Victory and Honor (Honor Bound)

by W.E.B. Griffin

2012

Status

Available

Publication

G.P. Putnam's Sons (2012), 400 pages

Description

Facing daunting challenges in the form of political threats against the OSS and the early stirrings of the Cold War, Cletus Frade and his colleague conduct a secret operation to counter the growing ambitions of Joseph Stalin.

User reviews

LibraryThing member mccsyuma

Just weeks after Adolph Hitler's suicide, Cletus Frade and his OSS colleagues find themselves up to their necks in battles every bit as fierce as the ones just ended. The first is political and the second is something on a much grander scale--the possible next world war against Joe Stalin. In fact,

Frade has been conducting a secret operation in preparation for that very event.

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LibraryThing member DocWalt10

WEB Griffin is my favourite author. I usually wait for softcover because of cost but received this book in hardcover as a Birthday Gift. 310 Pages read in 6 days. I was disappointed with Mr Griffin. The book is about the demise of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) after the end of WW11 by

President Truman. This is due to considerable pressure from the Top Brass of all the armed services, the FBI and the Secret Service. He, not being the fool most think he is, realizes its value if they all want it folded into their particular branch, be it Army Intelligence or Navy Intelligence. It did not need to take 310 pages to do it. There is some subtext about 100 Nazis obtaining sanctuary in Argentina with help from the OSS. The OSS became the CIA and this could have been pursued in this book. While a good read and I felt it lacked depth.

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LibraryThing member DeaconBernie

Typically good W.E.B.Griffin novel. Good detail. Fast moving. Factually plausible.

LibraryThing member DHBarry

My kid bought me this book for Christmas, Victory and Honor, by W.E.B. Griffin. This is one of my favorite authors. He's been writing professionally since 1960, has about 130 books published under his own name and various pseudonyms. His works include several series: The Brotherhood of War, The

Corps, Men at War, Honor Bound, The Presidential Agent, and Badge of Honor. The latter is a series of novels about the Philly police force. It's very good, but I sort of lost interest in it a few years back. The others, as the names would suggest, are about the military and intelligence services. I've read all of those many times over, and have in my library all of the books of those series.

Victory and Honor is the latest addition to the Honor Bound series. This series is about the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, which was formed during World War II and is the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. It's central character is Cletus Frade, a Marine Corps officer who becomes one of the first members of the fledgling intelligence service. The series follows his exploits.

This series combines historical fact with fiction, as do all of Griffin's series. This is perhaps one of the reasons I so enjoy the series; the veracity of the historical aspects interwoven with the lives of the fictional characters makes the series all the more fascinating.

Griffin joined the Army in 1946. He worked in counter-intelligence in Germany, serving in the Constabulary that occupied the American territories after the surrender of the Nazis. After completing his active duty military service, Griffin attended university in Germany. His college days were cut short in 1951 when he was recalled to serve in the Korean War, first as an official Army war correspondent, then as a public information officer for the Army. Griffin received the Combat Infantry Badge for service at the front lines, which is a highly-coveted award in the Army given only to those who see action against an armed enemy. His knowledge of combat and garrison life and his friendships with military personnel from different services influence his writing, and make it all the more authentic.

One of Griffin's duties was delivering food to German general officers and their families, including the widow of Claus von Stauffenberg. (For those of you who aren't fans of history, Claus von Stauffenberg is the guy who tried to blow Hitler up in his bunker on July 20, 1944. Have you seen the movie The Valkryie? Tom Cruise was this guy. He was a patriotic German and a truly courageous man.) Griffin's exposure to German military and civilian aristocracy inspired several of his characters, and lend additional authenticity to his characters and plot lines. Griffin's wife is an Argentine, and her father is a former Colonel in the Argentine cavalry; Griffin has mined his father-in-law and other Argentine contacts to develop Argentine characters and plot lines for his books.

On a side not, thank you, Wikipedia, for some of the background info on Griffin.

Anyway, if you're a fan of military history, Griffin's books are for you. He just came out with another, Covert Warriors, which is the newest installment of his Presidential Agent series. This series again revolves around the military and intelligence communities, but takes place in the present time. Another great story line. I'll be picking this one up, soon, and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

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LibraryThing member Michael_P

Even though this it tauted as a stand-alone, it's really the sixth book in a series. I read the first 100 pages, and was very confused by the relationships that had apparently been established in the other books leading up to this one. Also, within the first 100 pages, there is absolutely no

action, only a bunch of people who all know each other re-establishing contact. For the time being, I'm dropping this book until I can read the others leading up to it. Perhaps people who have read the others enjoyed this more than I did.

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LibraryThing member buffalogr

At 9.8 hours, one of the shortest W.E.B. Griffin books I've ever read. Since this is the sixth book in the series, all the characters make sense. This one deals with the end of WWII and the confusion around Nazi defeat. It's largely set in Europe and on trans-Atlantic flights. One of the

inconsistencies was that on one occasion, the Argentine crew went to an evening meeting in a Schloss (Castle) just a few minutes outside of Frankfurt, when really, its about a 4 hour drive in today's traffic. I had to suspend believability. The Nazi atrocities are right there, on full display. if you're a fan of military history, Griffin's books are for you.

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LibraryThing member DeaconBernie

Victory brings new problems. For a change, Griffin seems content to allow us to feel good at the end. This is a good summary of how Griffin blends true history with fiction. However improbable the four prior volumes of this series, they all come together here. One more volume to go.

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