Victory and Honor

June 27, 2011
Diehard fans will best appreciate Griffin's slow-moving sixth Honor Bound novel, which picks up where The Honor of Spies (2009), also co-written with son Butterworth, left off in the spring of 1945. Lt. Col. Cletus Frade of the OSS, besides trying to prevent Nazis from fleeing to Argentina, is concerned with the survival of the soon-to-be-disbanded OSS and increasing tension with the U.S.S.R. The action-starved plot takes nearly 100 pages to get underway, and when it does, the drama is sporadic, choppy, and interrupted by lots of macho camaraderie. An intriguing subplot mentioned early onâa rogue Nazi U-boat that escaped Allied detection and is now chugging toward Japan with atomic secrets on boardâgoes nowhere. Frade, for his part, is his usual pushy, smart-alecky self and most likely destined to be a higher-up in the OSS's successor, the CIA. Techno-thriller fans will relish the detailed descriptions of weapons and aircraft.

Starred review from September 26, 2011
In this latest installment in Griffin and Butterworth’s Honor Bound series, WWII is winding down and Maj. Cletus Frade—a citizen of both the United States and Argentina with strong ties to military, political, and business elites in both nations—must navigate a convoluted maze of intelligence operations and conflicting agendas to prevent the Germans from creating a sanctuary for Nazis in South America. Narrator Scott Brick dazzles in this audio edition, providing a wide array of international accents and voices for Griffin and Butterworth’s characters. Among the many standouts are Frade, who Brick lends a voice that is aristocratic, mysterious, and infused with a touch of bravado, and two German soldiers participating in covert anti-Hitler campaigns. However, listeners new to the series may find themselves struggling to keep up with the book’s twisting and turning plot and extensive roster of characters. A Putnam hardcover.