Hazardous Duty

Presidential Agent Series, Book 8

By: W.E.B. Griffin, William E. Butterworth IV

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

The Presidential Agent adventures return, in the most surprising novel yet in the #1 Wall Street Journal – and New York Times–bestselling series.

Mexican drug cartels are shooting up the streets of Laredo and El Paso. Somali pirates are holding three U.S. tankers for ransom. The President of the United States is fed up and, as Commander in Chief, has what he thinks is a pretty bright idea — to get hold of Colonel Charley Castillo and his merry band and get them on the case.

Unfortunately, that will be difficult. Everybody knows that the President hates Castillo’s guts, and has just had him forcibly retired from the military, and now Castillo’s men are scattered far and wide, many of them in hiding. There are also whispers that the President himself is unstable — the word “nutcake” has been mentioned.

How will it all play out? No one knows for sure, but for Castillo and company, only one thing is definite: This is going to be hazardous duty.

©2013 W.E.B. Griffin (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Recorded by arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

Critic reviews

"Tough-fisted . . . hard-edged . . . Griffin’s formula is straightforward: Set up a bunch of obstacles, and let us watch Charley Castillo knock them down one at a time. His novels promise action, suspense, and rousing entertainment, and they never fail to deliver." ( Booklist)

This is the worst book in this Series!!!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If the original writer had written it!! Continuity is completely trashed, and 3/4 of it is just a recap of the previous books in the series, and really more of a new writer trying to make it to his liking! It's complete crap! And I barely got 1/2 way through it!

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Enraged disappointment!

Any additional comments?

I am a huge fan of Charlie Castillo and his group of men and women that do their best to make the world a better place but the last 3 books in this series to include this one are total crap and a waste of time and money, you cannot change a well established story line, kill living characters and bring back dead ones, nor can you change others places in the story and how they came to be and definitely not this drastically with out loosing fans!

Will Be Taking Audible Up On Return Policy!

Would you try another book from W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth and/or Dick Hill?

Without a doubt. I have listened to the other 7 books in the Presidential Series and loved each one. Would highly recommend any of these. Just do not waste your credit and time on this book.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Dick Hill?

Yes.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger, sadness, disappointment times 2.

Any additional comments?

Do not waste your time on this read.

Dissapointing

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

some one new to the series

Has Hazardous Duty turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

What three words best describe Dick Hill’s voice?

Very good

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Hazardous Duty?

95% of the book

Any additional comments?

This last book is 95 % recap of the previous books with about 30 minutes of new material.
It seems that the book was written only to full fill a specific contract for the number of words.

The Worst Has Come

Would you try another book from W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth and/or Dick Hill?

I would have to read the reviews first. I simply could not finish this book. I have read at least twenty of the author's books and have loved the rich dialog and stories that are interesting and realistic...However, this book had none of the above. It seemed to me like an effort to put out a book to achieve a deadline rather than a piece of art. Mass production of stories at its worst. The reader was very poor with accents and dramatic interpretation. I have requested a refund...With over 100 purchased Audible Books, this is only the second time I have requested a refund...need I say more?

What could W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

They could have cut the "rehash" of previous stories by 90% and spent some time developing a new story for Charlie and his band of Merry Men or simply started over or scrubbed the project..It was That Poor!/

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dick Hill?

Poor Mr Hill did not have much of a story to tell, but it sounded like his dentures were loose. His poorest performance ever, in my opinion...Sophomoric reading style, but content was just as sophomoric....sorry Mr. Hill.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Hazardous Duty?

I would have cut the Rehash of previous books....Oops I am guilty of rehash myself. Sorry

Any additional comments?

Very unsatisfied with the book. Mr Butterworth simply Mailed-it-in..

A very mediocre storyline better left untold

What disappointed you about Hazardous Duty?

The storyline was as unbelivable as they come. The author would start down a path and never round it out. Example. the cuban commandos on the ship. Also the Russina Agent falling for a Porn star and leaving everything behind. Just stupid, stupid, stupid. This had to be something they just threw together to sale a book. Very disappointed!

