Top Secret

Clandestine Operations, Book 1

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

Narrated by: Alexander Cendese

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a brand-new series about the Cold War - and a different breed of warrior.

In the first weeks after World War II, a squeaky-clean new second lieutenant named James D. Cronley Jr. is spotted and recruited for a new enterprise that will eventually be transformed into something called the CIA. One war may have ended, but another one has already begun, against an enemy that is bigger, smarter, and more vicious: The Soviet Union.

The Soviets have hit the ground running, and Cronley's job is to help frustrate them, harass them, and spy on them any way he can. His recruiter thinks he has the potential to become an asset - though, of course, he could also screw up spectacularly. And in his first assignment, it looks like that's exactly what might happen. He's got seven days to extract a vital piece of information from a Soviet agent, but Cronley's managed to rile up his superior officers (he seems to have a talent for it), and if he fails, it could be one of the shortest intelligence careers in history.

There are enemies everywhere - and, as Cronley is about to find out, some of them even wear the same uniform he does.

©2014 W. E.B. Griffin (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Recorded by arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

Outstanding

Alexander Cendese is an excellent narrator and makes a great story even better. He uses different voices for each character that are so different you would think there are multiple narrators.

similar to other series

There were a lots of similarities to the Presidential series, but the storyline was good overall.

this is a difficult review

As a fan of W.E.B. Griffin I was looking forward to another great book. I was disheartened to find that it was mediocre at best. Without giving away anything I will only say I muddled through looking for the twist the sudden realization that OH I was wondering down the wrong way ...... I was so errantly hoping that I ran straight off the lame excuse for an ending like a blind man hoping to run cross country from NY to Portland only to find the "guide" started him in Big Sur and still pointed him west

The kid isn't the story teller his dad is

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

I will be more skeptical. I have every other griffin book out. Maybe it's the end of an era.

Has Top Secret turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

Was Top Secret worth the listening time?

No

Worst Narration

I've been reading W.E.B. Griffin's various series of books for a very long time. Frankly, I enjoy them. However, since there is a lot of repetitive information within each book, the repetitions are easier to tolerate as an Audible book as opposed to actually reading the book.

The theme and story of each series of books is very similar. Typically, there is at least one young central character in each story who is brash, yet brave and heroic. Most of the time, that character is very wealthy and well connected. In other words, not typical of a real life character, but that's okay.

The law enforcement stories are centered around various divisions of the Philadelphia Police Department.

The military stories are typically US Army related, though there is also an excellent series revolving around the US Marine Corps. With the exception of the USMC stories, we find a majority of the US Army related stories included storylines that included Germany, Argentina and Texas. All seem to touch upon some aspect of intelligence and somehow the young wealthy characters are heroic and become highly connected within both military and political structures.

In one series, the author chose to turn the final book in the series into a unrealistic comedy. It was highly disappointing and I felt it it was insulting to the author's loyal base.

In this particular series, the "Clandestine Operations Series", the books in the series are in inconsistent. Perhaps the author is getting forgetful? Or in writing with his son, the collaboration has created inconsistencies? I don't know. For instance. Major Wallace goes from being a supporter & defender of Captain Cromley to Pentagon chair warming, two-faced hater of Captain Cromley. It doesn't come across as Major Wallace transitioning to that role, but simply assumes a different role as Colonel Mattingly is moved out of the series.

The glaring inconsistencies in this particular series is disappointing enough, though they will not stop me from reading or listening to future books from Mr. Griffin and/or his son.

In this particular series, i.e. the "Clandestine Operations Series", the most disappointing is the particular artist chosen to read this series, Mr. Alexander Cendese. I don't recall hearing Mr. Cendese reading other books I've listened to. Perhaps he is very good at reading non-fiction. In this particular series, his readings are very distracting from the story, because his accents for each character can only be described as horrible. For instance, in the first 3 books in this series, Major Wallace comes across as a strong military leader, friendly and even with a sense of humor. In the 4th book in the series, the narrator has him sounding like a nasty old man.

Furthermore, almost everyone has a weird German sounding accent, including Americans of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage who are born and raised in the USA. For the Russians, my wife walked by as I was listening to the story and kept laughing as she said the characters sounded like Count Chocula.

Several of the women are portrayed as unrealistic, damn near bimbo, sluts. Frankly, it's distracting and embarrassing.

A must listen

Interesting twists and turns of the intelligence community. An insight into how Mata Hari might have operated.

not up to its' predecessors

This is a sequel to the honor bound series. Unfortunately, there are too many inconsistencies to those who read / listened to the previous series. The narration is ok, but not up to the original. All in all, an ok listen, but a bit disappointing

Good read

What did you love best about Top Secret?

I found the book to be in The Griffin way to be entertaining. It was worth the time and left me with enough interest to listen to book 2 in the series. Depending on that I will decide if it's worth going forward or has the author jumped the shark with thes characters.

not much action,narration bad

struggled to finish
narrative bad
not much action and it moved slow. This was the first time a WEB was hard to read

Typical great WEB Griffin action, bad acting

I wish Scott Brick could have narrated this one. The German characters' dialogue were so badly distorted, that I could not concentrate on the plot. The over-done German accent sounded like the most cliche mimicry by a bad comic. Not only the Germans but also the authority figures are over acted. Why not just read the story straight and let the plot do all of the talking?

Since this actor is voicing more of this series, I'll skip them, even though I have all the other military series. I'll satisfy myself by re-listening them.