The Berets by W.E.B. Griffin

The Berets by W.E.B. Griffin

Griffin gets his groove back with the fifth book in the Brotherhood of War series as we continue to follow the careers of the characters he established in the very first book, as well as continuing with some newer characters. All of the characters connect to the major plotline regarding the continuing effort to establish the Green Berets and efforts by many in army leadership to kill the program and turn the Berets into paratroopers.

 

Let’s be honest, there’s still too much soap opera romance in this tale. Every young military man (and many of the older ones) appears to think only of getting into bed with the object of their current crush and then marrying her. That may or may not be realistic, but since it didn’t always strengthen the story, it wasn’t always a good thing.

 

The best storyline was a very interesting bullying problem in which a sadistic drill sergeant went after a recruit and crossed way over the line. He ambushes the recruit and hurts him, but the recruit still puts the sergeant in the hospital—where the sergeant promptly gets the recruit arrested even though the sergeant (and the reader) know he was only defending himself. The tension here was great and I resented it every time Griffin left it to keep up with his other plots. It shows the military justice system in an unattractive light, and, of course, lets Griffin show his heroes battling for justice.

 

A lot happens in this one—including a shocking death. I hope that Griffin can maintain this level of storytelling for the rest of the series.