Cuba

Rating:
Summary: Cuban trauma
Review: Alright as succintly as possible I loved my first taste of connts militaristic writings and thought it a deserving epic. The author deals convincingly with a number of political and personnaly emotive issues , but isn't that what fictional writings all about. The sub-theme of the belleagured Cuban peoples plight is uncannily releastic. The book even has Cubas version of the Kennedy family. Yes , the colourful but sad Sedando clann with their hugely varying aspirations serve for intriguing and entralling reading and ultimately are an integral component of the storyline.

Ofcourse we ignore the military theme at our peril. It too is undeniably captivating and surely decisive. The prospect of an explosive clash between the might of the American army and embittered and avengful Cuban counterparts over nuclear armaments is mouthwatering.

Again the Yanks are forefronted by the intrepid and revereant Admiral Jake Grafton co-staring alongside Commander Toad Tarkington. With the black clad and sinister figure of a clandestined CIA agent lurking in the wings this makes for some entertaining stuff.

Put all this in the mixer and Connts presents a thoroughly fascinating although politically delicate fictional fable without focusing excessively on one particular sub-plot.

Rating:
Summary: Resolving a new Cuban Missile Crisis, Jake Grafton style
Review: It was good to see Jake Grafton back in action. I think some fans will be disapointed because Jake has a bit of a reduced role in this book, Coonts lets a few new characters do most of the dirty work. I thought his use of Grafton was appropriate and refreshing, I mean how much can you really have the Admiral in command of a carrier task force sneaking around and shooting people in alleys.

I enjoyed this book more than the Red Horseman, which struck me as a bit simplistic, but that is just my opinion.

I don't know how to reconcile the story in Under Seige with what happens here, so I won't try to justify it, however, it certainly did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.

Was this book classic Jake Grafton? No, I don't know if I could put it in the same category as Flight of the Intruders or Final Flight. Was it good to see Jake Grafton back in action again? Yes, it was. I thought the writing was pretty solid, and although the bad guys weren't much of a match for Grafton and friends, they managed to throw more than a few curves. The subplots were interesting as well, and there were many interesting characters. Overall, it was an enjoyable book that I read all too quickly, wishing there were more of it to read.

Rating:
Summary: Short on ideas?
Review: OK, Ill keep this simple. The big dissapointment for me was the "return" of Castro after his death in Under Siege. Are we running short on plot twists here? If you know what Im taking about, i was half expecting El Hakim to swoop from the sky and attack from his transport plane. Its a good read, but not on par what I have come to expect for this author. He must have written this book just to get something out on the shelves to please his publisher. So, its interesting, but I would really like to see this author get back to "basics" and further develop the Jake Grafton gang of characters and not try and bring back the dead.

Rating:
Summary: Cuba - the paradise & the peril!
Review: Snatched from today's headlines, a boat full of refugees sets out for Florida as a dictator lies dying & his ministers plot for power. Old USSR missiles with chemical warheads come online even as the US Navy ships out-dated weapons from Guantanemo Bay. The Prologue is a fascinating glimpse of the history of USSR/Cuban relationships over the past 40 years as seen through the eyes of an aged Russian missile tender. Then Rear Admiral Jake Grafton & his side-kick, Commander Toad Tarkington are on the high seas again off the coast of the paradise of Cuba. A super modern naval/political yarn with surprises at every corner & a rollicking good pace. Well worth the read - tight story with some memorable characters - especially the modernday Don Quixote in his MiG-29. END

Rating:
Summary: If Coonts is trying to emulate Tom Clancy here, well...
Review: ...this isn't too shabby a job. In the past, Coonts has focused almost entirely on the main characters--Grafton, Toad, Rita (Mrs. Toad), et al--while Clancy has always been good at "bit players. This book has heavy emphasis on minor character "El Ocho", a ballplayer whose manager has talked him into emulating the Marielitas so that he can ultimately emulate El Duque. Despite the fact El Ocho is realistic about his talents as compared to the big leaguers. The scenes at sea aboard the usual unsafe boat are extremely grueling. The only problem is that Coonts has decided to also emulate Clive Cussler in drafting Fidel Castro into the cast. Cussler has his hero Dirk Pitt saving Fidel from a coup--here, Coonts has him dying of cancer, with evil opportunists angling to become his replacement. In my opinion, when authors do this sort of thing, they reveal more about their ideology than they do their talent as storytellers. The job of the author of fiction is to provide the reader with fantasy, not indulge his own wishful thinking. Fidel may constitute a rather negative reality, but he is a reality nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: A so--so "chapter" of Jake Grafton's career
Review: "Cuba" seemed like it might be an entertaining read, given the current political dynamics and newsmakers. Plus, I thought it would be nice to have another "chapter" featuring Jake Grafton. However, this book didn't really live up to expectations.

