Cuba Strait

Rating:
Summary: International intrigue!
Review: A young, New York State patrolman (retired early from a gunshot wound) is appreciating a slower pace of life fishing off the Florida Keys, when a tropical storm blackens the sky. He is unaware of the danger he's about to reel in from the turbulent seas.

The character, Rick Broca, is lured into a deadly scheme that reaches international proportions - all from risking his life to save another man whose identity is shrouded in complexities and unknowns. Broca becomes entwined in a net of unsavory intrigue with no apparent escape.

Stroud has an uncanny ability as a storyteller to combine personalities and action into a blend that keeps you turning the pages, wondering what will happen next. "Cuba Strait" is a complex story, which comes together in a convincing way that perfectly fits the age of mass terror.

This is the first novel I have read by Stroud, and it definitely will not be the last. If you enjoy action, adventure, and intense stories, Stroud is a writer worth remembering!

Rating:
Summary: A tropical thriller that makes for an enjoyable read
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: This high-anxiety thriller is impossible to put down!
Review: 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:
Summary: TENSE, THRILLING, AND TERRIFIC!
Review: 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 draws upon his experiences in the military, as a salvage diver in Mexico, and as an undercover operative infiltrating biker gangs to create street savvy, realistic characters. Powered by excitement and plot twists "Cuba Strait" drives to an explosive finish.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Rocket ride!
Review: 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.