The New Breed (Brotherhood of War Book 7)

This one is so-so. After a surprising leap forward in time in the previous book, "The Generals" – including an epilogue in which the series' major characters are disposed of – Griffin moves back to fill in some of the time he missed. The story centers on the Communist-backed Simba uprising in eastern Congo.What I did like about this was its look into 1960s events in the Congo, about which I've seen passing references over the years but never had a feel for. Jack Portet, a character introduced in this book, is a young Belgian-American pilot whose father owns a small airline in the fledgling Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is drafted by the US – his late mother having been American – and goes off to serve. He’s another Griffin-series handsome, young, affluent, bi-national flyboy in the mold of Charlie Castillo in the Presidential Agent series and Clete Frade in the Honor Bound series.It’s 1964. Sandy Felter convinces LBJ, president now for a few months following JFK's assassination, that the Congo is as much of a trouble spot as Vietnam is. Initial worries are about another attempt by the rich Katanga province in the south to secede, it having done so once before, causing a civil war ended only two years previous. Felter, distrusting the CIA's agents, sends his own people in.Among them are East German refugee Karl-Heinz Wagner, now a Green Beret. Felter sends Wagner to South Africa to infiltrate the organization of mercenary leader Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare, the key to another Katanga secession attempt.But trouble comes from another quarter entirely: a grassroots rebel force further north that seizes Stanleyville, one of the Congo's biggest cities and home to many foreigners. They are then taken hostage. Western concerns about what might be seen as a strictly internal Congolese matter are heightened by hints that the Chinese Communists are aiding the rebels, looking for yet one more ideological toehold in Africa. And the rebels are a savage and primitive group – soldiers wearing animal skins, possessed of mystical beliefs that bullets can't hurt them, and prone to committing fearsome atrocities on Western civilians as they do to other Africans.Predictably, loved ones of our various heroes are at risk here, and predictably, our heroes go in to save them. We get a dramatization of Operation Dragon Rouge, the joint Belgian-American operation to free the hostages in late 1964.The story lurches around, though. It's hard enough to get the gist of who was fighting whom in the first civil war and how outside powers stacked up around that. It's tough getting the hang of how Congolese relate to Westerners. The Belgians are the hated colonialists but at some points in the book the rebels seem to hate the Americans more. Use of mercenaries seems to be taboo, partly because they too commit atrocities. But it’s also because that somehow suggests white troops are better than black ones, which at this point in time is definitely true but politically taboo to say. And they keep getting used because they're effective. Herein lies another problem for a good story line: Hoare, instead of being used to launch another Katanga uprising, becomes a good guy retained by the Congo government to put down the uprising.Also, whether the Chicoms are actually interfering is murky – I think it’s established late in the book with captured munitions found to have Chinese markings – and what they want in the short term is unclear.Griffin doesn’t answer all the geopolitical questions. It would have helped if he’d done so; few people know much about what went on there. More background would have helped. But on his usual stuff – the military, their doings and customs and cultural byways, the lives and romances of his characters – he’s fine.

Outstanding in every way. I especially appreciate the humor sprinkled throughout. Have every book of every series, spread rereading out just enough to forget enough to keep it a great pleasure every time. Retired - Every day is a holiday & every meal is a banquet!

Nobody does a better job of capturing and explaining the eb and flo of military life. As a retired military officer with extensive experience in Europe and Africa, he captures the moment, the places, the people. Thank you WB Griffin again.

WEB Griffin is one of this reviewers TOP FIVE Authors, has been for nearly forty years.. OWN all of his Badge of Honor', Presidents Agent', and Clandestine Agents, Series. Mr. Griffin's attention to detail for military life, FACTS on gear, and especially airplanes (if not a pilot himself, must done Umpteen HOURS of research); only Tom Clancy (original author, not ghost writers writing under his name after 2013). One thing about Griffin's SERIES, is character development which is carried forward from one book to next, WITHOUT repeated pages duplicating same stuff like some do... Own ALL books in Brotherhood of War Series. Read many thousands of books over many decades (am Reader going back to Jr. High) and normally not interested in 'military books, or World War II era stories, with exception of Mr. Griffin's books. His attention to detail and HISTORY is Excellent, bar none.. His KNOWLEDGE is incredible,, as Clandestine Agent series. NOTE: most books when original author has passed nd is being ghost written by other authors, rarely meets expectations. EXCEPT, Wm Butterworth IV , Griffin's son, are every bit as good as original books by Griffin only (another rare exception is Cussler with Dirk Cussler who's continuing his Dirk Pitt series). OTHER end of spectrum where crass commercialism to make money off original author, churning MULTIPLE books a MONTH, so bad that 'ghost writer' has obviously NOT READ a single one of the books on character he's copying, i.e. Wm Johnstone books and MULTIPLE writers using J.A. Johnstone.)ANYWAY, MR, GRIFFIN AND HIS SON, WM E BUTTERWORTH IV HAVE CARRIED ON THE TORCH WITH EXCELLENT WRITING WORTH A READERS SPENDING HIS HARD EARNED MONEY. 5-STAR AUTHOR AND 5-STAR SERIES. This reviewer OWNS and keeps these books, some after 10-20 years, read series again., Presidential Agent is exception,, finished reading in some cases three times Characters in Presidential Agent, and Badge of Honor, two favorite series. Brotherhood of War is on par with Clandestine Agent (real details on end WWII and start of CIA after WWII, Historically accurate as best can tell when checked, Great Read to boot.DAVZWAY

Very good book

This was a very enjoyable book nd made good reading. The whole series is a good set of books reading

my dad loves this series, rereading and rereading

Brill

Brilliant. Reading it for second time.