By Order of the President (Presidential Agent Series #1)

The details will put you to sleep.

I found this book a terrible read and truly had to fight to get through it. I feel bad for any non-military readers who try to get through it as the titles and abbreviations are going to make your head spin, and if that doesn't then all the flashbacks and jumping around that Griffin throws in certainly will.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

BORING

It looks like this book has had pretty good reviews. The only thing I can guess is the people rating this book highly are military or ex-military. I can understand someone appreciating an author because that person gets his or her facts straight, however knowing your facts doesn't mean you can write well. I found little things that bothered me right away such as the time line being off. The terrorists kill the pilot at one time and then there is a point in the book where they are referring to it and that discussion is occurring at an earlier time. Kind of hard to be talking about something that happened when it hasn't happened yet. The more significant aspects of the book that got to me were the LONG flash backs. They just aren't needed to that degree to develop a character. It threw the flow of the book way off. I bought the other books in this series at the same time I bought this book, but this book was so boring that I wont bother reading the others. My bad for buying multiple books by an author I haven't ever read before. Granted, there are authors who write excellent books and then other titles they write are just dogs, but when the first book that I read was this bad I just don't think I want to bother again with this author.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

'The Corps' in the 21st century

As he did in his series on the Marine Corps, WEB Griffin again gives us a fable of the fabulously wealthy in the service of their country. Instead of the Pickerings, we have the Old Texas Money Castillos, and instead of the Japanese we have Islamic radicals, but the formula is pretty much the same except, of course, we don't yet know who wins this war. Could that be why Griffin skipped the end of WWII and went straight to Korea in his novels of the Corps?

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

recommended

If you are a Tom Clancy fan you will really enjoy this book. I had trouble keeping up with the action you keep swiching back an forth during the mission and it is hard to keep every one straight. But in all I lighted the book and will read the next in the series.

highly recommended

This is a book to read if you like excitement and a ;ittle fighting but you have to enjoy W.E.B. GRIFFIN's books to understand it. I enjoy anything that he has witten and I have read quite a few of his books.

Action Packed....another great read by Griffin

It's been a long time since I've read a series by W.E.B. Griffin, and I ask myself, "Why?" These books (Series of any title) by Griffin give me the action and drama I look forward to reading in my down-time. They are well-written, seemingly accurate, and adventurous. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Thanks W.E.B. Griffin!

Recommended

Great read! The Presidents Series is fun, and filled with some serious action!

Not Vince Flynn

I love mystery thrillers, especially Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Ted Bell, Tom Clancy...etc. I was hoping W.E.B. Griffin would be along those lines, but he's not, not anywhere close. Unfortunately.

Fascinating

A simple bit of curiosity leads to questions with no simple answers. The beginning of a very good series that I simply can't put down. Lots of intrigue with much more to come.

Great adventure with interesting characters

When I got this book, I had never heard of WEB Griffin and wasn't expecting much depth in characters. Boy was I wrong. I listened to the audiobook, which helped the technical jargon & foreign language parts make sense. I have since listened to the whole series and can't wait for the next book!

Highly Recommended - Excellent series

This is an excellent series to read. Definitely a "hard to put down" set. Big improvement from Griffin's older writings which contained a significant amount of sexual content. These still have some implied content but not near as graphic as older writings.

Exciting New Series

Charley Castillo is my new hero!!! Since I had read all the other Griffin series, I had to add this one to the list. Boy am I glad I did! This is one of the few novels I read, re-read, and re-read again, enjoying it just as much the ninth time as the first. Thank you W.E.B. Griffin!

Loved IT

I thought this was a great book,unfortunatly I read the seires out of sequence starting with The Shooters then Black Ops.I personaly think this series is much better than Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.I'm looking forward to reading some of Griffin's other series.

Very entertaining; however there are so many characters, one has to read slow enough to absorb them, less you have to re-read.

Griffin does a wonderful job in this series; keeps you wondering what's going to happen next.

Couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

Its been awhile since I've read a book by Mr. Griffin and that is my loss. I try not to get too much into "serial" novels but this one, if the first book, is any example seems to hold a lot in store for me. The president in this book appears to be very presidential, something this country now sorely lacks, and gives Major (Agent) Castillo a tasking and then stands behind his man and makes things happen. I hope we'll see a lot of these characters in the follow on books (three of which I went out and purchased today!).

What if

I have read most of griffin's books, starting with the U.s. Army series, thru the U.S.M.C. series. This was a continuation of the fine military writing this author has done.

I was help captive by the realization of what if something like this good be done. Do we have a group that only the president controls. If so, would they only handle military problems or could they be used in other ways. I can picture a few places and circumstances I would like them to solve. But back to the book.

A group of radical, hijack and kill 2 pilots. They then proceed to fly across the Atlantic with plans to fly the airplane into the Liberty Bell, in Philadelphia. A tall order for anyone. But Griffin has created another excellent hero in Capt. Castillio. He manages to outfox the doers and also out think the many intelligence organizations.

The story leads the reader on many journeys, from Germany to Texas, to Iraq and other worldly places.

I have put my self right alongside all Griffin's characters and rode, jumped, wadded thru marshes, Spent frigid nights with both Lowell and McCoy in Korea. And I will spend many days and nights with Castillo.

A good military read

I don't know what these other reviewers were reading, but this was excellent. I guess maybe you have to be a military person to understand what he is talking about. The story is very believable, and I love Charley. It is full of suspense all the way to the end. Don't give up on this series of books, they are all great.

Couldn't Wait to Put it Down

In my opinion..... tedious character development....too many flashbacks.... predictable plot lacking suspense.....24 and Jack Bauer in disguise?

That Old Gang Of Mine

Lots of todays writers have two problems: They don't have enough knowledge of the subject or they continue to switch styles. Not Brother Griffin, He has a model, it works and he sticks with it.This book is great. It's the 1980's books only updated. The Lowells, the Felters the Bellmons are all here and they still zoom around the world on airplanes but now it's jets instead of Aero Commanders and Cessnas. I'll not give away the BIG plot but you will love it...Really! God bless you Mr. Griffin wherever you are.

Vintage Griffin

W.E.B Griffin has an insight into military polticis that is unmatched as his knowledge of military history. Now stepping into the curreent world of special operations he has done a masterful job. Just wish I did not have to wait so long for the next one.