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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780515132489
ISBN number: 0515132489
Label: Jove
Manufacturer: Jove
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 784
Printing Date: January 29, 2002
Publishing house: Jove
Sale Popularity Level: 57309
Studio: Jove
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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 counselour 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
Brief Book Summary:
W.E.B. Griffin returns to the series that launched his phenomenal career-- in an explosive new novel that pits a team of Special Forces warriors against the legendary revolutionary Che Guevara.
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Rated by buyers 
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No-one expects war novels to be great literature but one does expect them to be written to a professional standard. Anyone who buys a war novel by a professional writer and 'recognised' author of these sorts of books, such as W.E.B. Griffin, does expect two qualities to feature in the text: the very first is that the book is entertaining and the second is a certain level of competence when it comes to using words. Special Ops has neither--and the reading, and paying, public certainly deserves better.
In Special Ops, the plot and the storyline are long, dragging, and convoluted without being suspenseful or interesting. This together with all the comings and goings of the characters who almost to a man and woman know each other or have been associated with each other in some way previously in their service careers, coincidentally and unbelievably, make the story slow going. (I never realised that the United States Army was such a small world.)
And if the plot and plan of the novel weren't long and drawn-out enough, Griffin adds insult to injury by writing in a tediously verbose way. He says in ten words that which could have been easily said in six, or even less. And with this Griffin throws in some very trite lines, adding a certain immaturity and silly schoolboy naivete to the book which it could well do without. Another aspect of the book's language is that Griffin sometimes uses expressions that weren't in widespread use in 1964/65 in the US, or anywhere else, but became current after the 1960s, that is during the 1970s and 80s. Some of the characters utter lines in dialogue that sound as if they came from the mouths of adolescents in the 1980s or 90s rather than from full-grown men and women in the mid 1960s.
All in all, this book is not a good book: it is too poorly written, tells a slow and not very credible story in too many words, and is simply tiresome to read. I see that others in some reviews of this book have come to these same or similar conclusions. This is unsurprising: the book's flaws are quite clear. I've given it a one-star rating (as there is no nil rating), and that's being generous.
In a few years' time, I may read another of Griffin's books, just for the sake of comparison, as anyone who has written as prolifically as W.E.B. Griffin must have written a good book somewhere along the line (and Griffin probably has). But after just wading through some 773 pages of unremitting tedium of Special Ops (once I start a book I finish it) it will certainly be a while.
Rated by buyers 
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And I don't expect the quality of writing in serious literature but there are subjects he seems to be winging it on and really doesn't know much about. There is a lot on Argentina which Mr. Griffin obviously does know a lot about but I'm not sure how this much on Argentina fits.
There is a lt colonel investment banker, a lot polo which fits well with Argentina and investment bankers, they are all staying in luxury digs in the keys, and lots of drinking and fine dining. No middle class officers here.
All in all not a particularly interesting book, not believable, and not terribly well written.
Rated by buyers 
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After so long Griffin decided to continue in his brotherhood of war series.
But nevertheless it is just as good as the others in the series.
Rated by buyers 
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I have just finished re-reading the entire Brotherhood of War series. While the storyline is interesting, there are too many errors in the research or in the editing. I am not sure who is to blame.
Foremost, to anyone who has been in the military is the use of an incorrect phoenic alphabet. Next, anyone who has flown or has read anything about flying knows that runway numbers are derived from compass headings and therefore couldn't include a runway 37 as listed in one of the novels. Another reference to "Kennedy" airport in 1959 is just plain dumb. Idlewild was not renamed until 1963. Also in the 1959 time frame was a reference to a "Visa" card. First of all the initial visas were called BankAmericard and they didn't come along until the mid to late '60's.
I could go on and on regarding the research and editing errors, but you get the idea.
Having said all of that, If one can put aside the obvious errors, this series makes for a good read.
Rated by buyers -
Having not read previous books in the series I cannot comment on how it fits the series. I am generally a pure military history reader but occasionally pick up an historical fiction such as this so I have only read a couple of Mr. Griffin's other works. I must say, Mr. Griffin knows how to weave a great plot and create a depth of characters like few other authors. I enjoyed this work very much. At times it seemed to move a little slow but the time spent in understanding and relating to the characters pays off when the action and mystery unfolds. All in all, the book gives you an enjoyable time in service with the early Special Operations forces.
The reader in this edition also did a great job of appropriate emotion in the reading.
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