Covert Warriors/ W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV

Covert Warriors/ W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, c2011 (372 p.)

Covert Warriors is the seventh in Griffin’s Presidential Agent series and the second co-written with his son, Butterworth.  This series focuses on a group of “special operators” from the military, the CIA, and the FBI, along with two Russian defectors (also former espionage agents) and a few civilians under the leadership of Retired Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Castillo.  The story begins with a relatively isolated kidnapping which would present few challenges for Castillo’s group and then proceeds to get more complex as Castillo seems to have as many enemies in the U.S. government as he does in other quarters.  The situation even becomes more complex as questions arise about the mental stability of the President.  Unfortunately none of these threads seem to get Griffin’s full attention and much of the action present in Griffin’s earlier books is missing here.  In the end, there are almost as many questions as there are answers.  For the hardcore Griffin fan, this book is okay, if not spectacular.  For new readers, I would recommend any of the books in Griffin’s Brotherhood of War series over this book. Bill Fryman