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The Hunting Trip
At the tender age of sixteen, Philip W. Williams III is expelled from boarding school for committing a prank, and on the train home naturally wonders where his life will take him now. It never enters his mind that he will become a world-class marksman and a special agent of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps in postwar Germany, play a key role in the defection of a Soviet officer and then court danger as a courier for the CIA, marry an Austrian ballet dancer of ferocious mien, become a renowned bestselling novelist, and meet the love of his life on a hunting trip to Scotland.
Yet all of this, and a great deal more, awaits him, in a raucous series of adventures across Europe and the United States that will have readers laughing, cheering, and propulsively turning the pages to discover what happens next.
417 pages, Hardcover
First published December 29, 2015
163 people are currently reading
609 people want to read
About the author
William E. Butterworth III
51 books56 followersWilliam Edmund Butterworth III is a writer of military and detective fiction with over a hundred (and counting) books published under multiple names.
Pseudonyms include:
Alex Baldwin
Webb Beech
Walter E. Blake
W.E. Butterworth
Jack Dugan
John Kevin Dugan
W.E.B. Griffin
Eden Hughes
Blakely St. James (with Charles Platt and Hart Williams)
Edmund O. Scholefield
Patrick J. Williams
William E. Butterworth was born on November 10, 1929 in Newark, New Jersey.
Mr. Butterworth enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1946 and underwent counterintelligence training at Fort Holabird. After assignment to the Army of Occupation in Germany where he served on the staff of the Commander of the U.S. Constabulary, Major General I.D. White, Butterworth left the service in 1947, but rejoined and again served with White from 1951 to 1953 in Korea. After leaving the service for the second time, Butterworth remained in Korea as a combat correspondent. He was later appointed chief of the publications division of the Signal Aviation Test and Support Activity at the Army Aviation Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama.
At first, Butterworth wrote fiction for young adults and romances. He has written more than 125 books, many of them military thrillers or police dramas. Butterworth received the Alabama Author's Award in 1982 from the Alabama Library Association.
Pseudonyms include:
Alex Baldwin
Webb Beech
Walter E. Blake
W.E. Butterworth
Jack Dugan
John Kevin Dugan
W.E.B. Griffin
Eden Hughes
Blakely St. James (with Charles Platt and Hart Williams)
Edmund O. Scholefield
Patrick J. Williams
William E. Butterworth was born on November 10, 1929 in Newark, New Jersey.
Mr. Butterworth enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1946 and underwent counterintelligence training at Fort Holabird. After assignment to the Army of Occupation in Germany where he served on the staff of the Commander of the U.S. Constabulary, Major General I.D. White, Butterworth left the service in 1947, but rejoined and again served with White from 1951 to 1953 in Korea. After leaving the service for the second time, Butterworth remained in Korea as a combat correspondent. He was later appointed chief of the publications division of the Signal Aviation Test and Support Activity at the Army Aviation Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama.
At first, Butterworth wrote fiction for young adults and romances. He has written more than 125 books, many of them military thrillers or police dramas. Butterworth received the Alabama Author's Award in 1982 from the Alabama Library Association.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
March 17, 2016
Okay I don't have a "romance shelf" as I don't care for romances...and this is undoubtedly a romance. When I started the book I was sure I wouldn't finish it. If I did finish it I was also sure I would never rate it over a 2 and more likely a 1.
Hummmm.....
You know I've read a lot of W.E.B. Griffin's "military" books. I always did think/feel that the books were really more (too much often) about the personal lives of the personnel involved and so on. Here we jump right into a story that is told along 2 time lines (past and present) involving a group of people primarily those surrounding Philip W. Williams III. The synopsis mentions that he becomes a world class marksman and becomes an agent for U.S. Counter Intelligence. That could be and was for me...misleading. It generally revolves around the peccadilloes, affairs (romantic and otherwise) and adulteries of the participants.
Now all that said, it's written so well and done with so much humor that it pulled me in and kept me going. I have to admit I like the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
But don't tell my friends who know I hate romances... It could confuse them as much as it does me.
Hummmm.....
