After recently watching A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES (my favorite movie so far this year), I've been itching to read a Lawrence Block novel. I chose KILLING CASTRO because I've also been on a Hard Case Crime kick lately, and it's the kind of book you have to either get your hands on quickly or risk going out of print. Plus, it looks good on my shelf next to my Bill O'Reilly books, and it'll tide me over until KILLING PATTON finally makes its way into the bargain bin.Block wrote KILLING CASTRO on a commission, paid by a publisher who was gambling on Castro being assassinated in real life, in which case sales of the book would have skyrocketed once the public came to regard it as being prescient and topical. Unfortunately for the publisher, the assassination never occurred, and the book was quickly buried and forgotten, only to be resurrected some fifty-odd years later by Hard Case Crime.KILLING CASTRO isn't what I'd call a classic by any stretch, but Block successfully managed to make it into something more than the soulless cash grab it was originally intended to be. Most impressive is the quality of Block's prose, especially considering he was in his mid-20's when he wrote this, had never been to Cuba, and was working under a tight deadline. Like Stephen King, Block just happens to be one of those intensely gifted writers who can crank out a very readable novel in the time it takes me to write a letter to my parents.My big issue with KILLING CASTRO has to do with what I saw as a couple of gaping plot holes. Block does a good job of explaining the motivations of the potential assassins, but we never really know why these particular guys were selected for the job in the first place. With one exception, they really don't seem qualified. Another thing that doesn't make sense is that the assassins are all told to split up, making it inevitable that they will get in each other's way. Further adding to the mess is the fact that all of them are to be paid regardless of who ultimately manages to take Castro out. As long as Castro dies, it doesn't matter who contributed what--they all get paid equally. Instead of a SMOKIN' ACES scenario in which all the killers are in a race with each other to be the first to reach their target, the assassins in KILLING CASTRO are given incentive to simply hole up and wait for someone else to do the dirty work. The biggest surprise in the book is how many of the assassins simply throw in the towel because completing their mission just isn't worth the effort.KILLING CASTRO isn't a novel that I'd highly recommend, but I certainly found it pleasant enough for wiling away a long train ride. Despite only clocking in at around 200 pages in length, this tight thriller, about a group of five would-be assassins sent to kill Fidel Castro in the early 1960s, gives each assassin's point-of-view as they prepare for the task at hand -- each with their own individual motivations and using different methods -- as well as interspersing that with true biographical information about Castro and his rise to power. Not the pinnacle of Block's much-lauded work, but an impressive accomplishment considering he did it as work-for-hire under a pseudonym from a second-rate publisher that handed him the title, plot, and a $1,500 check and probably didn't care what the finished product looked like.
What do You think about Killing Castro (1961)?
Somewhat surprising plot surrounding ugly characters. Interesting, could have done without the rape.
—Pike
AKA: Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, Paul Kavanaugh, Chip Harrison, Lawrence Block
—Cheribum
