Thots while reading:Hard to believe such a 'short' book can be taking so LONG to read! Having a hard time holding my attention. Who knows - in this case, it probably would have helped starting at book 1, but the person who loaned this to me assured me it was also a 'stand-alone' story.The President in this one is kind of a jerk. Be interesting to see if his character gets redeemed by the book's ending.There are continual spots where somebody's thoughts go on for several lines/paragraphs. I cannot decide it if is different enough that I am not used to it or the author is trying to be clever and display that cleverness in how the internal monologue is expressed. It comes across as pretty self-arrogant and not really that clever, in my opinion.----------------------------Holy cow, this book took a long time to read! And it's not even as long as other books I have read!The gist is this: the Russians end up having the remnants of a nasty plague of some sorts called Congo-X [from a previous novel] and use it to try and blackmail the United States into some concessions. The newly-sworn President hates the hero and his band of merry men from the previous novels and decides to turn the leader/hero/rebel/retiree over to the Russians. Hijinks ensue as the less-then-capable government leaders travel all over the world trying to find the hero whilst the hero is once again saving the United States of America and believing he is looking good doing it. The 'good guys' are laughing in the faces of the buffoonish 'bad guys' [incompetent government leaders/officials] as the 'bad guys' continually make foolish mistakes. In the end, some government officials turn sides, so to speak, and assist Castillo and his band of merry men in saving the country. Once these men turn sides, they move from being completely pathetic, inconsequential, moronic, stupid, incompetent imbeciles to incredible smart men capable of doing their jobs in the most efficient manner possible. Amazing how much of a difference changing sides can make! The book focuses mainly on Central and South America as well as portions of DC. There are sidebars [i.e. - descriptions] of back history for parts of Germany, Africa, and ..... somewhere else; I forget where. It is amazing how many family members this guy, Castillo [the leader of the merry men], has scattered around the globe. He and his Russian lover both, for that matter. The President is an arrogant jerk and any other term you'd like to fill in the ________ when describing him. He gets to eat crow mixed with humble pie in the end. The book starts off slow. So very slow. Incredibly slow. I have read math textbooks that were more interesting than this book's beginnings. Then, about halfway through the book, I reached the point where I wanted to see how it ended up. I should have saved myself the effort and just read the last chapter. That would have summed it up nicely for me and saved me about a week's worth of reading. A. Book. That. Was. Glacially. Slow.I will be honest, toward the end there were portions I actually enjoyed. But they were few and far inbetween. I became so sick and tired of the internal monologues. They were not cute; they were not clever. They were stupid and annoying. Maybe if they had been shorter, like a line or two instead of several paragraphs [even if they were 'short' paragraphs]. It was old after the second or third time it happened. It was ridiculous.The dialogue throughout the book was irritating. It felt as if the author was saying 'look how clever I am!' in reference to whatever was being written. The bad guys were COMPLETELY incompetent. I do not even know why there were any villains in this novel - they served no useful purpose whatsoever [save to show how 'clever' the 'good guys' were, I guess]. After the second chapter I was tired of it. Unfortunately for me, unless the book is hideously horrible I will slog through most of what I read in hopes that it eventually redeems itself. This one did redeem itself [somewhat] in places by the time I finished it, but that was not until the end.How would I describe the writing? Hmmmmm. Self-congratulatory? Self-absorbed? Arrogant? Egotistical? Full of oneself? Conceited? How many more words can I come up with? Maybe I will find a thesaurus. I cannot adequately describe it, but I really despised much of the writing in this book. Not quite as bad as 'a confederacy of dunces' but pretty close. Perhaps if I had read the other novels before this one I would have a deeper appreciation for what was written, but after this one I have absolutely no desire to read any more novels written by this pair ever again.So what did I like? Hmmmmmm. I loved reading about the top-secret Russian plane. That was pretty cool. The description of this vehicle was so well done it even made me look it up to see if the plane actually existed [jury's still out on that one; just because I couldn't find anything doesn't meant it DOESN'T exist - I may not be looking in the right places]. I did find a pic of a Russian plane that matched how my mind's eye pictured it, but the pic was of a different plane.I thought the method by which the Army scientists determined Congo-X could be destroyed was rather interesting. That part