The Enemy of My Enemy (A Clandestine Operations Novel)
Captain Jim Cronley is recalled from his safe house in Argentina to once again hunt down former Nazis in Griffin’s latest Clandestine Operations novel. While awaiting trial at Nuremburg, two former Nazi SS leaders—Franz von Dietelburg and Wilhelm Burgdorf—escape. Fearing that these two are tied to Odessa and, possibly, an occult religion that Heinrich Himmler was forming during the war, Cronley is ordered to capture them by all means possible. Along with his team, Cronley finds that hunting escaped Nazis and the whereabouts of Odessa’s vast sums of money leads to strange allies, and, ultimately, that the enemy of my enemy is my friend may not mean exactly what it says.
Following a similar formula from the previous four installments in the series, Griffin tends toward long summaries of history while eschewing action. For example, a hit on Cronley’s Berlin safehouse happens behind the pages, as does a kidnapping of a Catholic priest by the NKGB. Fortunately, these narrative tellings are fewer and more interspersed than in previous books, lending to a tighter and quicker story. A great deal of history regarding Himmler, the SS, and the possible cult activities engaged in at Wewelsburg Castle is given via long lectures or discussions. Even the role the Vatican played in the ratlines of post-war Europe is exposed. Fans of Griffin will be pleased with this latest offering, and new readers to the series will be just fine.
