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In Danger's Path (Griffin, W. E. B. Corps, Bk. 8.)

In Danger's Path (Griffin, W. E. B. Corps, Bk. 8.)

List Price: $7.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: RATING A MARINE HISTORY NOVEL
Review: I ROB M. BEING A FORMER MARINE ENJOYED THE SERIES OF THE CORPS BOOKS.THIS ONE LEAVES YOU HANGING.VERY POORLY ENDED.MR. GRIFFIN I WISH WOULD TAKE THIS SERIES INTO KOREA, AND THE VIET NAM WAR. WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE IN THE ACTION LINE AND LESS BOOZING,AND CARROUSING.BUT TELL IT LIKE IT IS.I HOPE HE GETS ANOTHER BOOK OUT AT LEAST TO BRING THESE CHARACTERS TO A CONCLUSION.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This book is....
Review: Dung. I'm on page 550 and it is an absolute chore to continue coming back to this tripe. I refuse to stop reading it simply because it is absolutely THE worst book I have ever read, and I've read thousands. No kidding. Swear on my Famous Freakin Grouse. My 2 year old son invents better stories than this one, and he even manages to get to the point. It's the same story every 40 pages. Guy travels, guy gets drunk, guy travels again. The only "Dangerous Path" in this novel is the one in front of the buzzed up character's cars. If I had the desire to even look over this book again, I'd like to tally up all the wasted tax dollars and war bonds these guys have blown on gas and booze within the contiguous United States alone. Japan is no where near Pensacola, FL. Put down the scotch boys and get in the game. This story stinks. This book is a dis-service to anyone that has ever served our wonderful country. To the non-fictional veterans out there I say "Thank you". To Mr. Griffin, I say, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Where's the Danger?
Review: Half way through it. Action has surrounded officer's offices and drinking coffee and booze. You can skip the first 350 pages and not miss a thing. Really.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Semper Fi
Review: Establishing a weather station in Mongolia may seem an unlikely subject for a novel of the Corps. Don't be misled. This novel about the Marine Corps opens with a Prologue set in Shanghai in November of 1941. For the young and historically handicapped, that's one month before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to bring United States into World War II. The rest of the novel deals principally with political/military operations of the Office of Strategic Sevices between February and May of 1943: political because of inter and intra rivalries among the Armed Services, and military because their operation had to be kept secret from the Japanese. Veterans of any Armed Services branch will revel in Griffin's tales of the turf battles between officers in the same unit,not excluding Generals and Admirals. The OSS--in post-war years to become the CIA--needed to set up a weather station in the Gobi Desert in order to facilitate air missions and to learn and relay vital information to the naval forces in the Pacific area of operations. The station had to be kept secret from the Japanese. Griffin, of course,disavows any intention to record history, and states that names, characters,places and incidents are used ficticiously. Yet he brings actual World War II characters to his fictionalized scenes President Roosevelt, his son Major Roosevelt, Admirals Nimitx and Leahy. Generals MacArthur, Stillwell and Marshall all make cameo appearances in the fictitious scenes at one time or another. "Wild Bill" Donovan, first director of the OSS, naturally plays much more than a cameo role. This superb mixture of fact and fiction conveys a realism often lacking in historical novels.

Griffin is not averse to showing a bit of humor in the midst of dead serious depiction of historical events. Any veteran who has come face to face with the intransigent military mind will nod knowingly when Captain Weston,following Guadalcanal air battles and escape from Japanese capture, finds he is returned to Philadelphia as an officer in need of psychiatric care instead of being assigned as an instructor to a flying cadet training center. Nor does tha same veteran have to be a submariner to appreciate the humor in scenes involving an enlisted man, who can't fly because of airsickness, finds his claustrophobic self on a sub trying to sleep in an upper bunk looking at the ceiling four inches from his nose. In a lighter moment, Griffin has one of his generals say, "The true test of another man's intelligence is how much he agrees with you." At another point Griffin paraphrases Othello, saying the officer loved not too badly, but unwisely. Yes, Griffin's Marines do have a lovelife, in one case, a double lovelife.

Despite Griffin's irreverence toward military protocol, one senses his respect for the military in general and for the Marine Corps in particular. When WEst Point graduates ignore or bypass regulations to get things done--"misplacing" records, for instance--Griffin makes us believe in their righteousness, makes us accept the concept of civil (military) disobedience.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: More adventure in a McDonald's car park
Review: I bought this book because I expected action-adventure. After 250 pages I threw it in the trash. There is more adventure in a McDonald's car park. The writing is wooden. This is one of those aggravating authors that appears to be terrified of writing sex scenes. An example of one of Griffin's sex scenes: Captain McCoy was more than a little surprised to find that his bed already had an occupant. "Jesus, Ernie," he said. "They'll know." "No," she said. "They are determined not to know. Come to bed, baby." - and with that, Griffin cuts to the next chapter.

