Soldier Spies

FROM THE PUBLISHER

As The Soldier Spies opens, it is November 1942. War is raging in Europe. The invasion of North Africa has begun. In Washington, OSS chief William J. Donovan finds himself fighting a rear-guard battle against an unexpected enemy: the rival intelligence chiefs back home. In Morocco, Second Lieutenant Eric Fulmar waits in the desert for a car containing two top-level defectors - or will it be full of SS men instead? In England, Major Richard Canidy gets the mission of his life: to penetrate into the heart of Germany and bring out the man with the secret of the jet engine, before the Germans grab hold of him. In France, the Allies must find a way to branch the seemingly impregnable German submarine pans at Saint-Lazare. The only hope? An experimental, pilotless flying bomb. Or at least that's what a lieutenant named Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., thinks....

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The third installment and first hardcover printing of Griffin's series of WWII espionage novels (originally published under the pseudonym Alex Baldwin) once again conjures up the year 1942, an era when men were boys and women were, well... large breasted. Between bed hopping and libidinous musings, intrepid secret agents Major Richard Caniday (who's really not a major) and Eric Fulmar, members of the fledging OSS, aim to smuggle out of Germany the scientist whose knowledge of metallurgy holds the key to the Third Reich's development of jet engines. The professor has a lovely daughter, of course, who is being sexually used by the sleazy Nazis; she is also used by double agents in the German high command as a tool to help undermine Hitler's mad schemes. Other plot lines explore Fulmar's mission in Morocco and the Allies' attempt to develop a "flying bomb" of their own. Cameos by such historical figures as William "Wild Bill" Donovan, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., David Niven and Peter Ustinov lend color to a story so cluttered with specific detail concerning uniforms, automobiles, airplanes and women's silk undergarments that readers may wonder how the war was won by people so obsessed by military protocol and mammary glands. Anachronisms in speech further mar the story, but after one gets past the multiple PG-13-rated sex scenes and hackneyed plot, there are suspenseful scenes of subterfuge and derring-do. Unfortunately for those who didn't read the previous volumes and who may miss the next, this book stops rather than concludes, leaving many painstakingly embroidered subplots unresolved. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Originally published as paperbacks under the name Alex Baldwin, Griffin's "Men at War" series is now being released in hardcover. In this installment, World War II has hit North Africa, and Lt. Joe Kennedy Jr. has some ideas about pilotless bombs.

Kirkus Reviews

First hardcover printing of the third volume of the Men at War trilogy, begun with The Last Heroes (1997) and The Secret Warriors (1999), both rousingly well received reprints of softcover originals published under the pseudonym Alex Baldwin. The Last Heroes tells of Wild Bill Donovan's newly formed Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and how it learns about uranium ore in the Belgian Congo, vital to building the atomic bomb. In The Secret Warriors, the OSS has to drop agents into the Belgian Congo and smuggle out ore while avoiding German agents. Now, Donovan gets more involved with General Leslie Groves's supervision of building the A-bomb while simultaneously fighting off rival intelligence chiefs who don't need to know about the bomb. Meantime, Donovan's agents in Morocco, led by Second Lieutenant Eric Fulmar, are after two leading defectors; and meanwhile in England, Major Richard Canidy prepares to suck the secrets of the incredible new jet engine, as well as of the V-2 rocket bomb, out of Germany. Also on hand is a fated pilot, Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Since this episode ends in January 1943, there may be still further adventures with the OSS. In any event—despite vast detail and readers' likely familiarity with the OSS—Griffin's plot stays hot and moves at quicksilver speed. .

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