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Curtain of Death  By  cover art

Curtain of Death

By: W. E. B. Griffin,William E. Butterworth IV
Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
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Publisher's summary

From #1 New York Times bestselling author W. E. B. Griffin comes the dramatic third novel in the Clandestine Operations series about the Cold War, the fledgling Central Intelligence Agency - and a new breed of warrior.

January 1946: Two WACs leave an officers' club in Munich, and four Soviet NKGB agents kidnap them at knifepoint in the parking lot and shove them in the back of an ambulance. That is the agents' first mistake, and their last. One of the WACs, a blond woman improbably named Claudette Colbert, works for the new Directorate of Central Intelligence, and three of the men end up dead and the fourth wounded.

The "incident," however, will send shock waves rippling up and down the line and have major repercussions not only for her, but for her boss, James Cronley, Chief DCI-Europe, and for everybody involved in their still-evolving enterprise. For, though the Germans may have been defeated, Cronley and his company are on the front lines of an entirely different kind of war now. The enemy has changed, the rules have changed - and the stakes have never been higher.

©2016 W. E. B. Griffin. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about Curtain of Death

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Low Order Dub

What disappointed you about Curtain of Death?

Very sophomoric in plot and nature of characters in the story are a joke

Has Curtain of Death turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not necessarily as there are many good authors out there with more believable story lines.

Would you be willing to try another one of Alexander Cendese’s performances?

Very hesitant to do so

What character would you cut from Curtain of Death?

Most

Any additional comments?

W.E.B Griffin has fallen greatly from his early days. If he is not writing or consulting on these "stories" his name should come off the title page.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Talk, talk,talk

If you enjoy 66 chapters of six Army people arguing about how to handle a situation... this book is for you!!!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • 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 book is always!

Good book which reflects the continued high caliber of web Griffin. highly recommend if you are a fan of the author!

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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 Novel

Love this continuation of Mr. Griffin’s series. Audible is a nice way to relive the book.

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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

Stick with It! It’s worth it.

I’ve read every book WEB Griffin has written. I don’t know how much of a hand he has in this series. There are parts which are not as strong and engaging as some of his other works. The Reader took me a little bit to get used to. However, across the board I still enjoyed the story and as usual found myself laughing much and wanting the bad guys to get their due. Admittedly, I started to hang it up in the first few chapters; I’m glad I stuck with it. Now, on to the next book in the series …

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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 story telling

WEB Griffin's stories are always awesome and the performance made it even better. The story came to life, it was great!

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

Enter Text Here

This was an engaging story as the West transitioned into the Cold War with Russia. This period is right in the time frame and place when Griffin served in the Army. It has intrigue and it's related to the period. By now (book 3), we know the characters and what they will do; tracking them is less of a problem. I enjoyed the book, but did not eat it up.

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

Ties to previous characters and the OSS.

First off, this is the first time I listened to a book that Alexander Cendese narrated and I look forward to more of his work. He does a remarkable job of accents and distinguishing the different characters. Regarding the characters, there were way too many and it was hard to keep track who was who and some had little input on developing the story. Just downloaded Death at Nuremberg and can't wait for a driving trip to listen to it.

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book

fantastic story and book. need more like it. going to go now. see ya later

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