You know I've read a lot of W.E.B. Griffin's "military" books. I always did think/feel that the books were really more (too much often) about the personal lives of the personnel involved and so on. Here we jump right into a story that is told along 2 time lines (past and present) involving a group of people primarily those surrounding Philip W. Williams III. The synopsis mentions that he becomes a world class marksman and becomes an agent for U.S. Counter Intelligence. That could be and was for me...misleading. It generally revolves around the peccadilloes, affairs (romantic and otherwise) and adulteries of the participants.
Now all that said, it's written so well and done with so much humor that it pulled me in and kept me going. I have to admit I like the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
But don't tell my friends who know I hate romances... It could confuse them as much as it does me.
May 17, 2022
I won this novel in a goodreads drawing.
This book is an example of the kind of humor books that largely died out by the 1970s. They were usually described as bawdy, raucous, or ribald. The book was almost quaint. I think the most famous series it can be likened to, would be the MASH series of books.
A businessman wants to have a liaison with his mistress, who is married to somebody else, so he hatches a byzantine plan to accomplish this. This seemed sort of odd to me, as it's set in the 1970's, when they had key parties and such, but then again, it's also set in Mississippi, so maybe the full sexual revolution hadn't hit there yet. Nobody did any lines of coke, either, although everybody was drunk all the time.
Then we get the history of the best friend of the businessman: a writer, world class shooter, a martial arts expert, and a millionaire in his own right.
After being kicked out of every prep school in the country; some twice, he lies about his age to get into the army, where he discovers he's an excellent shot. This ability gets him in and out of trouble, and in and out of the CIA during the Cold War. It keeps getting him in and out of trouble for most of his life.
It's funny, and not in a hipster or PC way. It was refreshing, to see people not constantly trying to assuage their guilt, or make a lame political point. What a tonic to our times.
This book is an example of the kind of humor books that largely died out by the 1970s. They were usually described as bawdy, raucous, or ribald. The book was almost quaint. I think the most famous series it can be likened to, would be the MASH series of books.
A businessman wants to have a liaison with his mistress, who is married to somebody else, so he hatches a byzantine plan to accomplish this. This seemed sort of odd to me, as it's set in the 1970's, when they had key parties and such, but then again, it's also set in Mississippi, so maybe the full sexual revolution hadn't hit there yet. Nobody did any lines of coke, either, although everybody was drunk all the time.
Then we get the history of the best friend of the businessman: a writer, world class shooter, a martial arts expert, and a millionaire in his own right.
After being kicked out of every prep school in the country; some twice, he lies about his age to get into the army, where he discovers he's an excellent shot. This ability gets him in and out of trouble, and in and out of the CIA during the Cold War. It keeps getting him in and out of trouble for most of his life.
It's funny, and not in a hipster or PC way. It was refreshing, to see people not constantly trying to assuage their guilt, or make a lame political point. What a tonic to our times.
July 12, 2017
I didn't like the book initially, but as it went on I started to see the humor in it. It's a total spoof of the genre and writers we all know (WEB Griffin, Tom Clancy, etc.). I found myself laughing out loud several times. You can't read it as a serious book, and once you realize that, it's pretty good. I could have done with less "expletive deleted"'s, because that became rather tiresome early.
Read
April 14, 2019A DNF. This read more like some script to some film from the 70s than, well, anything.
August 11, 2016
Holy EXPLETIVE DELETED, Batman! Why use one EXPLETIVE DELETED word when 1500 EXPLETIVE DELETED words will do?! This is an EXPLETIVE DELETED tedious and horribly flawed book! The painful wordiness of it was second only to the constant repetitions of EXPLETIVE DELETED which felt like getting hammered on the head with rubber bowling pin, ie., It’s not the impact itself but the cumulative effect that causes pain.
I particularly hate the way the author scripts conversations (of which there are a plethora), because they sound more like dialog from a vaudeville routine than any actual human conversation. In addition, in certain places the text felt like it was cut and pasted from an earlier novel, such as M*A*S*H*, or perhaps Catch 22.
The only positive thing I can say about this book is that the author is good at building suspense, and, in the case of Philip Wallingford Williams III, a sympathetic protagonist. Because, as much as I detest the style of writing of this book, I had to grit my teeth and hang on to see what would become of Phil in the end.
