The Saboeurs

The Saboteurs, A Men at War Novel by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV

Category: War Novel Grade: B+

W.E.B. Griffin has, for the last 40 years plus, been the premier writer of military-based action novels (with a little soap opera mixed in). By my count, this is his 41st book, spread over six different series. Each series follows an ongoing group of characters through time periods ranging from a few years through decades. At their best, they provide an entertaining way to get an up close feel for what the military is and has been like during major periods of history.

This book, The Saboteurs, is the fifth book in the Men at War series. This series, so far, covers a pretty brief period of time - the early- to mid-forties during U.S. participation in World War II. The focus is on Wild Bill Donovan and the Office of Strategic Services or OSS, the precursor to today's CIA. This agency grew out of Donovan's personal friendship with FDR coupled with some of FDR's doubts about J Edgar Hoover and the FBI. FDR used the agency to run clandestine operations both at home and abroad during the war, especially those tasks that he didn't want to run through Hoover's "hooray for the FBI" PR machine.

There are a couple of interrelated story lines running through the book. The first continues the stories from the earlier books - the efforts of the OSS to (a) extract German and Italian scientists, especially those that could help the Manhattan Project and slow down the German's nuclear weapon efforts and (b) insert teams behind enemy lines to gather intelligence and to support the underground in Europe. This part of the book follows Dick Canidy, the young intelligence officer, as he sets up a team to go in to Sicily. You get a good flavor of, of all things, the Fulton Fish Market in New York, where Canidy works with fishmongers and mobsters to help his efforts. Even Lucky Luciano gets involved in the patriotic efforts from behind bars.

The second storyline is one you don't hear to much about - the German efforts to put saboteurs on to U.S. soil as part of Hitler's efforts to "bring the war home" to America. We actually follow four German intelligence men as a UBoat lands them in Florida and they split in to two teams to wreak havoc across the country. Even though the FBI is actively looking for these saboteurs, FDR is worried that the publicity splash that Hoover could be expected to make when (and if ) he caught the guys would only emphasize the German presence and create more panic rather than less. Because of this, FDR tasks the OSS with finding and quietly eliminating the German teams. I won't spoil this by describing how this happens, but it definitely doesn't end the way I expected.

These books, despite the subject, are light, easy reading. Griffin has always tried to make things more interesting by throwing in personal details about the (mostly) men he writes about - their friendships, backgrounds and, of course, their love lives. He even throws in some gratuitous sex every once in a while to keep you awake.

An interesting piece of side information -- if you like Griffin's works, like I do, there are two good signs in this book. First, a traditional cliff hanger at the end ensures that this isn't the last book of the series. Secondly, this books seems to be a training ground of sorts. For the first time, Griffin has a co-author - William E. Butterworth IV - his son. Good news for fans.