Hazardous Duty

Mexican drug cartels are shooting up border cities, Somali pirates are holding American tankers hostage, and the President — despite having very recently forced Colonel Charley Castillo into retirement — decides that Castillo's unconventional team is the only instrument capable of solving both problems simultaneously. The wrinkle: Castillo's people are scattered, some in hiding, and the relationship between Castillo and the White House is openly toxic. W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV's eighth Presidential Agent novel is a politically charged thriller with a characteristic eye for institutional dysfunction.

Dick Hill brings his trademark narrative authority to Griffin's ensemble of military professionals navigating civilian political chaos, his voice finding the dry amusement in Castillo's impossible position without losing the operational stakes. At just over thirteen hours, the production handles the novel's multiple theaters of operation with practiced efficiency. A solid, reliable listen for fans of military and political thriller fiction.