Curtain of Death
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4.2 • 282 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From #1 New York Times-bestselling author W.E.B. Griffin comes a dramatic thriller 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 blonde 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 Claudette, 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Griffin and son Butterworth's odd decision to name a major character Claudette Colbert makes suspending disbelief even more of a challenge in their third Clandestine Operations novel (after 2014's The Assassination Option). Their Claudette Colbert is a WAC technical sergeant stationed in Munich in 1946. When four men, believed to be Polish DPs, attempt to abduct her and a fellow WAC tech sergeant in a stolen ambulance, Claudette pulls a revolver out of her bra and shoots three of her assailants dead and mortally wounds the fourth. That improbable scene paves the way for a formulaic spy story that explores the repercussions of the attempted kidnapping as well as the implications of America's denazification of German scientists after WWII. Authors such as James Michener and Joseph Kanon have explored with more depth the moral ambiguity of the U.S. government's decision to turn a blind eye to war crimes in order to counter the Soviet threat.
Customer Reviews
Good read
I have read every book by WEB & Co. this one is right in line with others. Yes there is a fair amount of back story, but I find it necessary and helpful to keep me connected in the long run. I have always enjoyed how he develops a character over several books.
Awful!
Every time I buy a Butterworth novel, I ask myself, "Will you ever be that stupid again?" Duh. Yes I was. The other Butterworth books I've bought, I've struggled through to the end. In this case, I made it to the 65% mark and quit screaming. It was advertised as a espionage thriller. The only thing "thrilling" about this terrible book is that it's a great way to get to sleep. This book is Ambien in a digital format. I've never read a more uninteresting story line. The polar ice cap could melt twice before this book ever got exciting.
One book in 3- pretty weak
I've been reading W.E.B.G. Books for some time. Despite being formulaic, they tend to leave me in a good mood. The three Clandestine Ops books of which this is the third were, excuse me, a bridge too far.
Short books, in large type, with a plot suitable for 1. It seems as if 25% of each book is background from prior books. The books are almost entirely dialog, and repetitive dialog at that. There comes a time when ghost writers, umm co-authors, aren't original and run out of steam. Sadly that is true here.
OK for those who never get enough of familiar good guys, but one gets tired of being used as a cash cow. One more thing, there are far too many "good WWII" German officers in these books.