• Line of Fire

  • The Corps, Book 5
  • By: W. E. B. Griffin
  • Narrated by: Dick Hill
  • Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,644 ratings)

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Line of Fire  By  cover art

Line of Fire

By: W. E. B. Griffin
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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Publisher's summary

While the bloody battle for control of the Solomons rages on, two Marines are trapped at a Coastwatcher station on tiny Buka Island. They are there to report on Japanese air activity, and their position is becoming increasingly perilous, even while their supplies are diminishing rapidly; if they are not rescued soon, they may never make it off the island. On the orders of newly-commissioned Marine Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, a team is assembled: Captain Charles Galloway, still recuperating from his crash into the sea; Second Lieutenant Malcolm Pickering, Fleming’s son and the owner of a dangerous daredevil streak; Lieutenant Ken “Killer” McCoy, China Marine and hardened veteran; Sergeant Thomas McCoy, his brother, a man of such temper and talent that he keeps getting busted back to PFC and then promoted back again; and Sergeant George Hart, the youngest detective ever on the St. Louis vice squad, tricked into military service and now determined to make his mark. These men, and their colleagues, are about to attempt the impossible: to take the beleaguered Marines off Buka, under the very noses of the Japanese. They will have only one chance - so they’d better get it right…

©1992 W.E.B. Griffin (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Line of Fire

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

In the Sweet spot of this Series.....

It was nice to return to familiar territory after slogging through that Bourne book earlier this week. By all definitions, Griffin’s books are my guilty pleasure. I’ve completed the entire Corps series more than a half-dozen times over the last 20 years and honestly, it’s like visiting old friends and favorite relatives, complete with all the quirks (he notoriously changes characters’ middle initials for no reason, even historical figures), inside jokes and catch phrases. Yes, yes I know you can write everything you know about that subject in a matchbook with a grease pencil. Now fully recharged, I can take on something more unfamiliar.....

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story - extremely well written and narrated.

Excellent story - classic Griffin, lots of action and wonderfully developed characters. Most notable, Dick Hill is back to do the narration.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book

love the series Griffin nails military humor and military life for both the soldiers and family

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome book and series!

Great book, well narrated. It can be a little difficult to stay in the story with a single (well talented) voice modulatimg to give female, Australian, US Southern and NY accents. I really appreciate the narrator's talent and skill. Can a female narrator come in for the womens' voices?
All that said, this is an enthralling story and series. I am a combat vet. These stories touch me is a deep and special way. God bless all involved in this book series from the author to the team in the sound stage for the narrator. Thank you.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

An endless recap

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

Someone who hasn't read any of the books preceding it. This book is almost just an endless rehash of things covered in the previous books - some even repeated several times within this book. If you removed the redundancies and rehashing this book would probably only be about 3-4 hours long.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Line of Fire?

All the repetition: repetition of story lines, having different characters tell the same thing over several times, repeating endlessly the specific military nomenclature for an item - such as the cavalry swords converted to machetes - 30 or 40 times.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Still determined to rehash everything

Just like the last book, the author is determined to restate portions of the story ad nauseam. I’m pretty confident 1/3 of the book is repeating the same story lines.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing real people turned into great characters

Griffin is a master of real history. I am the curious type so I looked up several things during the reading.

LtCmdr Eric Augustus Feldt was a real person and in charge of the Coastwatchers. US Marines really were involved with the Coastwatchers, including serving as Coastwatchers in some cases.

I am always surprised, yet not too much, at the number of high ranking Prima Donna’s in the military. Yet in my 12 years, including 2 tours in Viet Nam as a Marine, I was surrounded by them. Cowards, shirkers, and outright back stabbers. It does my old heart good to see some get their just rewards in The Corps.

I do have an issue with Dick Hill. His narration is ok most of the time, but his complete lack of any military jargon grates on me. A couple of examples (I know I’m a cranky old man, but I lived this life):
1. Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI. He pronounces the acronym as ‘oni’, a word! Yet all completely capitalized word are spelled out. So it should be, O - N - I. My proof; using Dick’s method how would you pronounce Hollywood, CA? Hollywood ‘cah? Use Bangor Maine as your next try and my favorite example is Des Moines, IA (ROFLMAO).

And my pet peeve: Fleming Pickering had wound stripes on his uniform cuff. These were awarded as a result of being injured in combat, otherwise known as being wounded. Not wound as you would notice a clock being wound.

All in all Dick does a fairly good job, I just hate obvious errors like the above.

It’s a great series although it seemed as though some want continual battles an no profanity. Sorry it doesn’t work that way. Obscenity is used express emotions too extreme for polite conversation or to immediately grab someone’s attention. It works! Talk to any boot camp graduate.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Line of Fire

Mr. Griffin us a wonderful storyteller. Any portions of his books revisiting or repeating his story is only making sure people who Jump in to this series understand the beginnings.


Mr Griffin was a great author!!
And a great American

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great series

This is a great series, I have been listening to a lot of Web Griffins series a as usual it’s amazing. Thank you for the great books.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

awesome as usual

the story is as good as they all are and takes me back to when I first read them. The characters are all people you can root for and feel with them.

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