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Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. In the Philippines, a ragtag American guerrilla army battles the Japanese, under a most unusual commander. In Budapest, an agent must keep two key prisoners from being interrogated by the Gestapo, his only choices being to rescue them - or kill them. In Washington, an Army Air Corps captain suddenly finds himself assigned deep under the sea, his mission an improbable one of submarines, supplies, arms, and gold. And in Cairo, an undistinguished pilot show more named Darmstadter wonders why in the world the OSS is interested in his services, only to find out in the most dramatic way possible - and to become a hero in the process. Fourth in the MEN AT WAR series. show lessTags
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Set laregly in the Phillippine Islands in 1943, this is one of the best military thrillers I've read. Griffin's grasp of WWII history seems to me, admittedly not a professional historian, particularly sharp--he seems to be able to stitch a story to every real event that happened anywhere in the world during his story's extent.
As is usual with Griffin's books, several storylines that don't seem related are made into a tight braid by the end of the book, and characters whose purpose was obscure are suddenly revealed to be central to the *actual* story that these perspectives unite to tell. What in tarnation could a loser in Cairo recruited by the CIA's precursor and a crack agent in Budapest, whose job is to prevent Nazi interrogators show more from torturing information out of prisoners he knows even if it means killing them himself, have to do with a -- well, unconventional, let's say -- guerrilla commander in the Phillippines?
Telling would be spoilering. Read it and find out. Griffin, a talented writer of some eighty summers (b. 1929), is still writing! Give his stuff a try. Even the military-fiction-phobic could find a thriller or two to enjoy. show less
As is usual with Griffin's books, several storylines that don't seem related are made into a tight braid by the end of the book, and characters whose purpose was obscure are suddenly revealed to be central to the *actual* story that these perspectives unite to tell. What in tarnation could a loser in Cairo recruited by the CIA's precursor and a crack agent in Budapest, whose job is to prevent Nazi interrogators show more from torturing information out of prisoners he knows even if it means killing them himself, have to do with a -- well, unconventional, let's say -- guerrilla commander in the Phillippines?
Telling would be spoilering. Read it and find out. Griffin, a talented writer of some eighty summers (b. 1929), is still writing! Give his stuff a try. Even the military-fiction-phobic could find a thriller or two to enjoy. show less
Griffin writes a strong tale, with characters you like and care about--lots of them. This book has two basic plot lines, each on a different part of the globe. Author brings both home in the end. While the reader must pay attention to which plot line, the stories are believable and fun. I keep wondering when Joe Kennedy is to be killed off???
This deserves three and a half stars. It was, plotwise, a vast improvement over the first couple books. As one would expect, there is espionage and things don't always go smoothly, which makes for a much more interesting read. Another pleasant break from schoolwork. Sooner or later I'll get around to tracking down book 5 and continue on.
I like these better than the "honor" series because there is at least some action in these. Sorta makes me was to drop Para and join SOE.
Great book
Read (2) 03-19-2015 keeper
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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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Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Fighting Agents
- Alternate titles
- Into Enemy Hands
- Original publication date
- 1987
- People/Characters
- Dick Canidy
- Important places
- Philippines
- Disambiguation notice
- also published as Into Enemy Hands
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Suspense & Thriller
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3557 .R489137 .F54 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 651
- Popularity
- 44,219
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- Czech, English, German, Polish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 21
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 8
