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)

Weakest Book in Presidential Agent Series

Before we had President Trump, I would have called the behavior of President Clendennon in this novel as completely unbelievable. So I was more open to that character's behavior. But the overall plot line -- the amazing Charlie Castillo being embraced by his bitter enemy Clendennon to save America both from Mexican drug cartels AND Somali pirates in only 90 days -- was tough to swallow in the beginning. The plot swings were just too far out there to be believable. Griffin finally jumped the shark.

Disappointing

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

Hazardous Duty was the worst book in this series. Horribly disappointed.

Was Hazardous Duty worth the listening time?

NO!

Any additional comments?

For those that waited and waited for the next book in the series, this was a huge disappointment.

web griffins presidential series

Do you think Hazardous Duty needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

this series was excellent until the last two books. after clandenen became president the books took a serious nose dive. would try one more in the series, but if like the last two I will be done with them.

Any additional comments?

first five books in the series were hard to put down.

Editing would help!

I realize the book was intended to be 'comic relief' but please spend more time in the editing process. There is no reason to retell, retell, retell the same story in every book in the series but if you do get the facts right.

Wish I could get my credit back...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The ending. It seemed he ran out of time and just stopped. Had the first books in the series ended like this I never would have made it past the first ones. I re-listened to the last 2 sections, because I hoped I had missed parts of the book. I had not. Very disappointing and abrupt ending!

What do you think your next listen will be?

Still debating if I should read the last book in the series.

What aspect of Dick Hill’s performance would you have changed?

Nothing. It was what he was reading...

Was Hazardous Duty worth the listening time?

NO, NEIN, Not at all!

Nice. Shot

I. Get the feeling that tho was written tongue in cheek. But also half in fun and wholly in earnest with the then admn in mind.

Awful way for series to END

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

Yes, they are usually a great team.

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

He says he wanted it like his mash series books, and even though I'm done with all his other books, I will not be reading the MASH series.

Was Hazardous Duty worth the listening time?

NO

Any additional comments?

I have read or listened to every book of every series and this is the only one I tell people to skip...

Repeating

Too much going over previous events . I enjoy a couple of the authors recapped events but this book has way too much

M*A*S*H Goes to the Whitehouse

Did Hazardous Duty inspire you to do anything?

Yes - return it and get my credit back

Any additional comments?

In the author's own words in the afterword, this is "M*A*S*H Goes to the Whitehouse" and not really a continuation of the genre of the rest of the books in the series. Save your credit. It doesn't work as drama or humor.

Not what I expected

I understand what you were trying to accomplish but you left so much unanswered. Disappointed. I really wanted an intense scene where Charlie and his merry band of outlaws narrowly escape the clutches of the SVR and then fall off the edge of the earth, never to be seen again. Instead we got a president who became even more moronic each scene. The character's narrative became more absurd as the story went on which caused me to begin to lose interest. I stuck it out though. Be prepared to be left wanting.