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It is the fall of 1950. The Marines have made a pivotal breakthrough at Inchon, but a roller coaster awaits them.While Douglas MacArthur chomps at the bit, intent on surging across the 38th parallel, Brigadier General Fleming Pickering works desperately to mediate the escalating battle between MacArthur and President Harry Truman. And somewhere out there, his own daredevil pilot son, Pick, is lost behind enemy lines—and may be lost forever.
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A satisfying and fitting ending to the Corps series, if somewhat rushed and clunky near the end. I really enjoyed the sections that dealt with the rescue of Pick Pickering and his recuperation in San Diego, as well as Killer McCoy's exposure of Douglas MacArthur's faulty Korean intelligence where China's involvement was concerned. This one flowed much like the previous nine Corps novels, tracking multiple well-developed characters across history, but I get the sense Griffin tried to kind of wrap everything up quickly. This usually leads to a lot of unanswered questions about what happened to certain characters. Maybe this was his intention...to be described in future novels or series? Overall I still immensely enjoyed this series.
A slow and awkward book that fictionalizes the beginning of the Korean war, weaving a number of characters, including McCoy a CIA operative, through the first American response to the North Korean Army's attack on South Korea through the point when, despite McArthur's intelligence (and the ignored intelligence of the CIA) that there were no Chinese or Russian plans to enter the conflict, the Chinese attacked from their border and began to drive the US back to the parallel. This book is set around and interesting historical context but is obviously written by a person involved too closely with the day-to-day operations of the military, there were so many characters and unnecessary details that the book was very bogged down. The show more perspective and voice changed continually and was not satisfying. show less
Every month, I found myself wanting to read the book in this series first. The characters are familiar and the plot is fun, if repeatable. Set in the Korean conflict, it's got all the elements of a fast paced, enjoyable novel. It is very long; almost 18 hours. I particularly enjoyed Griffin's interpretation of Truman's impressions of MacArthur. This is the end of the series and there are so many unfinished threads. It feels like there ought to be another novel.
Muscular military historical fiction, always enjoy these enormously.
Library book great book
After Mari Read 08-02-2016
Read 01-04-2015
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Author Information
197+ Works 34,364 Members
W. E. B. Griffin is one of eight pseudonyms used by William E. Butterworth III, who was born in Newark, New Jersey on November 10, 1929. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1946 and was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany. He left the service in 1947 but was recalled to active duty in 1951 because of the Korean War. After show more leaving the service for the second time, he remained in Korea as a combat correspondent. He was later appointed chief of the publications division of the Signal Aviation Test and Support Activity at the Army Aviation Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama. He received the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association in 1991 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award in 1999. He wrote more than 200 books including the Brotherhood of War series, The Corps series, Badge of Honor series, Honor Bound series, Presidential Agent series, Men at War series, and A Clandestine Operations Novel series. Under his own name, he wrote 12 sequels in the 1970s to Richard Hooker's book M*A*S*H. His other pen names included Alex Baldwin, Webb Beech, and Walter E. Blake. He wrote over 20 books with his son William E. Butterworth IV. He received the Alabama Author's Award in 1982 from the Alabama Library Association. He died on February 12, 2019 at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Retreat, Hell!
- Original publication date
- 2004-01
- People/Characters
- Malcolm S. Pickering; Kenneth R. '[The] Killer' McCoy; Ernie Zimmerman; Fleming Pickering
- Important events
- Korean War (1950 | 1953)
- Dedication
- The CORPS is respectfully dedicated to the memory of
Colonel Drew Barrett, Jr., USMC
19 April 1919-1 May 2003
Second Lieutenant Drew James Barrett III, USMC
3 April 1945-27 February 1969
Died of wounds, Qua... (show all)ng Nam Province
Republic of Vietnam
Major Alfred Lee Butler III, USMC
4 September 1950-8 February 1984
Died as a result of terrorist action, Beirut, Lebanon
Donald L. Schomp
A Marine Fighter Pilot
who became a legendary U.S. Army Master Aviator
RIP 9 April 1989
"Semper Fi!" - First words
- Until August 1945, when General Order Number One, the protocol for the surrender-and occupation-of Japan was being somewhat hastily drafted in Washington, the 38th Parallel, which runs across the Korean Peninsula, had been ju... (show all)st one line on a map of the globe.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She handed it back to him.
"Friends of yours?" Babs asked.
"Yeah. You'll like them," Pick said.
"If you're happy," Babs said, "I'm happy."
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3557 .R489137 .R48 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 764
- Popularity
- 36,491
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.84)
- Languages
- 5 — English, French, German, Hungarian, Polish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 30
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 6
