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)

Pfffftttt

Author(a) admit an attempt to humorously show US politics and current ops. It's subtle, and there for all to see...from the dumb-ass president to the bureaucratic stonewalling. Last book in the series, it ends like.escaping gas from a balloon....pssssst.

Not a good ending to a great series

2nd half of this book goes way down hill. The Redacted joke goes on far to long and the President part makes him a bumbling idiot. I understand Griffin was trying to lighten up the story but failed for me

Love Charlie Castillo, Disappointed in this Book

I love the characters of the Presidential Agent Series. I think the dialogue is well done, and extremely funny. This story however was not. It was slow, non-interactive, and non-compelling. I was so excited to see that it was coming out, and so disappointed in it when it was over.

funny

I was halfway through before I saw the humor. l loved it. well done.

Just silly!

New part: Charlie wants to get married, Swettie has a look alike, mayhem ensues.
Old news: the President is nuts and his mother in law is a lush.

Real Believable Action!

Where does Hazardous Duty rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I am a major fan of Griffin's books.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, believable action.

If you could take any character from Hazardous Duty out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Charlie Castillo. He's John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery rolled into one.

Listen to it NOW!

Would you recommend Hazardous Duty to your friends? Why or why not?

The story of the president is in fact what we have now!

Which character – as performed by Dick Hill – was your favorite?

Joshua Ezekiel Clendennen, he is SOO like what we have now.

Was Hazardous Duty worth the listening time?

Two years ago I would not cared for this book. I have read (or listened to) many of Griffin's books including all of this series and yes the story line is weak, But this book is so prophetic that I was amazed and laughed thru the whole thing.

Any additional comments?

If only someone in the white house would speak to POTUS as Clendennen's mother in law did maybe we might have a chance!

Good story ruined by silly concept

This was a good story that was ruined by the author’s idea to make it like a MASH novel. It trivialized what could have been a good story and (presumably) ending for the series. I keep hoping that there will be another book in the series, just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

This is my fourth or maybe even fifth time listening to the series. I keep thinking that I won’t listen to this one, but I need the elements of the story to feel it is complete. Fortunately I fell asleep and missed the last hour or so where the biggest part of the silliness is.

I’m sure that Griffin did a superior job on the MASH novels he wrote, but that concept doesn’t work with Castillo and the Outlaws (in my opinion). The first time I heard this book, my incredulousness kept growing as the silliness increased. I thought to myself, W.E.B. has lost it! I had read/listened to well over 50 of his books and this was the first time that I could barely make it through one of them. I finally got to the afterward where he acknowledged his difficulty with the story and his decision to use a MASH approach. I understood, but didn’t agree.

Dick Hill is one of my favorite narrators, and he did a masterful job. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to redeem the trivial feel.

If you have read all of the books in the series, by all means listen to or read this one to tie up the loose ends. Hopefully you will enjoy the concept more than I did.

well worth it

loved it and was disappointed it had to end. looking forward to others of this quality

not as good as the others

You can tell it was a different writer the story was changed not as good It was still OK decent but not the same