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Title: Cuba Strait: A Novel by Carsten Stroud ISBN: 0-7432-4389-7 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: January, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Rocket ride!
Comment: Stroud just goes from strength to strength; each stand-alone book (in itself a refreshing change from series writers) has its own particular merits. Cuba Straits has some of the most gripping scenes--most notably an underwater rescue that is absolutely rivetting--I've read in quite some time. With a labyrinthine plot and terrifically well-conceived characters, this is pure entertainment. Some of the writing/observations/remarks are laugh-out-loud hilarious, providing a nice balance to non-stop action and legions of scary bad guys. For sheer descriptive and narrative power, Stroud is hard to beat. There are wonderful at-sea adventures that are powerfully compelling--with the forces of nature outranking the bad guys in their fearful potency. Add a cat with attitude, a fully fleshed, entirely believable female and a pair of essentially decent men doing their best in bewilderingly dangerous situations and you've got one breathtaking ride. While the denouement is a tad unbelievable, the author manages to capture some essentially American-male attitudes and behaviors that are faithful to the storyline. This is first-rate writing in a hugely entertaining book.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: This high-anxiety thriller is impossible to put down!
Comment: If Carsten Stroud had hopes of catapulting his books into the ranks of the big guys, CUBA STRAIT will undoubtedly be the novel to take him there. With coast-to-coast action, a wisecracking ex-cop, a beautiful French girlfriend and even a dog-slapping kitty, all the ingredients are here. Add to that mixture a covert ops pilot, several FBI types and some Hollywood bigwigs --- and the plot thickens. Then toss in a story that twists and turns more than the Gulf Stream and the result is a riveting tale more engrossing than even his BLACK WATER TRANSIT and SNIPER'S MOON, currently in the process of development into blockbuster movies. It definitely has something for everybody: murder, mystery, politics, romance, chase scenes galore, technical gadgets and lots and lots of thrills.
The opening pages of CUBA STRAIT launch us into the action immediately, with charter pilot Charlie Green taking off in the advancing dusk of an impending storm, carrying a load he knows to be dangerously heavy.
The next chapter cuts to Rick Broca, retired from the New York State Police at the tender age of 33 due to a misunderstanding with superiors about how to handle a school shooting. He is facing the same storm as Green, along with his shipboard cat Cisco --- only he's battling the rollers, not the roiling clouds. Inevitably, the two paths cross. The plane goes down and Broca heroically comes to the rescue, setting in motion a series of events that lead to an international crisis between the United States and Cuba. Some very serious and unsavory thugs from Havana dog Broca while he attempts to figure out what they want and why. He suspects Green is hiding something from him, probably something deadly important. When agents of several of the more secretive governmental departments politely but forcefully request he come in for an interview, Broca becomes convinced that there's more going on than he initially guessed. A natural skeptic, he has a harder time than usual knowing who to trust --- and so will you.
If Stroud has done his research well and knows of what he speaks, our neighbor to the south doesn't fare well in the race to the top of the list of friendly nations. Cuba sharpens into a bona fide threat and the criminals who run out of there come across as soberly bad guys.
The author's colorful background undeniably adds beef to his writing. His varied past --- salvage diving in Mexico, time in the military, undercover duty, journalist --- gives his characters a realism that's hard to make up, helping them sound knowledgeable and expert. At the same time, the dialogue is so witty, with snappy comebacks even in the face of certain death, that it provides welcome respite from the heart-racing chase scenes and relentless tension. Be sure to have a block of time set aside for this high-anxiety thriller because, once begun, putting it down is quite frankly impossible.
NOTE: Strong language, blood and guts, minimal sex.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Rating: 4
Summary: A tropical thriller that makes for an enjoyable read
Comment: I purchased this book through "Borders" teamed with Amazon and was not disappointed. I read it in about a week, it was hard to put down. The author, Mr. Stroud, does a great job of setting up the story and the following chain of events, with detailed descriptions of each tropical locale. Clearly, the author did his research and traveled to each of the different places he wrote about, the descriptions puts you right there in with the main character of the novel. I should know, because I grew up in Miami and the Keys, two main settings throughout the book. The "inner" knowledge of some government intelligence lingo was also interesting.
Where I think Mr. Stroud came up a bit short was 1) His inability to hire someone to check his Spanish grammar. A minor thing since maybe a hundred words of the book's dialog are in Spanish, but a little annoying for someone with a good sense of the language. 2) Excessive description of the sky at the beginning of each chapter. 3) The portrayal of all Hispanics throughout the book as violent, Hollywood stereotypes.
On his extensive vocabulary about the sea and the terms he uses, I'm split down the middle. He had me reaching for the dictionary a few times to check some of the nautical terms, but they definitely contributed to the mood of the story. In a way, I'm glad he through them in there, it brought me back to my childhood adventures at sea.
The bottom line is this- The book is a great read for fans of spy/espionage novels who would like to read a piece of fiction with some references to modern day problems.
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Title: Sniper's Moon by Carsten Stroud ISBN: 0553762648 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 07 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Deadly Force by Carsten Stroud ISBN: 0553575449 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 02 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Close Pursuit by Carsten Stroud ISBN: 0553762559 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 04 April, 1988 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Lizardskin by Carsten Stroud ISBN: 0553762613 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 August, 1993 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Black Water Transit by Carsten Stroud ISBN: 0440237092 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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