There is NO discernible action in this book, up to page 250 or so. By then, I had lost patience, even with scan-reading down page centers at 10 pages/minute. Page after page after page of waffle. The characters are 2-dimensional cardboard cutouts that walk through a plot that appears to have been written using MS Excel rather than a word processor. Or, perhaps Griffin has programmed a computer to write his books for him.

Overall: I'd rather read a stack of Reader's Digests in a dentist's waiting room while waiting for a root canal.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Getting worse
Review: When I started reading "The Corps" series I was a young 21 year old Marine myself. The characters were down to earth and I could relate to McCoy. It was good to see a young enlisted man get a shake and get promoted to be an officer. Now it seems that every kid out of boot camp that bumps in to Flem's circle gets gold bars pinned on his collar. This waters down the series and shows to me that Griffin does not want to deal with young enlisted men as characters. I expected to see Lt. McCoy leading a platoon of Marines on Tarawa or some other island. I know that that will not happen. When these characters embark on a mission, it seems that Griffin can't wait to get them back home into a First Class Hotel sipping "Famous Grouse" with their high class lady friends. What about the thousands of other Marines who were slugging it out with the Japanese and didn't see their homes for years? Characters like young Pick and Weston should be flying against Zeros and not fooling around with ladies in the states. What a novel idea to have Marine WW2 pilots in the Pacific! How long can Griffin drag out the "Killer" plot. We know how he got the nickname, we know he doesn't like it. We also know that many times he will be called this by others and get stared down "coldly". When I was a Marine we called each other that from time to time. It was no big deal. His reaction is beginning to bore me. I can only dream of him doing that to someone and getting decked. I can't even begin to start on the female characters. They are all the same. Ernie has turned from a decent rich girl to a snobbish, selfish daughter, flaunting her promiscuities in front of all to see, including her parents. The Corps has turned from a great series of the Marine Corps coming of age in its most difficult time to a handful of guys playing James Bond, and by the way, they are in the Marines. If it is true that Book VIII is the last book, I'm not sure if that is a blessing. I will not have to look forward to W.E.B letting me down any longer. The characters have already become so involved in "Magic" that they can't fight in any of the historic Pacific Battles anyways

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Out With a Whimper
Review: I was greatly disturbed to find out that the Corps series is finished. The main characters at the beginning were exciting and very intersting to watch mature over time. McCoy was the main guy, a true everyman who became a leader in spite of himself. As the series developed, I, as a former Marine, wondered, with all the dalliances going on, how we ever got anything done-much less won the war. This theme runs through all Griffin's series that I have read. It would be better if there was more battlefield and less bedroom action. This last novel has left us all hanging with no end in sight. Come on, wrap this thing up. Let us know what happened to the real heroes, Stecker, Pick, McCoy and the other junior officers and enlisted. Not one more word about Malcolm Pickering, let him fall face down in his "Famous Grouse." I'm truly intersted in the Banning dilemma and how Pick and Weston resolve their differences. Let's bring the boys home, W.E.B. finish the series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but disappointed
Review: I bought In Danger's Path as soon as it came out. After waiting 3 years, I was impatient to find out what happened to my favorite characters. I agree with others that there are many errors here in regard to past books. But I still like the story. I am very sorry to hear that this is the end of the series. However, if he can write one more in a series that ended more than 10 years ago, maybe he can pick up this one again. Drop the Philadelphia police series. I do like the Honor series.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: dissapointing end
Review: I have read the entire Corps series, back to back. FIrst off, this was a dissapointing read as it wasn't the Corps, but the OSS. Second, I am tired of Brig Gen Pickering being the central character. I was much more interested in what the enlisted and lower officers were up to, rather than Pickering's big boy problems.

I wondered what happened to Jack Stecker's son - he was a great character. Would have liked to see more of Pick, although was dissapointed that he turned out to be more of a playboy than a Marine...but I loved the interaction between Pick and McCoy and Stecker's son.

But what I really object to is that although I understand this is the final book of the series; it didn't wrap up all the loose ends. Sorry but I want to know what happened with Carolyn once she found out Mrs. Banning had been rescued. Who got Martha? How did Weston solve his woman problem? Did McCoy marry Ernie? Did McCoy get out of the Gobi Desert? Did Donovan incur the enduring wrath of the President??

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Continuity, Honesty, Real Life
Review: All of WEB's books are on my shelves and read over several times to capture his way with plots. His characters, though at times believable, were overly blessed with flaws, which made them less than real as the novels went on. --Worst of all WEB deprived his audience of believable endings to any of his series. The one which hUrt the most was the last in Marine series "In Danger's Path" What happened to woman of honor - i.e., Martha and Ernie. There were decent girls back then. Being retired military it WAS a pleasure to relive some moments. BUT WHAT A LETDOWN!!!!!!"LEW"


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