Reading Stephen Coonts for the first time. Plot was okay, a quick read for those who enjoy military thrillers. At least it wasn't more "Islamic Terrorists Attack" (part 6)!I blame my knowledge of Latin American history, but I had to suspend disbelief quite a bit to go along with this storyline. It seems more alternative history--the second Cuban Missile Crisis. CIA finds out that Cuba is working on prepping ICBMs from the 1960s to be fitted with biological weapon warheads aimed at the southern United States (and they are still going to work?). U.S. Marines and CIA ops invade the island with air support from F-14s (what are those? :)) and F-117s. One of the book's heroes grips an ICBM--as it is taking off and going through a barn--so he can try to disable it AND SURVIVES; right! His wife gets shot down in an Osprey--with a head injury--and is cleared to fly another vital mission within 24 hours; cheap way to keep her in the vital scenes of the story!As for Ocho Sedano, why did Coonts feel the need to write pages and pages of his ill-fated voyage from Cuba? So readers could appreciate the plight of Cuban migrants?? Lots of superfluous description that could have been cut--did not contribute to the story that much.
Cuba is a solid action novel for people who like the genre. I wouldn't say it's for everyone, but it's not trying to be. That's gotta factor in the way, say, a couple looking for a romantic comedy to see in the theater wouldn't consider something like The Expendables. The tension and suspense are almost always at the forefront of events, and for this kind of novel, that's exactly what a fan wants. Counts knows how to take bi, world-changing action and bring it down to the people involved, on all sides of a complex situation, and that, along with the intense action, is where the novel really shines. I cared about the characters, the angles, and I believed that they believed in what they were doing - even the bad guys. Nobody is cardboard here, and for plot-driven fiction, that's one of the major separators between the wheat and the chaff. Bottom line: not bad. Fun. It's a good distraction, even if the author's version of events doesn't quite match up to the realities of current American events.
What do You think about Cuba (2000)?
I normally do not rate Stephen Coonts books higher than 3 stars. This plot-driven author delivers some interesting stories, but much of the time little else. With "Cuba" I think the fast-paced military thriller story of a Cuba in transition after Castro, with chemical & biological weapons, leadership struggles, crime, deception and war with America is very relevant today. The characters are still pretty true to other Coonts books, incidental for the most part, but Coonts does bring Cuban culture and people to life (even though he never visited Cuba).
—Jack
Good thriller plot overcomes other issuesJust so you'll know, I am reviewing Cuba as an audiobook - I listened to it as an audiobook and as an audiobook it was pretty good, meaning that I never really wondered if there was something else on the radio that was better.As to the plot - I found it to be especially interesting to have the book focus on the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Cuba, considering our current situations in Iran and North Korea and the ongoing search for WMD in Iraq. The descriptions of the power of these weapons and the reasons that tin-pot dictators and superpowers possess them was informative.As always, Coonts writes wonderful action sequences. His characters are sometimes...Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
—Dale
This was a typical Stephen Coontz novel. It was very technical, very "military". I find myself connecting to the characters whom have appeared in earlier novels by this same author. During a military operation, I found myself being very frightened for the safety of the characters, and the whole scenario involving Cuba at the death of Fidel Castro, was a plausible premise. Unfortunately, these things that happen in a power vacuum COULD really happen in the political climate between the United States and Cuba. I did love this book, and had trouble putting it down!!
—Maureen Bauer
