Cuba Strait: A Novel

by Carsten Stroud

Book Overview

Carsten Stroud's heart-pounding thrillers have earned him comparisons to Elmore Leonard and Michael Connelly. Now the author of Black Water Transit returns with a scorching cocktail of lies, murder,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743243897
• ISBN13: 9781402561283
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Fast moving thriller/adventure

This is my third Carston Stroud novel and they seem to just get better. This is a long book but very quickly read. There is action on the sea, air and land. It is truly one of those books that you can't stop reading. The story moves along quickly and there is plent of action, violence, adventure and some really nasty bad guys. The ending is something of a surprise, even though you expect the unexpected in this type of story. The main characters are quite interesting, and I would like to see a sequel involving Rick and Zeffi. My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that some of the attempts at humor in the book fell flat and seemed incongruous. Otherwise, a fantastic read. I put Mr. Stroud in the top three of thriller writers today.

ESCALATING SUSPENSE IN THIS READING

A frequent guest on television's hit series "Law and Order," voice performer Armand Schultz is in constant demand. Well he should be listeners will agree upon hearing his reading of the thriller "Cuba Strait." Carsten Stroud's sixth novel, grabs readers from the opening lines with the appearance of Charles Green, an American pilot with a "loaded Glock strapped to his thigh and the fifty rounds of nine mill tucked in the breast pocket of his brown-leather bomber jacket." A former Navy man who was sent to Hawaii in 1969, he's now about to take off on a dangerous and mysterious flight. His plane, a Kodiak, is flawless; the weather is not. The cargo is unknown to him, as is the lone passenger who keeps an assault rifle pointed at Green's kidney. Protagonist Rick Broca is a former New York State Police officer who quit the force after a glitch in the chain of command stopped him from saving lives during a school massacre. He is tending to his employer's boat, cruising off the Florida Keys before returning to his new job as a Hollywood technical consultant. When Rick sees the small Kodiak go down, he's all action. There is a chilling underwater rescue attempt interrupted by an enormous female tiger shark dubbed Maybelline by Floridians. She is 500 pounds of "gouges and badly healed wound" with "an ugly puckered furrow carved into her snout." Maybelline has the unknown passenger for a starter, and wants Green who is trapped in the cockpit for her main course. However, Rick manages to save the pilot who claims to be a navy flier. Rick's move to return the pilot to Miami is thwarted by a raging fire fight with another vessel - some no-holds-barred Cubans want Green and the cargo back, and they want both now. Obviously, Rick is on to the fact that Green is more than an ordinary charter pilot but no information is forthcoming. The author's penchant for dark humor comes to the fore when Rick forgets that he has left the half-eaten remains of Green's passenger in the refrigerator of his employer's boat. So, when the boss goes out on a fishing expedition he is taken prisoner in Cuban territorial waters and charged with murder. Aware that his error may well cost his boss his life Rick finds himself in the middle of a complex miasma of international intrigue. Rick doesn't know who to trust nor do listeners as suspense escalates to a startling finale. - Gail Cooke

This high-anxiety thriller is impossible to put down!

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

Excellent adventure

See book summary above. A fast-paced no nonsense adventure sure to please all Carsten's fans. The politics of Cuba as well as adventures on the open sea are a major part of this satisfying story, along with some graphic writing that creates a vivid picture in your mind. Carsten Stroud will definitely be on my must read list.Highly recommended.

TENSE, THRILLING, AND TERRIFIC!

New York Times best-selling author Carsten Stroud has established a reputation for crafting edgy, dramatic thrillers. His prose zings with reality; his plots throb with tension. While other suspense writers may find their work tied to a specific area, such as legal, detective, medical, etc., Stroud's work stands alone in its originality. With two of this author's novels (Black Water Transit and Sniper's Moon) being developed at major Hollywood studios, and Deadly Force soon to be a film starring Johnny Depp, readers know that if Stroud writes it, it's tense and terrific. Cuba Strait, the author's sixth novel, grabs readers from the first page with the introduction of Charles Green, an American pilot with a "loaded Glock strapped to his thigh and the fifty rounds of nine mill tucked in the breast pocket of his brown-leather bomber jacket." A former Navy man who was sent to Hawaii in 1969, he's now about to take off on a dangerous and mysterious flight. His plane, a Kodiak, is flawless; the weather is not. The cargo is unknown to him, as is the lone passenger who keeps an assault rifle pointed at Green's kidney. Protagonist Rick Broca is a former New York State Police officer who quit the force after a glitch in the chain of command stopped him from saving lives during a school massacre. He is tending to his employer's boat, cruising off the Florida Keys before returning to his new job as a Hollywood technical consultant. When Rick sees the small Kodiak go down, he's all action. There is a chilling underwater rescue attempt interrupted by An enormous female tiger shark dubbed Maybelline by Floridians. She is 500 pounds of "gouges and badly healed wound" with "an ugly puckered furrow carved into her snout." Maybelline has the unknown passenger for a starter, and wants Green who is trapped in the cockpit for her main course. However, Rick manages to save the pilot who claims to be a navy flier. Rick's move to return the pilot to Miami is thwarted by a raging fire fight with another vessel - some no-holds-barred Cubans want Green and the cargo back, and they want both now. Obviously, Rick is on to the fact that Green is more than an ordinary charter pilot but no information is forthcoming. The two men, all the worse for wear, do make their way to Miami. The author's penchant for dark humor comes to the fore when Rick forgets that he has left the half-eaten remains of Green's passenger in the refrigerator of his employer's boat. So, when the boss goes out on a fishing expedition he is taken prisoner in Cuban territorial waters and charged with murder. Aware that his error may well cost his boss his life Rick finds himself in the middle of a complex miasma of international intrigue. Suddenly, what seemed to be an innocent, humanitarian rescue has become an incident pushing Cuba and the United States to the precipice of war. Rick doesn't know who to trust nor do readers as suspense escalates to a startling finale. Carsten Stroud dra