I do NOT recommend reading this book.
I particularly hate the way the author scripts conversations (of which there are a plethora), because they sound more like dialog from a vaudeville routine than any actual human conversation. In addition, in certain places the text felt like it was cut and pasted from an earlier novel, such as M*A*S*H*, or perhaps Catch 22.
The only positive thing I can say about this book is that the author is good at building suspense, and, in the case of Philip Wallingford Williams III, a sympathetic protagonist. Because, as much as I detest the style of writing of this book, I had to grit my teeth and hang on to see what would become of Phil in the end.
I do NOT recommend reading this book.
January 17, 2016
I won this book in a give away fron Goodreads. This was a very comedic writing to say the least. It was not what I expected from this author,but came off as a pleasant surprise. Mr. Butterworth III aka W E B Webb is not known for parody,but did a great job with this tome. Reminded me of one of my all time favorites, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. It leaves the reader guessing if this was an autobiography or just a great story. Did not matter to me,but a good read all the same.
April 24, 2016
WAY too contrived...
Butterworth wants SO badly to be a humorous writer, but fails miserably. Every good comic knows pacing and timing and "flow." Butterworth fails at the zany and the wacky exactly because this book is TOO zany and TOO wacky. He's trying too hard. There is no pacing. No timing. No flow. The first few pages were almost brilliantly wacky. But he didn't know how to pace himself. His timing consists on a constant barrage of impossibly contrived situations. The book does not flow... it gushes, then floods past its banks.
I think deep inside he knows he ain't no Joseph Heller, but, by golly, he's gonna try... or go down in flames.
Call the fire trucks!
Shoulda stuck to your other genre, Mr. Butterworth. Yes, there was a Joseph Heller, and he did what he did ONCE. It really can't be repeated. Live with it.
Butterworth wants SO badly to be a humorous writer, but fails miserably. Every good comic knows pacing and timing and "flow." Butterworth fails at the zany and the wacky exactly because this book is TOO zany and TOO wacky. He's trying too hard. There is no pacing. No timing. No flow. The first few pages were almost brilliantly wacky. But he didn't know how to pace himself. His timing consists on a constant barrage of impossibly contrived situations. The book does not flow... it gushes, then floods past its banks.
I think deep inside he knows he ain't no Joseph Heller, but, by golly, he's gonna try... or go down in flames.
Call the fire trucks!
Shoulda stuck to your other genre, Mr. Butterworth. Yes, there was a Joseph Heller, and he did what he did ONCE. It really can't be repeated. Live with it.
January 3, 2016
I pushed myself to finish this only because WEB Griffin is a favorite author. The 3 stars was a Very generous rating for this somewhat acceptable humorous pastiche of his own writing. The worst and most annoying thing was the constant Expletive Deleted. Actually the book was Expletive Deleted.
March 2, 2018
References are made inside the the story that The Hunting Trip is a romance novel and includes lots of sex. Basically it is the story of Phil Williams and his transition from soldier to writer intertwined with several sub-plots. While readable, it is not at the standard of The Corps and other works which were written under the W.E.B. Griffin pen name.
March 28, 2023
This was a hoot. I quite enjoyed reading it.
June 19, 2016
This book by the otherwise-known W.E.B. Griffin (author of a lot of decent military fiction), here writing under his real name, is just weird. It has a couple of interesting story-lines, separated by about 20 years, and which kept me going to the end. The writing style, however, is extremely "cutesy" and suited to a 1970s book, not one released in 2015, as are the attitudes toward women and race (of course, one story-line is set in the 1970s). The story-line that is set in the immediate post-war era (mid- to late-1940s) is laced with anachronistic references. e.g. to Soviet ballistic missiles which were a decade later. The thing that nearly had me give up by around page 5, however, is how Butterworth handles naughty language, which "is" liberally sprinkled through the book. The constant repetition of "EXPLETIVE DELETED!!", rather than even the often mild obscenities that it is meant to mask, is beyond annoying. I can't recommend this book.
