history has been shown in other books to be accurate, even when the facts are not well known. For example, several of his Brotherhood of War books tell a story of Green Berets in Africa during the era when Che Guevara was trying to foment revolution. Other non-fiction works verify Griffin's facts. An example is Heart of a Soldier, the story of Rick Rescorla. Rescorla joined the American Army after meeting Green Berets in Africa and later was a hero at the battle described in We Were Soldiers Once and Young, referred to by Griffin in his front matter for this novel. The novel is a thriller and is topical. The first of the series told of a hijacked airplane; this one concerns Argentina and UN corruption. Charley Castillo could be a composite of the lead characters in the Brotherhood of War and Honor Bound. The story of Special Forces here is probably more accurate than newspaper accounts. Griffin knows everybody and has sources that make his plots come to life. He is in top form.

Until now, I suppose I was the only person left in America who had not read anything by the prolific W.E.B. Griffin. Glad that's changed AND what a great book The Hostage was. At nearly 500 pages it is sort of long for a thriller, but I can't say there was very much if any real "fat" in the book. This is the second book in Griffin's new Presidential Agent series. For what it's worth, if you have not read the first book in this series, I don't think you really need too. Griffin does a very thorough job of bringing you up to speed on how his "presidential agent" actually got the job he now holds. The editorial review from Booklist is a good plot review so I won't repeat that, but I can add that getting Major "Charlie" Castillo into his current position involves on-going turf battles with a lot of governmental intelligence agencies, and while you may not think that would make for good storytelling, it actually does. Put another way, each encounter is a satisfying adventure in and of itself. The book is as timely as reading today's newspaper or watching the evening news, only more exciting and more authoritatively reported! This is an easy read, primarily because of its extremely accurate conversational quality. I have read countless books about soldiers or former soldiers who are doing the things that soldiers do, and I would think to myself that soldiers don't talk or act that way. Griffin however, has the lingo and the mannerisms cold. Hostage will appeal to a wide variety of people and especially people who are familiar with the areas portrayed in the book. I am amazed at the sort detail and "insider" knowledge Griffin shares with the reader. If you ever served in the 11th ACR (Germany) or the 3AD you will be very familiar with the description of the towns and terrain in and around what used to be the border between East and West Germany. Charlie Castillo's description of the purpose behind that barrier between freedom and communism is a hoot! Personality wise, I would put Major Charlie Castillo and how he acts, somewhere between the tightly wound Mitch Rapp (CIA agent) by Vince Flynn, and the more cerebral and introspective Gabriel Allon (Israeli Intelligence) by Daniel Silva. The stories are all of the international espionage type and all very similar in plot. Highest recommendation, but my guess is, mostly for guys.

Life is good when you have a cousin who reviews books for a Major big city Newspaper. Whenever we get together for the holidays he always brings me a box of advance review copies and that is how "the Hostage" came into my possession. I am very glad it did as I had never read a book by W.E.B. Griffin. The guy knows how to write a timely thriller! The President asks Delta Force Major Charley Castillo to go to Argentina to try and retrieve the wife of a deputy Chief who has been kidnaped after her husband was murdered (She is forced to watch as he is executed by a shot to the head). The terrorists say they will kill her children if she does not tell them how to find her brother who supposedly has info on an Iraqi/UN scandal that would be very embarrassing to the UN. I won't go farther because I don't want to ruin the surprises, but the author sets a fast pace and keeps the action coming. There is plenty of Intrigue and suspense, that is heightened by the authors obvious knowledge of the way things work! The plot is also very relevant to what is going on in today's world. To sum up, If you are looking for a well rounded thriller with lots of action and suspense I highly recommenced this book! And I will now be going to the used book store to look for the authors earlier books.