The Spymasters

A Men at War Novel, Book 7

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

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Critics and fans everywhere love the Men at War series, books “rich with witty banter and nail-biting undercover work” (Entertainment Weekly).

It is summer 1943. Two of the Allies’ most important plans are at grave risk: Operation Overlord’s invasion of France and the Manhattan Project’s race to build the atomic bomb. A furious President Roosevelt turns to OSS spy chief Wild Bill Donovan — and Donovan turns to Dick Canidy and his teams behind enemy lines. They’ve certainly got their work cut out for them. In the weeks to come, they must fight the Axis in many ways, to try to find and sabotage Germany’s new “aerial torpedo” rockets, some of which are rumored to be fitted out with deadly nerve gas and aimed at London; to rescue a missing covert OSS team bearing vital secrets; and to exploit German intelligence agents and generals disgruntled enough with Hitler to maybe try to topple him.

And as if all that weren’t enough, they must battle the enemy within, as well: The Soviets are using moles to steal Manhattan Project secrets, and if the Soviets build their own atomic bomb... who knows where that might lead?

Filled to the brim with action, character, and the deep understanding of the military heart and mind that have made Griffin’s novels outstanding, The Spymasters is simply great listening.

©2012 W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

You can never go wrong with WEB

What did you like best about The Spymasters? What did you like least?

As always with WEB Griffin, he blends historical fact with a bit of romance and fiction. One always comes away learning something new.

What does Christopher Lane bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His narrative style is quite good and stacks up well against such mainstays of the Griffin genre as Scott Brick.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would love to see any of the Griffin series brought to the silver screen.

Nice performance!

The music at beginning and end fits well. thankful it's not throughout the whole story like a previous book

Limited field of reference

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

No because it does not put the effort into context with WW II.

Any additional comments?

No. It is not up to previous books by same author.

Always enjoyable

Anything Griffith writes I have enjoyed.
Some of these series I wish would go on forever, they make my daily, 1 hour commute to work and home again enjoyable and relaxing.
Better than music or God Awful radio these days

Dud

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It was certainly not a barn burner. W.E.B.'s stories are becoming to predictable and are ok to pass time with but certainly not up to the quality of when he was first being published.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Just a bland story

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Netural

Do you think The Spymasters needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, this dog won't hunt any longer

Any additional comments?

none

Great story & performance

what I have come to expect from Griffin is excellence. He shows it in this novel, and probably the best performance of the series.

Good story, but toomuch review of past books.

To many past explanations, I guess to bring up readersthat had not read the other books in the series, made for longer listening, okay I guess,

Poor excuse for historical fiction

Would you try another book from W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV and/or Christopher Lane?

I don't know who actually wrote this book, my guess is Mr. Griffin just lent his name to it to make a few bucks. Other Griffin books I have read were well done and well researched. This book was embarrassingly bad. It kept talking about speeches to the United Nations made in 1943. Ummmm the UN didn't come about until after the war. Lets go with 1945! It is silly screw ups like this that just ruin the enjoyability of the book.

Would you ever listen to anything by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV again?

No

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration seemed really slow. I had to speed it up to 1.25 speed to make it tolerable (before I quit listening to the book halfway through)

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. I love books about this time period and in this genre. If you are going to write historical fiction you owe it to your readers to actually research your topic. This book was so amateurish that high school kids would spot the flaws.

Any additional comments?

pass on this one.

Should be -5 Stars

What a complete waste of time. Of the 11hrs/34mins at least 65% of the writing is almost verbatim from previous book, rendering this effort filled with unnecessary history and descriptions . The story is disjointed and not at all interesting. Mr. Butterworth has managed to turn a very likeable character (Dick Canidy) into a jerk. If this is your first experience with this series, skip it. If you have read the previous installments, don't buy it, wait for the library. Will be returning.

W.E.B. did not meet expectations

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

W.E.B. did not meet expectations nor was it up to his standards he managed in all of his previous books. The story was disjointed to the point of confusion. There was little or no action in at least the first 8 hours of listening. I can't think of any reader who would enjoy this book.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I think I will listen to another J. D. Robb novel.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes, the narration matched the pace of the book. Unfortunately, there was nothing the narrator could do to make improvements based on the material he was working with.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Spymasters?

I would send it back to the author and ask for a complete rewrite.

Any additional comments?

Having read all of the other books by W. E. B. Griffin, I was extremely disappointed. I was expecting an easy ehjoyable read with good strong characters, some humor and action.