Griffin is burned out
934978
Griffin/Butterworth is a prolific story teller, but his mass produced stories are getting worse all the time. His habit of having all of his "heroes" be rich and beautiful is tiresome at best. Coupled with their elitist and "the law does not apply to me" attitudes, they never have represented anything near the real world.  The Vigilantes reads more like a bad comic book than a novel. As a professional pilot, I have long bridled over the author's complete lack of any aviation knowledge displayed in his novels and his riduculous hollywood approach to all aviation scenarios. My guess is that his grasp of real police work is just as lacking and that this series is a joke to professional law enforcement.
30721
This is the 2nd non action book in a row, the Last Witness, for me, was a non event begging for a follow up book. The 1st 185 pages of this current book was the history of every character ever mentioned in a previous book. The only thing hazardous about this book is to Mr Griffin's future earnings. I've read every book he's written and some series twice. If he ever writes another, I'll read the reviews before plunking down my cash
3491674
Stopped working after 1 month, used it about 6 hours a week. Tried it in more than one car, looked for any helpful documentation on Griffin's website, nothing worked. If it wasn't a gift, I would definitely get my money back, as it is, it's going in the trash.
704787
This was a complete waste of money and time.  At least a third of the book was history of how Castillo became who he was as well as every other major character including the damned dog Max.  If this is the sellout publishing whore Griffin has become, I will not bother reading anything new from him again even if I get it from a yard sale.  There's not Kenneth McCoy or Lowe in this book or series, and the action packed, somewhat historically researched story lines have gone by the wayside for who knows what to call it.  He got me this time, but won't again.
3034357
Consistency...Consistency...Consistency....thats one of the main things that makes the readers of a series keep coming back for more.  The ability to "get to know" the characters and know they will be the same people, with the same frailties from book to book.  And W.E.B. Griffin has always been wonderful at this aspect of series writing.  Yet, he fails miserably in this, his latest book in the Badge of Honor Series.  Everybody else has spoken of the timeline inconsistency and I have to ditto those thoughts.  I found myself going crazy searching for such inconsistencies rather than truly enjoy the book and also wasn't quite fond of the sudden change in Mayor, D.A., and Police Commissioner with zero explanation.  Furthermore, I found another inconsistency that disturbed me just as much, if not more.  In all of the previous books, Matt Payne's denial from the Marines had been as a result of a "minor problem with his eye".  Yet in describing it late in this book, he describes it as a problem with his ear.  Very disturbing for a rabid fan.  It was still a pleasure to read and likely would have been a 4 star book if I was not familiar with his previous works.  But being an avid fan who has read all his works, I have to ask "Where have you gone Mr. Griffin and who is doing your writing now"?
2426700
Pretty good book, but definitely not as good as WEB Griffin's older stuff like The Corp or Brotherhood of War. I think this was mostly written by the son. It's good, but not up to the old standard. I hope he continues to get better. I see potential here.
3314762
The first WEB Griffin book I ever read hooked me.  I bought this one even though the reviews were overwhelmingly awful.  I should have listened. This book would make Killer McCoy throw up and Fleming Pickering threaten to sue.  This would make ANY of the cops Griff has written to be searching for an imposter at the keyboard.  The rich characterizations are gone.  The story is gone. Charley Castillo has more to do...the Merry Outlaws have more wrongs to right...there are an extreme number of bad guys needing their asses kicked.  The character of president Clendennan is a joke...Hoboken is a joke...These are NOT the characters we Griffin readers have come to rely upon,  Bring back Castillo and his bunch...have them do their business the way it is supposed to be done.  Bring back the drama, the fights, the shots, the barbs of Billy Kocian, the wit of Dellasandro, the charm of Delchamps, the money of everyone involved and let the Merry Outlaws, led by Charley, and acting under Presidential order get the job done.  But no more of this...stuff.  No more
3171367
Griffin has never let me down with this series and it just keeps getting better! Can't wait for the next book to be honest.
4326092
I have been a huge fan of Griffin's military and police series since the very beginning but I find my self totally disgusted with this new volume.  Some of the recent books were also poorly written but none this bad.  Very little action most of which is unbelievable, totally unexcusable screw ups regarding history (United Nations two years before it started, Maginot line in World War I twenty years before it was built), very clumsy writing - very sad that they would publish a book this bad.  Money is the only thing important with the current authors, no pride at all.
791995
A typical Griffin read. Couldn't put it down, and it was all I've come to expect from him.
4383140
As a devoted fan of all things WEB Griffin-- his Brotherhood of War series is still my favorite book series of all time-- I am sad to report that the latest offering is a cobbled-together, half-baked, reheated conglomeration of the Badge of Honor series. Sprinkled with a little Spanish/methamphetamine/immigration policy scandal, it reads like pulp, and sadly, at this point, that's what we're getting out of my once-loftily regarded favorite author. The whole thing comes across as diluted and rushed; I liked it better when I had to wait for a Griffin offering and when it arrived it was well worth the wait. This is no longer true.

At least 1/5th of the book is spent summarizing the previous editions of the series; I find this particularly frustrating as a devoted fan, since I certainly do not need Mr. Griffin et. al. to regurgitate a plot summary of previous books which then occupies a considerable portion of this book itself.

Character development is stalled or nonexistent. We see no new facets of any of the main characters-- Matt Payne, Peter Wohl, Jason Washington, etc.-- just old jokes, the same viewpoints, no conflict or even any serious tension to move the book along. Matt Payne has the usual run-ins with the usual cast of characters who make the usual jokes about the usual topics and...yawn...well, you get the idea.

The whole thing is ponderous, almost a chore to read-- and as a devoted fan, I am hurt that Mr. Griffin is churning out this sort of pulp when he could spend his time working on a new novel in the Presidential Agent series or perhaps develop one of his other, less thoroughly trodden book series. I will not be spending money on hardcover editions of his works from now on, unless I see something truly amazing in his next offering, due in the spring of 2010.
2563663
A good story destroyed by too much inaction, needless background and just plain uninteresting detail. Castillo is a good character, but Griffin was all over the place in his treatment of him.

This book really needed an editor to tighten it up. Of the book's 700+ pages, I'd say 200 could have been dropped without hurting the story.. and probably would have helped it bigtime.

Come on W.E.B., you're better than this.
1020657
This is the most unreliable piece of electronic I have ever owned. Setup was frustrating, learning function does not work as it should, a lot of random disconnect from bluetooth and 1 keypress out of 2 is ignored. I have applied the latest firmware without results. On paper this would be my dream remote, the guide in the apps and the battery operation is why I choosed this one over the harmony, now it's were it belong, in the trash. Will never buy Griffin again.
4434518
Not"a book you can't put down".Too many early but insignificant characters. Action moves very slowly. Not one of Griffin's best.
3489456
I'm done buying Griffin books.  I have read all of his previous work and the last few have really not been on a par with his older stuff. I'm 1/2 way through this one and I'm not sure if I'll bother finishing it.  Weak story, little character development.  It's too bad.  Griffin has gone from my favorite author to dud.
3715447
Be careful!  Lots of WEB Griffin is now ghost written by his son - nowhere near the same class.

This reads more like a Clive Cusler adventure - (I like Clive but I expect it to be lighter - i.e. "airplane reading")
3181840
400 to 500 pages is ideal for a Griffin book. This one, at over 700 is way too long. With a strong penchant for character bakgrounds and development, the pacing of this story suffers. After a while I began to say, enough already, get on with it. But alas, it was not to be. The anti-climactic conclusion was insufficient solace for seeing it to the end.