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Special Ops A Brotherhood Of War
 
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Special Ops A Brotherhood Of War [Audiobook] (Audio Cassette)

by W Griffin (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)

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2 new from CDN$ 14.59 1 used from CDN$ 19.66

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Bestselling author W.E.B. Griffin, whose novels about various branches of the military have won him battalions of fans, returns to the Brotherhood of War series with this crackling yarn. A detachment of Special Forces hotshots teams up with presidential counselor Sandy Felter to put a stop to Che Guevara's attempts to "liberate" the Congo from President Joseph Mobutu's anticommunist government.

Under Felter's direction, the Green Berets dispatch a special detachment to the Congo. Their mission is to convince Mobutu of the wisdom of the American plan to discredit and humiliate Che and his Cuban troops, rather than martyr him, and thus bring an end to his plan to export Castro-style communism to Africa and South America. Repelling the Simba insurgents with help from forces led by South African mercenary Mike Hoare, Mobutu accepts the plan, along with the Green Beret's covert assistance, war materiel, and a fighting force manned by many of the characters who peopled The Aviators, Griffin's last Brotherhood adventure. Yes, fans, the good guys are back--especially flying ace Jack Portet, (a pilot drafted into the army right out of Leopoldville, where he was helping his father run a regional airline), George Washington "Father" Lunsford, and Master Sergeant "Doubting" Thomas. And a lot of them are black, a talented crew of African American airmen and specialists pressed into the Special Forces not just because they're brave and able but because they can pass as Congolese soldiers and thereby keep the American presence under wraps.

As a matter of historical fact Guevara failed badly in the Congo, and after retreating to Cuba, tried the same gambit in Bolivia, where he eventually died under fire and gained the martyrdom the U.S. tried so hard to prevent. But Special Ops offers a close-up look at a little-known piece of military history in a gloriously testosterone-pumped epic, seasoned with a touch of sex and romance. That may seem incongruous, given Griffin's clipped, terse writing style, which is punctuated with plenty of military dispatches and a few gratuitous growls at the internecine rivalry among American intelligence agencies. It's even more incongruous when the general's daughter gets the flying ace, and her father's highly placed friends not only get Portet an officer's stripes but fly her to the Congo to stand by her man. But none of that will stop Griffin's delighted readers from snapping up his latest chronicle of men at war. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Publishers Weekly

Newly initiated readers of Griffin (The Fighting Agents) will find the latest in the Brotherhood of War series strongly reminiscent of modern American military classics From Here to Eternity and The Winds of War. Longtime Griffin faithful, eager since 1988's The Aviators for the next BOW installment, will deem this '60s action drama well worth the wait. Fresh from disobeying orders on a rescue mission to the Congo in November 1964 (and receiving two medals for his heroic efforts), former airline pilotDnow Green Beret Sgt.DJack Portet is promoted to lieutenant and assigned to Top Secret Special Operations under Col. Sanford T. Felter, adviser to the president. CIA sources report that Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara is going to the Congo to establish a major Communist foothold in Africa, before moving on to South America. LBJ, with counsel from Felter, decides that it would be better politics to humiliate Guevara in the Congo than to elevate him to martyr status by killing him. To that end, Portet, Felton and Maj. George Washington "Father" Lunsford persuade Joseph Mobutu, president of the Republic of the Congo, to allow a crack unit of African-American Green Berets, all fluent in Swahili, to carry out the assignment. The Special Ops manage to chase Che out of Africa only to see him try to gain power in Bolivia. His writing enriched by new, fully developed characters, Griffin also reprises BOW favorites Craig Lowell, Robert Bellmon, Geoff Craig and William "Doubting" Thomas as he renders an intricately layered, epic novel of the fascinating machinations of international politics and the life and passions of the men who make it happen. Given Griffin's track record with military adventureDhe launched the Lieutenants of the Brotherhood in 1982Dthe audience for this rouser is ready and waiting. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

35 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (7)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
2.0 out of 5 stars Hopefully the series ends here...., Jan 12 2004
By K. Blodgett "Hawk" (Palm Bay, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I think what I found most annoying about this book was the beginning where large chunks of the previous two novels (The New Breed & The Aviators) were either torn intact or badly rewritten and stuffed into this novel to flesh it out. Granted it's been a long time since a Brotherhood of War novel has been released and it's ok to remind the reader of what has come to pass, but this was nearly insulting and if you've read either of the previous novels recently it's just downright boring to read them AGAIN here.

