Rating: 
Summary: Not up to par like Under siege but still good.
Review: Unlike Under Siege the best book this author wrote and the best situations that his character was in. This time a great but not superior story!
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Since Flight of the Intruder a read several books by Stephen Coonts. However with Cuba Coonts drifts from the military action genre to political-fiction and the result is very disappointing ! I did not even finish the book...
Rating: 
Summary: Slow to start ... doesn't get much better
Review: This review refers to the unabridged audio version, read by Michael Prichard. I thought this was going to be a political/spy thriller but it turned out to be more of a war novel, with far too much description of Tomahawk missles, F15 fighter planes and warheads (for my taste at least). In addition, it was extemely slow going for the first 4-5 tapes. I almost gave up on it. It did get a little better in the second half, but I don't think Coontz has an ear for dialog, especially then he's using it to have a character expound on political themes (no one *really* talks like that!). This is apparently one of a series of "Jake Grafton" novels but I've never read any of the others (have you noticed that heros in these books always have names like Jake and Buck ... aren't there any heroic Leonards or Marvins in the world?) One great line I will always remember is: "Either he was telling the truth or a liar of Clintonian proportions." The reader was very good, but I did have one complaint. The chapters are apparently broken up into sections, which shift from one subplot to another. The reader never even paused between them, so it took a few sentences to realize it switched "story." Yet, between chapters, he paused so long I thought the tape had come to the end. But that's a relatively minor flaw. All in all, this book was good enough to keep me listening to the end, but wouldn't cause me to run out and buy any other Coonts novels.
Rating:
Summary: "Good, But Not One Of Coonts' Best"
Review: All I have to say is, I want more Jake & Toad & Rita! While I enjoyed "Cuba," I was disappointed that these three characters I've enjoyed for years were relagated to a secondary role in the book. I thought Coonts did a good job handling the trials of the Sedano family as the power struggle after Castro's death begins (btw, I thought Castro died in "Under Seige." Did he get better or something). Some of the best parts involved Ocho with the boat people fleeing to America. Coonts really brought out the desperation and hopelessness of their situation. The Secret Police Chief Vargas was a pretty nasty fellow, and I thought there was some good spy stuff with the CIA guys Chance and Carmellini. Coonts did put together some solid combat scenes toward the end when Grafton led his carrier battle group against Cuba's biological ballistic missiles aimed at the Southern United States. Loved the parts involving Cuba's lone flyable MiG-29. All in all, a good book, but not up there with classic Grafton stories like "Under Seige" & "The Red Horseman."
Rating:
Summary: What ever happened to the storyline?
Review: I've been an avid reader of Mr. Coonts books up until now. I was really disapointed when I read that Fidel Castro was "alive" after being killed in the book "Under Seige". Even Jack Yocke wrote a series of stories on the subject on that book. I expected a lot from this book and I didn't get it.
Rating:
Summary: Where's Razor?
Review: In Cuba, Coonts' alter-ego, it's Admiral Jake Grafton in command when America's decision to remove bacteriological and chem weapons from its base in Guantanamo Bay coincides with an oncoming shift in the Cuban hierarchy. Castro is old and seeking feverishly to lay the road for an orderly transition to democracy before taking the last puff. Opportunists and militants collide to put lives at risk when we learn that Russian ballistic missiles left behind for almost 40 years were armed with bacteriological weapons of their own and are targeted on American cities. In the ensuing melee, we meet the warriors and leaders of both sides. Coonts adds in spies with a rather novel cover - corporate reps for US cigarette makers. It gets confusing at times, and Coonts has yet to recreate the tight-knit plot of "Flight of the Intruder" or ever "Minotaur". There are too many charachters (none of whom are interesting as the fliers in the original "Flight of the Intruder", characters like Boxman, Rabbit and Razor) and subplots for Coonts to concern himself or even flesh out. Still the charachters aren't as thin as those in "Fortunes of War", and "Cuba" is clear proof that that earlier book was merely a fluke.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to Jake Grafton
Review: I've read most of Jake Grafton's book and it's still behind Jack Ryan's one. I think that "Cuba" is making it worst. Actually, I don't see Jake taking much part in this book. Story line was mixed, great at time, boring at others. Some (too much) incredible stories are going on inside this one.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the first three quarters!
Review: This book had me absolutely captivated as it portrayed life in Cuba...as it developed characters of a family and others around them that live in today's Cuba...as it protrayed how real Cubans feel about their leadership and how, with little of tangeable wealth, there is happiness. About 75% in to the Book it took a completely different turn and became a handbook of military jargon and seemed to want to merely show the expertise of the author in modern military proceedures. The book moved from a real story with depth of characters to wartime garbage. If you want a Book on the military and the strength of today's military read the last quarter - if you want a good book on today's Cuba and the feeling of Cuban people, read the first three quarters. Unfortunately mixing both merely makes you feel cheated.
Rating:
Summary: Anti-Clinton character assault ruined this mediocre book.
Review: I would have put 0 stars, but I guess you can't in Amazon's system. The book is good bedtime reading because its descriptions of Cuba are just interesting enough to get your mind off your problems, but not so good that you can't fall asleep. Even at the end I was just reading a chapter or two at a time. When Coonts describes an evil character as a "liar of Clintonian magnitude" I realized that I didn't like Coonts.
Rating:
Summary: Ripping good read!
Review: I read this book in one night, which is quick for me. This is more than just another high-tech thriller. Coonts knows how to spin a good yarn, he starts with the premise that Castro is dying which opens a floodgate of possible scenarios of what could occur as Cuba prepares for a transition of power. some of the plot is perposterous but this is fiction. If you like fiction you should like this book. I also recomend "A Tourist in the Yucatan" Juicy thriller!
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