July 23, 2017
I found "The Hunting Trip" really hard to get into. In part because as others have mentioned, there are so many "EXPLETIVE DELETED"s that it throws off the flow, and in part because women are objectified pretty early and often- and they have some pretty stereotypical roles (e.g. the hunting trip is proposed by the women because how else can they get their husbands to take them shopping in London? Because goals). I felt that a lot of the jokes fell pretty flat for me. There are also a lot of side characters that get little tidbits here and there, but make it a little harder to follow (wondering if you were supposed to remember them or not)- this resolves after a while as the main characters begin to stand out more. That being said, the writing isn't bad, and I have no doubt that this book will have the right audience elsewhere. Please note that I received this book through a goodreads giveaway. All opinions are my own.
August 24, 2018
This is not the worst book I've read, but certainly not very high on the list. The quality of work from this author has continued to decline over time and this effort continues that trend. The editing was poor (referring to emails for a letter that took place in 1976), the plot seemed to change throughout the book, the characters were partially developed and then either left alone or seemed to change. Aside from the inconsistencies and weak writing, the characters and situations were generally unappealing and not overly interesting. On the other hand, the author is a good enough story teller to make the poor writing, the exhausting style of dialogue, and poorly thought through ending palatable enough to finish the book. I would not recommend it to anyone and I'm hesitant to admit that I finished it.
December 27, 2015
William E Butterworth III authored "The Hunting Trip", which I received from Goodreads. The narrative is excessive, with too little dialogue. The dialogue that is present is unnatural and I felt like if I had to read "EXPLETIVE DELETED!!" one more time, I would poke my own eye out. I give this story a very soft three stars as it is not quite bad enough to warrant only two. On the plus side, the cover art is pretty good.
June 22, 2025
A fun read!
A tongue-in-cheek version of his thrillers, lots of details with an off-kilter view of things...
If you pay close attention to the names of different characters you will find plenty of puns & playing on words. The book moves back and forth between the late 1940s, the mid 1950s and 1975. We see a mix of absurd characters that often do odd or absurd things as we are given most of the stories from the POV of the rich up to the ridiculously wealthy. Enjoy!😉
A tongue-in-cheek version of his thrillers, lots of details with an off-kilter view of things...
If you pay close attention to the names of different characters you will find plenty of puns & playing on words. The book moves back and forth between the late 1940s, the mid 1950s and 1975. We see a mix of absurd characters that often do odd or absurd things as we are given most of the stories from the POV of the rich up to the ridiculously wealthy. Enjoy!😉
December 30, 2015
Good but not really good enough for a repeat reading and won this here.
January 31, 2016
Excellent writing and narration by Wil Damron held my interest throughout this entertaining novel to earn the second 5 star of 2016. 10 of 10 stars
January 24, 2022
9.5 out of 10 stars. Enjoyed reading this book, because of the story and the comedy---a lot of laughs. The only (major) problem with this book was either the author, or the editor/publisher, or the author/editor/publisher should have done one thing differently. The extreme overuse of the term "expletive deleted" was absolutely ridiculous---it made the reading jumbled. It should have been explained before the story started and used maybe the first couple of times, then replaced with symbols or letter/symbol combinations like #@&%*$ or f#*(k$% or $#!@% to let us know it is an expletive (cuss/curse/dirty word). The overuse of the term would make young readers throw away the book. If it was written/published this way for some religious reason, it was definitely extremely overdone and NOT funny. I have read a lot of the author's books and liked most of them.
March 11, 2020
It is a stretch to think of the hand that created some of my favorite fictional characters like Craig Lowell and Flem Pickering also wrote The Hunting Trip. But yet they all had a similar feel with much attention to detail where it meant the most. Unlike any of the books in the Brotherhood of War series or The Corps series, The Hunting Trip is a romance novel. The author says so right at the beginning. It is full of over the top characters, over the top plotlines and is way, way over the top. I enjoyed The Hunting Trip very much.
March 6, 2025
The author was a former CIC soldier, who moved into public relations work for the army in Korea, and later was a civilian employee for army aviation.
His career as an author really took off when he became the new writer for the long running MASH series of seriocomic novels, and then transitioned into more serious men's adventure and soap/adventure military and police novel series.
