Book Review: The Hostage

I know that I'm a book behind; I still haven't written what I thought of Dr. No. The problem is I read it in hard cover and haven't had a chance to transcribe my notes to the blog. This is not a problem with The Hostage by WEB Griffen. Not only did I read The Hostage via Kindle, but there were no notes or marks that I need to transcribe. This absence of compelling or noteworthy quotes does not speak well of a positive or glowing review.

I've said before that I write these little reviews for my own purposes; primarily to remind myself which books I have read and what I thought of them. In this case I hope that I remember that I wrote that the book is a waste of time and energy and when I one day think, "You know, I should read The Hunters, the next book in WEB Griffen's The Presidential Agent Series," I will read this review and reconsider that thought. I have faith that this process will work because as I was reading The Hostage I remembered that I'd read the first book in the same series, By Order of the President, and I remembered that I didn't think it was worthwhile. Had I written that in the blog I feel certain I would have passed on The Hostage and been a better person because of it.

I first read a WEB Griffen book when I was in the military. The first book in The Brotherhood of War series is The Lieutenants. It's not bad. It's about four different soldiers and how they experience the military and politics in the US in the 1940's and 1950's. I liked it enough that I read the second book, The Captains. At some point I switched to The Corps Series and read Semper Fi and A Call to Arms. I remember that I liked all of these books. They were fun to read, thick, engaging and patriotic. I also remember thinking that all of the characters were a bit extraordinary, almost caricatures of real people. This worked for that era. For some reason I see people in the 1950's as caricatures. Sadly this style does not work well in the present day and The Hostage exposes this weakness.

So much of the time in The Hostage it seems as though Griffen is just moving the story along to get it over with. Setting and scene descriptions take a back seat to military characters who say supposedly strong and poignant things but who come off seeming silly and trite. Having been in the military I think a majority of these characters would be punched squarely in the nose by real soldiers if they were actual people. The dialogue is ridiculous and the plot was flimsy. I find it difficult to watch movies about the military cause I spend so much of the movie thinking "That wouldn't happen" or "That's not how it works." In this book, Griffen even has his character think that same sentiment. Reading this book provided that same frustration in literary form.

In conclusion, I am going to abandon The Presidential Agent series and revert back to The Brotherhood of War series in the future.