Mr. Griffin, if you must write another BoW novel, lets hear the story of Craig Lowell's adventures in Vietnam, they're hinted at in several places and sound exciting. Anything would be better than Special Ops.

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2.0 out of 5 stars I read it, but it was far from my favorite., Oct 27 2002
By John W. Brown "Vindicator" (Temple, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have read all of the Brotherhood of War novels, and my favorites were the first two, by a long shot. I would rather see a "fill in the blanks" book about Craig Lowell's adventures in Vietnam! In the book "The Generals", we are told that Craig goes to Vietnam as a Lt. Col., and comes back a full Colonel with more medals, of course. One thing that bothered me about this book... the ending of "The Aviators" was re-written in this book to include Jack Portet, which seems very tacky. I have read the other Brotherhood of War novels so much that my copies are falling apart! I wish this novel had been as good as the others.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Griffin has written better books, Mar 15 2002
Griffin has written twenty books better than this, including the first half dozen books in the Brotherhood of War Series (this title is number 9 in the series) plus the eight titles in his Marine Corps series "The Corps." I would suggest that a new reader of Griffin start with the first book in one of these series and read them in order.

"Special Ops" is about the attempt of the U.S. military to defeat and discredit Che Guevara's revolutionary ambitions in the Congo in the mid-1960s. It might have been a great book had Che been a living, breathing character, rather than being seen only from afar.

Griffin seems tired of his old military heros, the best of whom is Craig Lowell, who is brave, good-looking, intelligent, irresistible to women, and filthy rich. Somehow, despite all that, you still like Craig, whose shortcomings are that he's always in trouble and gets more medals than he does promotions. He is still around in this book, but Griffin focuses on a younger group of soldiers who are only only bleary, second-rate copies of the original Craig Lowell.

Griffin's strong point has been the authenticity he has been able to bring to U.S. military culture. However, in "Special Ops" Griffin seems to have pulled out of a hat all his old literary tricks and reused them, changing the characters and the scenes a bit but relying on the tried and true -- and the now trite for readers familiar with his other books. Moreover, he makes mistakes, probably due to haste, as other reviewers have pointed out.

Don't read this book. Read the first book in Griffin's series, "The Lieutenants" or the first book in his Marine Corps series, "Semper Fi." At his best, Griffin is a great writer about war and the U.S. military, but "Special Ops" is not one of his best books.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Brotherhood of Bore?
Summary: Disappointing, tedious and potentially insulting to the dedicated men and women of all branches of Special Opeations who put there lives on the line for little or no... Read more
Published on Feb 28 2002

2.0 out of 5 stars Ridden with errors
I am still about a hundred pages from the end of the paperback version of this book, but there is no doubt it was written in haste and not up to the normal standard of Griffin's... Read more
Published on Feb 27 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars What happened to the rest of WW2?
I like other reviewers were unhappy that the author left us hanging for so long between books only to skip the second half of the war and fast forward to Korea. Read more
Published on Feb 10 2002 by R. Frye

5.0 out of 5 stars Expand your horizons!
The early 60's were a trying time in our country. Most of us are aware of Vietnam, but how many know about the events in the Congo? Read more
Published on Dec 24 2001 by jackal0pe

1.0 out of 5 stars Special Ops
What a waste of money. This book must have be assembled from rejected material on some of Griffin's other books. Read more
Published on Dec 14 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had read all the prior reviews first............
I found the book tedious, often disjointed and lacking "zip". My first excursion into what I now know to be at the end of Griffin's career. Read more
Published on Jun 10 2001 by Edward M. Levy

3.0 out of 5 stars too long, too late
This is a long, tedious, very slow moving book. Between all the asides and meetings, the telex messages and the slow plot, it was all I could do to finish the thing. Read more
Published on Jun 8 2001 by cecil r

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Griffin book
This is one of the greatest Griffin books in years. So many readers lust for the action, but Griffin seems to remember that it's planning and waiting that makes an opertaion... Read more
Published on May 27 2001 by Bob Summers

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many meetings and too much discussion
Meetings and talk, more talk and more meetings mixed with a liberal amount of booze. Little action, adventure and suspense. Read more
Published on May 20 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars When Is The Next Brotherhood Novel Coming?
Being a huge Griffin fan I jumped right into this book. I loved every page! I have read the Brotherhood series 3 times and listened to the audio tapes at work. Read more
Published on April 25 2001 by WJC

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