In this novel he attempts to write a mix of a men's romance and military action novel, but with heavy MASH type scenes and tongue in cheek.
It fails. Hard.
His career as an author really took off when he became the new writer for the long running MASH series of seriocomic novels, and then transitioned into more serious men's adventure and soap/adventure military and police novel series.
In this novel he attempts to write a mix of a men's romance and military action novel, but with heavy MASH type scenes and tongue in cheek.
It fails. Hard.
June 18, 2017
This book is a hoot! People who don't recognize parody will be put off. I have so many of his books with the nom de plume W.E.B Griffin that it was easy to see what he was doing. His initial books were in paperbacks and I started reading when The Brotherhood of War series came out in hardbacks. I bought the first seven as a package years ago. Still have them. Our older son read them and became a fan. Some of the recent books have ongoing dialogue that turns me off. Get to the point!
March 16, 2019
This review is for the audio version of the book. The store is excellent. I found myself easily falling into it and laughing out loud at certain points. I'm not sure how I would rate the book version because many of the things I found engaging in the audio (e.g., the over-the-top repetition of peoples titles) may not carry over but Will Damron's narration makes all the difference. Overall, a great listen.
August 23, 2020
Not bad, a little different then the typical W. E. B. Griffin Novel.
Not bad, a little different then the typical W. E. B. Griffin Novel. The military portions were good and the rest was interesting. I didn’t like the parts where the author talked to the reader about romance novels and “drawing the curtain” over the sex parts. To distracting. Also, they never really gave much information about Ginger Gallagher and why she loved Phil.
Not bad, a little different then the typical W. E. B. Griffin Novel. The military portions were good and the rest was interesting. I didn’t like the parts where the author talked to the reader about romance novels and “drawing the curtain” over the sex parts. To distracting. Also, they never really gave much information about Ginger Gallagher and why she loved Phil.
October 16, 2018
I've read many books by W.E.B. Griffin, first one by William E. Butterworth III. Disappointed me quite a bit. I quickly tired of reading the phrase “EXPLETIVE DELETED”. Don’t know if that was just the mobi version I was reading or if the paper copy is that way too. Don’t know if there will be another attempt at the III again.
June 30, 2019
Not sure what Butterworth had in mind, but this book is disorganized and jumps around too much. His use of expletive deleted hundreds (thousands?) of times is almost enough to make you stop reading it.
I slogged through to the end, but it is not that good. It is not a romance; more of a comedy (satire?).
Fortunately I got it as a remainder for about $5.00.
I slogged through to the end, but it is not that good. It is not a romance; more of a comedy (satire?).
Fortunately I got it as a remainder for about $5.00.
April 5, 2020
Either write without using adult language or use the words instead of EXPLETIVE DELETED
The story was good but all of the EXPLETIVE DELETED placed throughout were an unnecessary distraction that constantly disrupted the flow of the story. It would have been better to either use the actual word's or write the story without any adult language.
The story was good but all of the EXPLETIVE DELETED placed throughout were an unnecessary distraction that constantly disrupted the flow of the story. It would have been better to either use the actual word's or write the story without any adult language.
May 8, 2018
Outstanding! Butterworth, aka Griffin, has done it again. His ability to weave a tale which teases and taunts is fantastic! If this isn't an autobiography, can we at least nominate the character to do the next Dos Equis commercials?
December 10, 2018
Patients will be rewarded.
What started out as a one star ended as a five star book. Not what I expected from the author but the character development was typical of him. Be patient and you will be rewarded.
What started out as a one star ended as a five star book. Not what I expected from the author but the character development was typical of him. Be patient and you will be rewarded.
August 7, 2022
Definitely different from anything else
This book is what I had come to expect from W. E. B. Griffin. I enjoyed what I consider satirical comedy. Hard to put it down because you never know what is going to happen next. Light hearted reading at it's best!
This book is what I had come to expect from W. E. B. Griffin. I enjoyed what I consider satirical comedy. Hard to put it down because you never know what is going to happen next. Light hearted reading at it's best!
July 24, 2017
I might have given this book a four if not for all of the "expletive deleteds".
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews