Black Ops

By: W.E.B. Griffin

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

W.E.B. Griffin always hits the target- right at the top of the best seller lists....

W.E.B. Griffin's explosive Presidential Agent novels have gained worldwide acclaim for "leaving satisfied thriller readers hankering for more." Now, in Griffin's number one New York Times best seller, the Russian bear is stirring after many years of hibernation - and it is hungry.

©2008 W.E.B. Griffin (P)2008 Penguin Audiobooks

Best of Presidential Agent Series

This is by far the best of the Presidential Agent series. Since Griffin's writing style is to repeat the important events of this series over and over again, new readers of the Presidential Agent series can skip earlier book of this series and start the adventures of Charlie Castillo with the Black Ops. The narrator is Dick Hill for the first 5 books who does a great job of bring the characters to life. The most recent book of this series is the Outlaws, which continues the story of Charlie Castillo and his new friends, two former Russian SVR spies. I recommend listening to that book after the Black Ops. The narrator of Outlaws is Jonathan Davis, who does a great job as well. Some reviewers have been critical of Jonathan Davis compared to Dick Hill, but I believe he does an equally great job with the characters as Dick Hill did in the earlier books of this series.
I don't know if it was the change in narrators or the addition of WEB IV as co-author, but there is big personality shift in the character of Ambassador Montvale the Director of National Intelligence, who is an arrogant *** in the Black Ops and a good guy in the Outlaws.
I have listened to all of the books in the Presidental Agent series several times and recommend the entire series as well as the Honor Bound series. Both of these series use Argentina as the site for much of the activities, since the author (WEB III) lives there for part of the year.

Typical Griffin

Another great book in the series. You don't want to put it down and are always looking for more.

Never a dull moment!

A well written novel that demands your attention. The author does a great job of bringing this adventure to a conclusion, but leaves the door open for future adventures.

I love this series

Dick Hill at his best, W.E.B.Griffin at his best.
I enjoyed this thoroughly. A must read.

Super Entertainment

With Dick Hill's narration the dictionary would be great entertainment. He is the best. And, a WEB Griffith novel to boot. What an outstanding combination. I found the story to be a bit less impressive than Griffith's Marine series books but it was very entertaining. I strongly recommend the President's Agent series to anyone who wants a memorable and entertaining journey in the high stakes game of politics and black ops.

Overwhelmingly good

I have read every book that Griffin has wrote, more than once. This book captures every essence of drama and intrigue. I found myself just sitting in my car listing and waiting to see what was coming next. If you like Griffin's novels you will love this, if you never have read Griffin's novels you will want to read everything he has wrote.
This is the first time that I have listen to Dick Hill's readings and his ability to give life to a character was great. I will look for other books that he has done.

Always enjoy Griffin

Reading it myself was good, having some one else read it was so much more entertaining.

Maybe the best yet in the series

Lots of great human interest in the character development in this one, combined with a great plot.
And an excellent narrator.

Growing unbelievable

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Now that I finished the entire series, I am thinking that this series should have have ended successfully at three or so.

Overall a pretty good book.

How could the performance have been better?

Someone else could narrate it. If you have ever listened to Lou Diamond Phillips, you can't stand listening to Dick Hill. He can't do voices very well IMO. They all sound like they either live in Savannah or a combination of there and somewhere in the NE US. Everyone sounds like the same sarcastic person. Yuck