Shell Game: A Novel

by Douglas Terman

Book Overview

Set in Cuba, this is the story of two close friends, Brocassie and Alvarez, divided by politics and their love for the same woman. Despite being exiled and under sentence of death, Brocassie returns... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671532928
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 447 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The TERMANator!

Terman wrote from a POV (and time) that saw the big, bad Soviet Union edging toward global domination. He could not have known that the Soviet Union was destined to simply rot and crumble. In any case, the fact that it did in no way diminishes any of his works. They are just ripping good yarns!`Shell Game' is set in Cuba pre/post the Castro revolution, leading up to the Cuban missile crisis. Two brothers wind up on opposite sides of the post-revolutionary struggle, with a woman they both love caught in the middle. The story is very well developed and it beats Tom Clancy, et al, hands down. Brocassie, the main character, is not some cardboard-cutout Jack Ryan-type. He is fully three dimensional, as are all the other characters - like his brother Julio, along with his (and his brother's) life's love, Alicia. There are so many threads in the story that are so expertly woven together that one can overlook certain implausible aspects of the plot (just a few, really). A more outstanding contemporary adventure novel I have not read (except for Terman's other books!).As with Terman's other books, the characters are offbeat and interesting. You are swept along with them in high adventure and enormous events - like, the potential end of the world in a nuclear holocaust, for example (see also: First Strike), or a struggle for freedom in a post-holocaust Soviet police state-America (see: Free Flight).I will next dive into Terman's book `Enemy Territory'. Given the outstanding quality his other books (all of which I have read), I do not expect to be disappointed.'Shell Game' is such an outstanding adventure story and it is so well written (as are Terman's other novels) that I cannot believe it is out of print. [NOTE: It is available used online - try ABE or Alibris -- I got a very nice hardback copy for only a buck!]. Do yourself a big favor and buy all of Terman's books - they are terrific reads!

Details ......

I live in the American West and am a Pilot. Mr. Terman's descriptive naration is amazing! I have stood on bluffs outside of Dillon Montana while employed by a siesmic exploration crew and, he made feel as though I were there again. Just east of St. George Utah there is a deserted strip .. as he outlines, I know the place.I will bet that the mountains of Cuba are just as he says. Great plot! Lots of well developed side stories! Truely a very well done historical novel.

You won't be able to put this one down

The author's descriptions are so vivid, during an airplane ride into Cuba I found myself gasping for oxygen the same as the character I was reading about. Full of intricate details and twisted plots -- I keep looking for more by this author, but haven't found an