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Summary
Summary
A New York Times Bestselling AuthorThe Battle of the Atlantic is at its peak. Packs of German U-boats are hunting down and sinking U.S. supply ships, and ships are being burned at their moorings in U.S. ports - is it accident or is it sabotage? As the war heats up, Wild Bill Donovan's agents, answerable only to the president, find themselves battling on two fronts at once - and fate is just about to deal them a surprise.Simultaneous Publication with G. P. Putnam's Standard Print Edition.
Author Notes
W. E. B. Griffin is one of eight pseudonyms used by William E. Butterworth III, who was born in Newark, New Jersey on November 10, 1929. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1946 and was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany. He left the service in 1947 but was recalled to active duty in 1951 because of the Korean War. After leaving the service for the second time, he remained in Korea as a combat correspondent. He was later appointed chief of the publications division of the Signal Aviation Test and Support Activity at the Army Aviation Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama. He received the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association in 1991 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award in 1999.
He wrote more than 200 books including the Brotherhood of War series, The Corps series, Badge of Honor series, Honor Bound series, Presidential Agent series, Men at War series, and A Clandestine Operations Novel series. Under his own name, he wrote 12 sequels in the 1970s to Richard Hooker's book M*A*S*H. His other pen names included Alex Baldwin, Webb Beech, and Walter E. Blake. He wrote over 20 books with his son William E. Butterworth IV. He received the Alabama Author's Award in 1982 from the Alabama Library Association. He died on February 12, 2019 at the age of 89.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Griffin (The Hostage), a.k.a. William Butterworth III, now assisted by his son, returns to the climactic events of World War II in a novel that, while wide-ranging and exciting, is somewhat flawed by a rushed and jarring ending. This work is a continuation of Griffin's OSS-centered Men at War series, with many of the same mildly irreverent characters--Dick Canidy, Eric Fulmar, et al.--at the helm. The book covers Nazi sabotage in the United States, the OSS and Mafia cooperating in the planned liberation of Sicily, an intended biological assault on American troops about to invade Sicily, and, in the background, the development of the atomic bomb. It also shows the turf wars between Wild Bill Donovan's OSS and J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. This is Griffin's 36th novel and his son's first; one wonders how prolific a force Griffin & Son will be. Despite the ending, Saboteurs is good entertainment and the fast-paced and exciting novel Griffin's readers have come to expect. Recommended for larger collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/06.]--Robert Conroy, Warren, MI
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Griffin and his son, Butterworth, resuscitate Griffin's Men at War series, first published in paperback during the 1980s under the pseudonym Alex Baldwin and featuring the Office of Strategic Services; its fabled chief, Col. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan; and OSS agent Maj. Richard M. Canidy. Two primary plot lines drive this new adventure: the U.S. preparation for the invasion of Sicily and mainland Italy in 1943, and the tale of four German saboteurs who have landed in America. The authors are heavily invested in their research, meticulously describing almost every element of life in the 1940s, to the detriment of the action. The German saboteurs are eventually dealt with, but the behind-the-lines Sicilian operation led by Canidy is only hastily outlined after a long buildup. One supposes that the Sicilian story that's promised but never delivered will appear in future installments. This is pretty much all show and no go, but readers who have a strong interest in WWII home-front history should be satisfied. Author tour. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Griffin's fans will welcome his thirty-seventh novel, this one the fifth in the Men at War series, which is about the OSS during World War II. (His coauthor here is his son.) The rich plot deals with the Battle of the Atlantic, during which German U-Boats were sinking American supply ships. In this fictionalized account, ships are set on fire in American ports and explosions have sabotaged trains and train stations across the country. As Allied forces prepare to invade Sicily and Italy, enter Wild Bill Donovan and three of his agents, assigned to stop the mayhem and help win the war. As always, the locales range worldwide, including Florida, London, Sicily, New York City, Newark, Algiers, and Washington, D.C. Some characters drink a lot, some purportedly for medicinal purposes. Indelicate language peppers the dialogue, and many close calls threaten lives. From the beginning, readers will surmise that the good guys win, but they will want to read all the way through--just to make sure. --George Cohen Copyright 2006 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Griffin hooks up with his son to pen another tale featuring Wild Bill Donovan's agents, who are prepping for the Allied invasion of Italy. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.