January 19, 2021
#413
Gentle reader,
I have been an avid reader ever since I learned to read. I'm 64 as of this writing and have honestly read thousands of books.
For a much wider look at the late author (who died in 2019 at 89), please go to this web page on Wikipedia: W. E. B. Griffin - Wikipedia
The Hunting Trip is the last book he wrote under his own name. I first began reading his books as a child. Below are four I bought as an adult out of nostalgia. I have one bookshelf devoted solely to beloved books from my childhood.
Mr. Butterworth III's middle name was Edmond, by the way. He was born November 10th, 1929 in Newark New Jersey.
The Wikipedia article clearly shows how his own life experiences during WWII and in the Korean war directly influenced his writing, especially under his pen name of W.E.B. Griffin.
He began the The Brotherhood of War Series (U.S. Army) series in 1981 which starts with The Lieutenants. It continues through the ranks as the main characters rise in grade and age, all the way to The Generals and three further books, the last being Special Ops published in 2001.
Next, while still writing the series above, he began the Men at War Series in 1983. It covers the OSS "Oh so social" Office of Strategic Services an exciting (as all his books are) look at the predecessor to the CIA formed during World War II.
In 1985, he began writing yet another series about the US Military, this being The Corps Series about the United States Marine Corps Like most of his books, the main character is young handsome, physically fit and far more intelligent and able to learn new languages more quickly than his training and education could have provided. His name is Kenneth "Killer" McCoy.
A couple years after starting that series, he began the Badge of Honor Series about the Philadelphia Police Department the hero and protagonist, a young socialite name Matt Payne who chose to follow his dead birth father's career by joining the police department to the great dismay of his mother and wealthy lawyer step-father.
The Honor Bound Series appeared in 1993 and deals with a Texan USMC pilot in WWII who has a family past he was not aware of. He is pulled into the OSS because his birth father, a wealthy Argentinian rancher has been killed. The Germans are far too friendly with Peron and other Argentine politicians.
Later on The Presidential Agent Series came out and like many of the book series which have close ties with the President of the United States.
The last series which ties in with the Honor Bound series and is loosely linked with the main character in The Hunting Trip, is Clandestine Operations Series which is about the early CIA, and also covers the US Army CIC and the US Constabulary.
The main character, another Texan, who Clete Frade the hero of the Honor Bound series refers to as "my little brother". Like my own little brother, he is quite tall. I'm six foot three and look up to Jim who is four years younger.
From the author's own words on the website about the series, "In the first weeks after World War II, a squeaky-clean new second lieutenant named James D. Cronley Jr. is spotted and recruited for a new enterprise that will eventually be transformed into something called the Central Intelligence Agency. One war may have ended, but another one has already begun, against an enemy that is bigger, smarter, and more vicious: the Soviet Union."
I just finished The Enemy of My Enemy the last book the late author wrote. Like some authors of late have done, Mr. Butterworth III enlisted help of a younger author. Unlike Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum, he chose his own son William E. Butterworth IV to help him in his later years. A wise man was he was and I am not alone in hoping the IV carries on by creating new book series.
The late author had a superb way of having his otherwise manly characters in ALL of his books feeling sad or loving EMOTIONS which of course prompted this male reader to tears every time! I LOVE that about his books. Men DO and should SHOW that they feel sadness or loss or fear or any emotion that applies to the situation at hand! My wife LOVES that I do.
OK, now that ALL that preliminary is out of the way, here are my thoughts on The Hunting Trip.
To my knowledge, I have not read any 1970's romance novels. Mr. Butterworth (I'll drop the "III" from now on in this article) chose that time to set the story in. His opening notes explain why he chose to write this book and why he chose a romance novel setting. He claims that this book is "a purely fictional story of love and war, and in no sense autobiographical. Mostly, anyway."
The main character, who purely coincidentally is also the third male in his family to have the suffix "III" attached to his last name, was a troubled child having been shifted from one boarding school to another after getting in trouble in each.
He decided to forge his father's signature on some typewritten (by him) documents which would allow him to join the US Army at age sixteen in 1946.
Philip W. Williams III it turns out was far more intelligent than his age and previous actions would indicate. His AGCT test score is a remarkable 144! Which meant he had his choice of ANY career in the Army. He chose the Counter Intelligence Corps and is taken under the wing of a Colonel under the most unlikely circumstances after finding himself working as an Administrator in the CIC in Germany.
But the book does not start there, it starts in 1975 with the Phil being married to a former Viennese prima ballerina who he encountered in Paris while staying there as CIA courier. She was trying to speak German to two Parisian men who are calling her a Nazi in 1947. They are married and living in Muddiebay, Mississippi.
Unbeknownst to the "Angry Austrian" he is in fact a multimillionaire and has secretly been writing sex-filled romance novels based upon detailed notes he had been ordered to keep which filled three loose-leafed binder volumes. He chose a pen name similar to his own so that the Army would not find out he was moonlighting as such and writing about the real sexual exploits of US Army officers under surveillance.
Like some of the characters in his W.E.B. Griffin series, Phil has an aptitude for not only foreign languages, but the ability to shoot EXPERT with any firearm the US Army had. In addition to those, he is an instant master at skeet shooting. This latter talent plays a big roll in their entering "Society" on the Gulf Coast which their apparent lack of wealth would have precluded.
The title of this tome refers to a planned trip made by friends of Phil to Scotland to shoot pheasants on the lands of a Scottish Lord who Phil met in London when living there biding his time until he would be old enough to rise from courier in the CIA to a full fledged Agent when he turned 21. The Lord was then in the employ of the MI5. But that......well, you'll have to read the book to find out.
Mr. Butterworth, like myself, sometimes goes off on tangents in relaying the story to his dear reader. Thus, he will begin explaining something and in a a "Look, a chicken!" move will change the subject entirely, eventually coming back the what he had began telling us several pages previously.
So, anyway, Phil who is unhappily married, but eternally faithful, at the very least for his now mostly grown children's sake, has agreed to go along on said hunting trip to Scotland provided that NO wives or other women are joining the men on the trip.
His friends in Mississippi are an interesting bunch of men and women, to say the least. The real trouble begins on the plane to Atlanta where Phil sitting in First Class with Randy, hears one of the women slide open the curtain separating the lesser flyers yell something to Randy. And that sets Phil off! To find out what happened, read the book.
One small annoyance, at least to me was his having inserted: "EXPLETIVE DELETED!" in the book for every swear word. Although one "sonofabitch" was slipped in in error.
I suspect he did so for humorous reasons and I found myself mentally inserting the correct swear words for the sentence I was reading at the time.
I, myself may have to thumb through my volume to find out when and where Ginger Gallagher encountered Phil originally. Who is Ginger? You'll have to read the book to find out!
I HIGHLY recommend that anyone, male or female, should read this wonderful story: The Hunting Trip and any or ALL of his books as I have done. He has taught me much over the decades and I feel that his son must have greatly enjoyed a wonderful life with his incredibly talented father growing up and as an adult coauthoring with him. Rest in Peace, Mr. Butterworth.
Scott
January 19, 2021
#413
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