What could W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Finsih telling the story and stop with all the back fill on each character that would be known by the readers of the series. Seems like they were just making the book longer or in short adding filler.

Have you listened to any of Dick Hill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Dick Hill is an excellent reader..only great things to say about him.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Hazardous Duty?

the story would have not been permitted to be published if i were editor. This book is like a heavy weight fight in the 7th round where each fighter takes a break and throws little to know punches..BORING

Any additional comments?

If the next book is like this.. i will stop reading this series. I am a big fan of W.E.B Griffin however this is the first book that i felt did not live up to his legacy.

By far the worst book of the series!!!!!!!!!

What would have made Hazardous Duty better?

A little bit of action would help. Much, much less rehash of previous books would also help a lot. Much less LTC Naylor and more GEN Naylor. Less snide comments by POTUS; we get what a jerk he is early on!!!! The book was boring - I could hardly wait until it was finished and I could submit a review. I would have given negative stars if I could have.

What could W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

It seems that Butterworth wrote the book with barely any guidance from his dad. I wish that authors who put their names on books would actually write them: James Patterson is an example (if not the best example) of an "author" "writing" 5-10 books a year with the help of a "co-author": Put more Pezner in and stop using terms like "my precious" over and over again.

What didn’t you like about Dick Hill’s performance?

I think he did the best he could, given the material he had to work with. The russian accents weren't as distinctive as in previous books.

What character would you cut from Hazardous Duty?

Butterworth!!! Maybe POTUS, although without him there would be no plot.

Any additional comments?

I waited a year for this book and this is what I got. As a previous Intelligence Officer in the army, as well as a lifelong Texan from San Antonio with a German grandfather, I identified with Carlos/Charlie a lot. My final reaction: That was the book????? Really????? The epilog gave us a hint as to what son and dad may have been trying to do; it sounded like a book written by National Lampoon. Under no circumstances should you buy/listen to this book! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I will attempt to get my book credit back from Audible.

A greedy ripoff

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Not a thing I can think of

What was most disappointing about W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth ’s story?

There was little new material at all in the volume

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dick Hill?

N/A

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Dick hill apparently read the volume as it was written

Any additional comments?

Audible should have warned it's listeneners that the volume was not a real volume in the series

Very Disappointed

I feel the author decided to waste our time and money with this book in the series. He mocks the president, uses at least half the book to tell us what happened in the previous books in the series,
then proceeds to write some sort of comedy in very bad taste.

Re-runs

What disappointed you about Hazardous Duty?

Have you ever watched an episode of NCIS where half the episode is a recap of events that occurred previously in prior seasons, and the story winds up being nothing more than an alternate ending to prior episodes. Makes you feel like you were conned into watching a show, right? Well, this is the trick that the WEB boys play here. We're treated to all the exploits of Charlie and the band from prior episodes, but we get nothing in terms of new story line. I was not amused.

What could W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

A new book requires a new plot, a new central problem, and a resolution. Although teased with a new problem (Somali pirates, Mexican drug lords, etc.) we never actually see Charlie and the gang engage these problems. Most of the book is one spook pounding the other spooks on the back, while a crazy president and his looney-tunes mother-in-law parade around as comic relief. I kept thinking, surely this is going to get good. It never did.

What does Dick Hill bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Dick must have been as put off as everyone who read the book, because even his accents, which are normally pretty good, faltered. His Alabama accent really was off (I live in Alabama, I know accents). But, give the guy a break. He could not make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The resolution, such as it was, was clever, I will give you that. But generally speaking, the book left a whole lot to be desired.

Any additional comments?

Rather than read this book, just go back and read all the others. Then skip to the last two chapters of this book, and you'll be in just about the right place.

worst of the series

this book just seem to not have the same flavor the same Flair that the rest of the books in the series hacked as far as being the ending of the presidential series it was terrible. as I liked all of the other books leading up to this one I was literally looking forward to a summary that ended the series on a high note and I was terribly disappointed. the note at the End by the author saying that he wrote it kind of like a mash episode kind of gave some light on why it was written that way but as far as the series when I just didn't agree.