Rating: 
Summary: W.E.B. Griffin has done it again
Review: UNDER FIRE, the 9th book of W.E.B. Griffin's "Corps" series, moves from World War II to the prelude and opening days of the Korean War. As in previous "Corps" and "Brotherhood of War" novels, Griffin uses actual historical events as background while skillfully putting his characters into the action.In UNDER FIRE, he uses the intelligence failure that allowed the North Koreans to mount a surprise attack, and the sad state of our military at that time, as the opening, following with an excellent description of the mauling our troops received during the early days of that war, finishing by using a highly fictionalized account of a little known, but highly successful special operation to clear the Inchon Approach Islands of North Korean troops prior to the Inchon Landing. To this end, Griffin uses many of his characters from previous "Corps" novels -- Ken McCoy, Ernie Zimmerman, Fleming Pickering and his daredevil son, "Pick" Pickering, and others. Overall, UNDER FIRE is a "page turner" that offers insight, via Griffin's well developed military fiction writing style, into the beginnings of the Korean War and Korean War special operations.
Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous actions at a dangerous time
Review: When I encounter a veteran of world war II, I always ask them their opinion of either general George Patton or General Douglas MacArthur, depending on what theater they were in. In the case of both generals their opinions show a wide divergence , some think they walked on water while others that they were full of a more objectionable semi-solid. Griffin exhibits elements of both opinions of MacArthur, sometimes referential and other times derogatory. One wonders what his true opinion of El Supremo is.
In terms of story line, the background is the North Korean invasion of South Korea and the American intelligence communities inability to predict it. That was clearly the most perilous time in the entire cold war, the one point where communism had a real chance to achieve world domination. Had the American forces been pushed off the Korean peninsula, the communist forces would have been far more aggressive in expanding their influence in other parts of the world.
Such a critical backdrop always makes for a tense and engaging story, and Griffin delivers a good one. The characters are well developed, with strong personalities that are well suited to the circumstances. They are true military men, devoted to their duty and willing to bend orders to suit the circumstances. The quality of the reading by James Naughton is also very good. He uses tonal infections and emphasis to great dramatic effect and his impersonation of MacArthur is credible.
I enjoyed listening to this story. It had enough historical accuracy to be interesting on that account and the action is engaging and entertaining.
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