From Product Description:

August 6, 1943: In his brief career in the Office of Strategic Services, twenty-four-year-old Cletus Frade has already been involved in a lot of unusual situations, but nothing like the one he's in now--standing with a German lieutenant colonel named Wilhelm Frogger in the middle of a miserably hot and remote Mississippi prisoner-of-war camp.

I suppose that I have read at least 40 books by WEB Griffin (et al.) Clearly I am a fan. I did not rush through this one as I am prone to do. Sometimes Griffin shows a certain coyness in his works. Reminding us of a certain "days gone by" type of disposition. <br /> <br />It is simply difficult to comprehend that the Argentinians of 1943 were so pro American, yet things did turn out a certain way. Ha, we call that "His Story." <br /> <br />OK, so Roosevelt discreetly helps establish the Argentinian South American Airlines ostensibly to embarrass the Lufthansa Operation controlled by the Nazis. But wait, really it is because of a conflict with Juan Tripp. Tripp being the person who hired Charles Lindbergh for Pan American Airways. Lindbergh had found himself in disfavor with the Roosevelt Administration because of his incurring the ire of FDR due to his involvement with the "America First" movement which was opposed to American involvement in the war in Europe. <br /> <br />Cletus Frade is assigned the task of organizing the new SAA Corporation and training its pilots and more. This while concealing his secret involvement with the OSS from absolutely nobody save perhaps the readers of this book. <br /> <br />Meanwhile Nazis are plotting all over the place to accomplish "Operation Phoenix" which is taking all the wealth that they have purloined from Europe and securing it for the unmentioned "Fourth Reich." Well, everybody wants their cut, and so the intrigue is what the story is actually all about. <br /> <br />Oh, and the ruthlessness of the Nazis who are so easily intimidated by young Major Frade and the incredibly competent members of the Argentianian version of the OSS/CIA. <br /> <br />So much dessert in this latest Griffin production. <br /> <br />Cletus has the spunk to tell SS Officer "Herr Moller" that if he attempts to send messages to anyone, he will "have him shot." He'll have his wife shot as well. <br /> <br />Cletus the "man of steel" who feints dead away and crashes his skull on the floor as his wife is midwifed by a bunch of Nuns. The sight of blood involved in childbirth was way too much for him. <br /> <br />Yeah that guy is the same guy who intimidates Nazi SS Officers sent to rescue the lost cause of the Third Reich. <br /> <br />WEB Griffin's understanding and knowledge of WW2 history seems to be Exhaustive. <br /> <br />The guy knows everything. <br /> <br />I'll read another 40 of his books if we both live long enough.

THE HONOR OF SPIES, the fifth book in the Honor Bound series, tells the fascinating story of espionage activities of German military officers in Argentina during World War II. A part-time resident of Argentina, W. E. B. Griffin puts his knowledge of its land, cities and political history to good use, creating a scenario that could well have happened in the latter months of the war. <br /> <br />Co-authored with his son, William E. Butterworth IV, this new spy novel centers on the personal and professional lives of 24-year-old Cletus Frade, a man with dual citizenship in Argentina and the United States. Frade's mother, an American, married an Argentine against her father's wishes. A U.S. Marine Corps major who works in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and is head of their operations in Argentina, Frade discovers a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. Using the code name "Valkyrie," the men involved plan financing through a secondary source: the plight of Jews. Jewish family members pay to secrete their loved ones out of Germany, far from the death camps, and into Argentina. Ransoms collected from them will pay for German officers to bring their own families to South America after war's end. It gets sticky for Frade when a German prisoner of war, interned in Mississippi, is smuggled into Argentina. <br /> <br />Lt. Frau Frogger's parents, former German diplomats, have turned against Hitler and are part of the Valkyrie operation. OSS operatives suspect them of espionage and pursue them, learning of their hideout on a hacienda on Frade's vast estates. Frade now becomes aware of the Froggers' involvement and of secret caches of money and jewels coming into Argentina via the Germans. Frogger, who has misgivings about turning into a traitor, becomes hysterical and is forcefully detained. <br /> <br />Complications occur when Frade discovers that his godfather, Colonel Juan Peron, is aware of the monetary shipments being smuggled into the country. Known as a Nazi sympathizer, Peron was nonetheless a true friend of Frade's father. The senior Frade, widely held to be the next president of Argentina, has been assassinated by persons unknown, making the junior Frade heir to vast land holdings. Frade privately feels that the Germans are responsible for his father's death. Now his wife, Dona Dorotea, will soon give birth to a son of their own. <br /> <br />Frade's friends include a feisty Roman Catholic priest, Father Welner, who holds his own with Frade in tasting the fine wines produced on the Frade estates. The secretive priest appears when least expected, especially when local Argentine officials confide about matters of German espionage. The German infiltrators are overwhelmed with distrust in their own ranks. Loyalties to the Third Reich dissolve quickly when individuals plan to save their own skins. A chief instigator is SS-Brigadefuhrer Manfred von Deitzberg, sent via U-boat by OSS officer Himmler to eliminate the Froggers, locate and secure the special funds reserve, and destroy the new Constellation aircraft now owned by Frade and his company, Argentine Airways. Through contacts in the local government, Frade learns of Deitzberg's deviant activity and must terminate the man and his plans. <br /> <br />Griffin and Butterworth give us details from actual history, and the novel becomes more important than a simple wartime story. Cletus Frade may well have been a Marine officer living in Argentina. Various references from history give accurate details of both the Valkyrie and Operation Phoenix. But THE HONOR OF SPIES is a fictional panorama that makes for a truly entertaining adventure. It is far more exciting to picture the dashing young Cletus Frade in action than to read didactic facts from a history book. THE HONOR OF SPIES barely introduces Eva Peron; perhaps she'll factor into future Honor Bound novels.

Mr. Griffin has cost me many nights sleep in the twenty odd years I've been reading his novels they're like salted peanuts.

The Honor of Spies Novel by WEB Griffin is an entertaing read but lacks the flamboyance of Griffins early works, specifically The Brotherhood or War and The Corps Series. The book is a continuation of a time in Mid WWII in Argentina and the efforts of the OSS to influence and sway the governement of Argentina, a neutral power, away from the Axis. Griffin does a great job as usual with the development of the history that leads you through the real events and ties in a number of real world characters including Howard Hughes, Allan Dulles, Peron and Evita to compel the reader into a sense of intrigue and suspense that resonates in the world of gentlemen spies during a time of war and creates the illusion of a time where Spies had Honor. Sadly the book does not do justice to the past creativity of Griffin and it falls short to a point which is almost anti-climatic leaving the reader aching for more of a suspensefull tact. Dialog upon dialog; wine tasting and Johnny Walker Black; I expected more from Griffin. As with all of Griffins series I am sure another is on the horizon....I am not sure that I will be reading it though....

In many ways it is a WEB Griffin book and there are parts of it I found to be enjoyable. As always I am frustrated by Griffin's apparent inability to maintain his own continuity. Doesn't he keep notes?? Once again, the back story is always rewritten to something different. However, the worst atrocity to me is the Presidency of Arturo Rawson. One would think that a writer married to an Argentine, and a part time resident of Argentina, would know that Rawson was El Presidente for THREE days (June 4 - 7 , 1943) and was succeeded by General Ramirez. In this story, Rawson is President far longer and the central character of the initial seeds of usurpation by Juan Peron...hardly accurate by any means.....Please Mr Griffin, and WEB IV: Check your history and check your own stories