Close combat

Griffin's soap opera series, dedicated to the semper fi Marines of the Pacific War, continues with this sequel to chronicle number V (Line of Fire, ). The calendar is advanced one month, to October 1942, but the places remain familiar: Guadalcanal, Brisbane, Pearl Harbor, various Stateside bases. In such places the strands of the plot are laid, pitting stock characters in battles exclusively over leatherneck mannerisms and military protocol, because, believe it or don't, there is but one, and only one, guns-blazing, planes-crashing, ships-sinking war scene in the entire script. If 99 percent of war is the boredom of waiting for something to happen, this certainly meets the standard of versimilitude. For the characters--whose stations range from a lowly combat photographer to middling brass hats right up to Dr. Win-the-War himself, President Roosevelt--do one thing that rings of truth: they talk (and talk) in a military argot that is bawdy when in the bar and punctilious when addressing higher ranks. Many patrons would consign such pablum to the flames, but Griffin's prolifigacy in writing war fiction--this is his eighteenth book--reflects a certain level of popularity. (Reviewed Dec. 15, 1992)0399137661Gilbert Taylor

Set in 1942, the sixth book (following Line of Fire ) in Griffin's series about The Corps revolves around a war bond tour featuring Marine heroes of the Guadalcanal campaign. Series fans will recognize the central characters, among them Marine general and presidential troubleshooter Fleming Pickering, his fighter pilot son Pick, and movie mogul Homer Dillon, a Marine for the duration. Griffin has Marine Corps lore and trivia down pat, and he uses the bond-tour story line to convey the public-relations aspects of modern war. Essentially, however, the novel succeeds because the alcoholic and amorous exploits of its stateside heroes could be mink-lined wish fulfillment for the fantasies of the average soldier--most of the ``close combat'' here takes place in various bedrooms. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Griffin's WW II saga of the Marines in the Pacific continues (Line of Fire, etc.), now covering the five weeks from October 11 to November 18, 1942. This is not the place for beginners to pick up the history, since Griffin's very big cast is in the middle of everything. Readers who enlisted early, however, will recognize everybody. Millionaire Marine general and WW I hero Fleming Pickering is still at the center of action. As Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox has his eyes and ears on the Pacific battle scene; and Pickering, who dabbled in a little hands-on warfare on Guadalcanal, is back to his staff role, stroking Douglas MacArthur and interpreting supersecret decryptions from Japanese radio traffic. The Americans are just barely hanging on at the Guadalcanal airfield they grabbed from the enemy, and the Japanese want it back in the worst way. Meanwhile, the heroic young fliers--including Pickering's dashing son, who held back the air attack in the big battle--have been ordered back to the US to pick up some fancy medals and to star in a cross-country savings bond drive. Hollywood megapublicist Jake Dillon, another WW I hero serving his beloved Corps, also helped on Guadalcanal and returns to his USMC flacking duties, bringing together glitz and guts. Very much in the middle of things. Good military and political gossip--but little action.