Covert Warriors

November 28, 2011
The leisurely seventh presidential agent thriller starring Lt. Col. Charley Castillo from Griffin and Butterworth (after 2010’s The Outlaws) opens with a bang. Mexican federales stop two U.S. Special Forces officers and two DEA agents at a roadblock near Acapulco, order them out of their SUV despite their diplomatic license plates, and shoot three of them dead, taking Lt. Col. James Ferris prisoner. It appears the drug cartels have Ferris, but Charley figures out that his arch enemy, Vladimir Putin—yes, that Vladimir Putin—is behind the attack. Charley’s other enemy, U.S. president Zeke Clendennen, decides to rescue Ferris in an operation that’s sure to get the man killed. Charley must snatch Ferris before the president can screw everything up. As usual, the authors exhaustively outline what’s happened in earlier books, then lay out a plan that’s swiftly implemented at the very end. Even loyal series fans may be weary of this formula by now.

January 15, 2012
The latest military thriller from Griffin. At a Mexican roadblock, an American Embassy SUV is stopped and its occupants murdered except for Colonel Ferris, who is kidnapped. A drug cartel wants one of its own released from the Florence, Colo., supermax prison, and President Clennenden secretly wants to exchange the convict for Ferris. Meanwhile, Clennenden fears a coup by the vice president. Is this paranoia or genuine treason? POTUS misses no opportunity to earn the same contempt he lavishes on his subordinates, and he is accurately seen by some as a nut job. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, so maybe there is something to his worries. The big issue, though, is whether it's OK to trade a vicious murderer, who would surely kill again, for a hostage. It's a good plot point, although the unrelenting nastiness of POTUS makes him look one-dimensional. And it's irritating when half the characters are introduced by their height and weight, or when a character jokes, "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you," time and time again. Worse is the action-stopping background information provided every time a new character appears. Moreover, listing the precise model number of every weapon and aircraft feels unnecessary. More explosions and tighter writing would have helped.

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