Rating: 
Summary: Under Edited
Review: Totally disappointed with this one. Of course the publisher of this book knows loyal Griffin readers will buy it upon or after it's release. How can any book editor allow a book to contain the enormity of unedited typo's and lack of continuity this book contains is beyond me? Because of the poor editing and lack of continuity many of the pages had to be re-read. Of course I will be one the first in line to buy his next release, hopefully the editor of the next book will not be asleep at the switch. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Griffin leaves us hanging
Review: I have been a great fan, but am really disappointed with this
series. I have waited over a decade to see the completion of the
Ken McCoy series. Now, several years have been skipped, and the
guerrillas in the Phillipines have been left behind. The proofreading has been sloppy as well.
John D. Macklin has also been Richard B., Richard D., and John B. In the last book, Griffin says Mccoy isn't Catholic, but
remember when he goes to the convent to see his sister?
Also in the second book, a marine stands guard with a 1903-A3
before they went into production. Small mistakes, but I expect
a little better from a talented author such as this.
I continue to reread The Corps and Call to Arms, The Lieutenants
and The Captains because they are great stories.
Please Mr. Griffin, take us back to WWII, and make up your mind on Macklin's real name. This story needs to be finished.
Rating: 
Summary: Covers the politics of marines more than the action
Review: For those looking for a lot of battlefield action, they may be disappointed in this book. However, I liked it a lot because it covers the details of a war that gets a lot less coverage in media form than WWI, WW2, Vietnam, and the Gulf mess. The Korean War cost a lot of American lives. This was the time when my own father served in the military, yet I foolishly never got the details on what the conflict at the time was all about. This book tells exactly how we became involved in what was to be the first post WW2 conflict against the Commies, but wouldn't be the last. It tells of a time when Americans were full of swagger after the victories of WW2. The country had a John Wayne mentality about handling things, and Wayne in fact is a very minor character in the book. However, it does tell that we were not as prepared for this war as we should have been, and that people were willing to fight just as hard for Commie ideology as we were for Mom and Apple Pie. Thus, an extended conflict that didn't accomplish much, in that we didn't learn our lesson and sent another 50,000 or so Americans to their death in Vietnam not many years later. The story also covers the formation of CIA, and how their goals do not always jive with that of the military. We get some views into the mindset of Harry Truman, and even more into Douglas McCarther, who the author seems to hold in high esteem. While there is not a lot of military action, for those that want a good dose of history that isn't covered a lot, this one is very satisfactory.
Rating:
Summary: Ken (Killer) McCoy is back!
Review: As other have observed, Griffin has chosen to leave out about six years of history for the series. However, providing he lives long enough, and based on his previous record, I'm sure he'll get back to them and fill us in on what happen between 1944 and 1950.
I am also concerned about the accuracy of the proof readers. Surely the proofing of the galleys could be done by someone familiar with the series?
I enjoyed the book, and would still recommend it for Griffin enthusiasts. At this writing I noted today that Griffin's next novel is due in bookstores in January 2003 - part of the Badge of Honor series.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great installment for The Corps series
Review: I just finished my 18th Griffin book. Having now read all of the Brotherhood of War and The Corps series, I eagerly await new installments. There is obviously at least one more story left in this series to deal with what happens to Pick.
And yes, there continue to be the usual editing errors, but these are certainly more tolerable than, what, movie versions of popular books? The author was under no obligation to "finish" World War II. Eight books with these Marines in the pacific theater certainly gave us more of the same war than, for instance,the Brotherhood of War books. Griffin offers great entertainment value and I look forward to reading the Men at War, Honor Bound, and Badge of Honor series. If and when another Corps book comes out, I'll be ready and waiting to read it.
Rating:
Summary: WEB Always Great
Review: As usual WEB GRiffin is a master again in this book. Lots of action, great characters, and an historical plot that brings history alive.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to standard
Review: I am a huge fan of W.E.B. Griffin and read everything he writes. I enjoyed Under Fire simply because I love all its characters and also enjoy military type literature. BUT; this book falls far short of the standards of excellence readers have come to expect from Griffin. The editing errors are many and monumental. They have been pain-stakingly cataloged by other reviewers so I won't repeat them again; but Gee Whiz guys didn't anybody proofread this book before it was published? Obviously not. Secondly; there is way too much mundane nonsense and page filler; much of which could have been edited and not affected the story a whit. I hope very much that we get a new volume soon which will tie this rambling story together; but please take whatever time you need to do a better job of writing and proof reading BEFORE you publish.
Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Real lessons packed into an action packed story
Review: If you like WEB Griffin (and I do) and if his Marines have become old friends whose lives you care about and if you find the combination of military action and high level political-bureaucratic maneuvering fascinating, then this is a book for you. Griffin postulates that in May 1950 one of our Marines developed an analysis that North Korea might attack South Korea. Unfortunately for him, MacArthur's long time intelligence chief, General Willoughby, had assured MacArthur there would be no attack. Rather than be embarrassed Willoughby destroys the report and drives the young Marine Captain into early retirement. However, Willoughby's plan is blocked by two developments. First, North Korea attacks South Korea on June 25 and no Marines are being retired. Second, our Captain's friend and sponsor, General Pickering intervenes and carries the story to President Truman. American lack of preparedness at the beginning of the Korean War is one of the bitter lessons every preparedness advocate (and I am one) points to in arguing for a strong peacetime America. Our Army was untrained, unequipped, and undermanned. The Marines were drastically undermanned. Our equipment was inferior to the North Korean Russian-supplied equipment. Our restrictions on the South Koreans did not stop the war (as every liberal hoped it would) they simply made it more tempting for North Korea to attack.. This book maintains a wonderful balance between MacArthur as an egocentric isolated and eccentric personality on the one hand and a military genius of the first order on the other. The consistent rejection of his daring Inchon landing by every traditional senior officer is a good reminder as we look toward Iraq and elsewhere that when in doubt bureaucracies are boring, unimaginative and take the enormous risk of taking no risks at all.. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the art of decision-making at very senior levels and the nature of war when you let your country go unprepared. Griffin once again makes a civic contribution contained in a good action fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Deserving of a recall
Review: If this book had been an automobile it would have (1) been subject to immediate recall due to an unbelievable number of 'manufacturing' errors, and (2)it would have come under California's 'Lemon Law' for failing to perform as a reader of Griffin's books has a right to expect. There are far too many editing errors and instances of one section putting forth one 'fact' only to have another 'fact' in its place later on. The sign on McCoy's front gate says Cpl. McCoy at the beginning of the book only to morph into Capt. McCoy later on. Gen. Ridgeway is in Japan reviewing things, but it is Gen Collins who attends the meeting in Japan. Navy Lt. Taylor suddenly becomes Lt (jg) after spending 200 pages in his higher rank. G-3s are in one paragraph and the same people are S-3s in the next. Most glaring of all is MacArthur's plan to assault PUSAN by amphibious landing when in the previous and following paragraphs (and for the previous 100s of pages) it is an assault at INCHON. And, these are only a few of the editing errors generously sprinkled throughout the book. Now, on to the Lemon Law violations. The book takes 575 pages to tell a story in which very little happens. Pages are devoted to preparing operations that are later cancelled. The characters spend more time drinking Famous Grouse than anyone expected to perform real duties could have done and remained functional. (The author then tells how Pickering limits himself to only two whiskeys a day.) Most of the dialogue is 'page filler' of the most blatant kind. For example, "You help me get the mailbags I brought from the [ship]here and the mailbags that are going to the [ship]out to my plane, and if I have the weight left, I'll take you out." (Hemmingway would have puked.) In other cases the same words are spoken by different people at different points in the book. I can only conclude that the book was written by a group of people who never talked to one another and didn't read what the others had written first, and that the proofreader (if there was one) had imbibed whatever was left of the stash of Famous Grouse. I enjoyed seeing again all the folks I had come to care about in the previous eight books -- all of which are nearby as I write --but they and I deserved a better setting to renew our relationships.
Rating:
Summary: A very good read but, not up to Griffins usual.
Review: I have read everynone of Griffin's books in his several series(The Corp., Badge of Honor,ect.). The plot dreagged twoard the end which was not typical of his other books. I was glad to see Ken and Earnie finally get together. This book left unanswered many questions from his previous book but hopefully they will be answerd in his next. What about Martha? What about the Captian and the navy nurse? All were left hanging in the last book. Being a tru Griffin fan I will anxiously await the next. Tell me Mr. Griffin is this a ploy to get us true fans of yours to anxiously await the next?
| 