of the story was rather clever, because most of the time the means by which a disease [plague/virus/whatever] is eradicated goes in a different direction.I think it is funny how the picture on the cover of the book has absolutely nothing to do with the content of the storyline itself. This is most definitely a case of not judging a book by its cover. In closing, yes, I gave it two stars, despite my harsh opinion of the book. I did not completely hate or despise the book; I did not completely dislike the book. Read the book at your own risk. There should be no doubt that W.E.B. Griffin creates an interesting storyline, a deep background for his characters (especially Carlos Castillo, the hero of this series) and a whole bunch of political manuevering. While making for interesting reading, at times the author leaves the reader's head spinning and asking simply "huh?" This time around, the basic plot was one that I had a hard time buying. The Russians want their defectors back, but the ploy they use to get what they want is ridiculous and absurd. I'd tell you why I think so, but don't really want to offer any real spoilers here.As the novel opens, everyone is looking for Castillo, who was ordered at the end of book # 5 to disband his organization and drop off the face of the earth. Somehow, Castillo catches wind of the Russian activity and figures out the when and where and then takes action, seeking to embarrass in the intelligence community. One thing Griffin does well is to bring new readers up to date on what went on the previous five novels. However, just because he does it in an interesting manner doesn't justify the estimated fifty or so pages he spends telling the action of books # 1-5.The thing that this novel is lacking is action. When Griffin finally gets to the actual action, he wraps it up in a few pages, leaving the reader disappointed that it was so brief. I'll defend him a bit by saying that probably is a lot like real life operations.. a lot of time planning, setting up the logistics, dealing with political fallout, enlisting assistance, etc. followed by a quick 1-2-3 operation, if all goes well. But it doesn't necessarily make for the best reading. I was glad to see that Griffin only felt the need to employ the dog (Max) marking his territory on the nose gear to the same great extent that we saw in previous novels. He threw it in, but I can only recall it happening twice instead of the dozens of times. Griffin also manages to overdo the description of various alcohol products, some rare and a special treat to those imbibing, and others simply beloved by one character or another. It is amazing to me that there are no characters who have chosen to abstain.. This wouldn't be so bad except Griffin feels he needs to go into details about how some of this alcohol is made, aged, or served. At one point he spends nearly a full page describing the serving of a particularly expensive Whiskey and how it is served formally by a waiter on a special tray, etc. Amazingly, Castillo has a super-charisma about him. Even those who hate him are won over to his way of thinking by the end of the novel. At times it is patently absurd.Still, this series makes for good reading, even if it is rather pulpy. At times, Griffin's writing manages to reveal some of the inner workings of the intelligence community while at others he is obviously making stuff up. Castillo and his team are a modern day version of Doc Savage and his friends, each with their own backstory and specialty, with none of them really ever outshining Castillo. Castillo is not superhuman unless you count his charismatic charm, but he makes a good leader.The romance between Castillo and "Sweaty" is the place where Griffin crosses the line between reality and fiction. I hope in some future installment we learn that it isn't love between them, but that she, a Russian defector, is only using her charms to stay close to him and glean information, etc. The romance is just too convenient and makes no sense to me. I've never been to spy school, but I bet one of the first things that they teach is something about agents not being James Bond and being smart enough not to be baited by sexual attraction into what is often called a "honey trap"If I find these things so ridiculous why do I keep reading this series. Despite its flaws it is page-turning, interesting material. I find it fairly easy to suspend my disbelief while I am reading the stuff, but cannot sustain that suspension when I have placed the book down. I still want to know what happens to the characters, etc. even if the plot has more holes that a slice of Swiss Cheese and even if some of the relationships are about as cheesy as that same slice of Swiss Cheese.to sum up.. Griffin can write a flawed novel, stuff it with long passages of catch-up material, add a cheesy romance, take forever to get to the action, and still make the reader come back for more. I don't know his secret, but I hope when I finish my first novel it has some of that same magic, because I know my writing will contain some of the same flaws.
What do You think about The Outlaws (2010)?
Fabulous book, and an awesome series by one of my favorite authors. Can't wait for the next one.
—sandyj