As with another reviewer, I also had to put aside the inconsistency with Fidel Castro being knocked off in an earlier Coonts book. Also, as the same reviewer suggested, the notion that this is a "Jake Grafton" book is slightly misleading, given the small percentage of the story that features him.

One of Mr. Coonts' strongpoints is that when he writes action sequences, the read can move very fast. His descriptiveness of flight and combat are also very strong. However, he seems to take forever to get to these assets in "Cuba". I felt the first two-thirds of the book were just short of interminable as he set up the various storylines. Then the assault on Cuba turned out to be quick and enjoyable reading; unfortunately, since it was such a small chunk of the book, it wound up being too short.

The enjoyment I had reading the last 100 or so pages almost made me rate this more positively, until I actually thought about how long it seemed to take to get there. It seemed to me that he could have balanced the action and plot development out a little better. After having almost all action and little to no plot development in his previous book, "Fortunes Of War", it seemed like he swung back too far in the other direction with this one.

I found a couple "loose ends" also in reading this that Mr. Coonts seemed to fail to address (unless he plans a return to this storyline). One was the issue of Castro's videotape. We read of one being interrupted and Castro dying before he can finish, with a small reference to two tapes being there. Then near the end of the story, we find that Castro completed one speech naming his successor, but the reader (unless I missed something) doesn't get any explanation for when/how it was made. Also, the resolution with the biological lab at the University of Havana seemed to have been left hanging; all we got was a mob and Vargas being arrested...that was it.

I wonder if perhaps Mr. Coonts pushed "Cuba" out too soon after finishing "Fortunes Of War". That would explain an effort that seems, well, subpar. I think he needs to spend a little more time working on a balanced story that is more along the lines of his earlier works (i.e. "Flight Of The Intruder", "The Red Horsemen", "Intruders") that were far more compelling and enjoyable. Those are works I would recommend strongly to those who are newcomers to Mr. Coonts' work; "Cuba" is not a good addition to his resume.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed & Dull
Review: Seems like Coonts just went through the motions on this one. I dove into this book expecting another fast-paced Jake Grafton military thriller. Soon discovered Jake had a minor role and thought: OK, maybe Coonts is passing the torch from Jake to Toad Tarkington. Much to my chagrin, Toad also had minor role. Call this one a DUD.

Rating:
Summary: Well written at a good pace
Review: Having read all of the Jake Grafton series and other works by Coonts, Cuba was a nice addition to my collection.

One of the potential problems in writing a series about a character is that author needs to avoid making the character a superhero. Coonts does a very good job with Grafton by doing just that. The three recurring characters are not together by plot convenience and the circumstances surrounding their presence near Cuba.

The advantage of how Coonts' writing style is that I never knew if or when one of the main characters might fall victim to the enemy. This raised the tension in the story and kept me interested throughout.

Cuba was well-paced and enjoyable. I disagree with other assessments that this was not a Jake Grafton novel. Grafton may not have been the sole player and indeed played a less significant role than in past books of the series but his presence there gave a familiarity with the characters that allowed the reader to be taken directly to the plot without having to introduce every aspect of every character like he would have had to do if this were not part of a series.

It may not be as deep as some other books, but it was very enjoyable and I would recommend it for any fan of military fiction.

Rating:
Summary: NOT MUCH FUN
Review: Castro is dying...Many are waiting (many with their own personal agendas) for his death to make the changes that are needed. As a battle for power inside Cuba erupts, Jake Grafton is called to duty to stop a plot that will bring down the world.

It is very hard to find an Action/Thriller that is fun, and this book is no exception. The pacing is too slow for this type of book and there are too many characters (I found myself going back to see who's who).

Stephen Coonts has written better novels. It seems he tried to create a clever plot but in the process made it too confusing, and no fun.

Rating:
Summary: WELCOME BACK JAKE GRAFTON AND CO.!
Review: Stephen Coonts's latest work is on a level with his earlier Jake Grafton novels! In other words, superb, exciting and very well researched. Rear Admiral Grafton is commanding the USS UNITED STATES CVBG on a mission to retrieve chemical and biological warfare from Cuba, which was left over from forty years previously. However, Cuba's Minister of Security, Alejo Vargas, has paid the military to upgrade the remaining SCUD missiles and arm them with a deadly polio virus. Fidel Castro dies of cancer, his successor Hector Sedano, an ardent anti-communist is thrown into prison and the missiles are targeted at the US. Can Grafton stop Vargas in time? Not only that, there's a subplot of Cuban baseball star El Ocho fleeing the country in an overloaded boat of refugees which meets with disaster. The military action, involving an assortment of aircraft and the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor(one of Dale Brown's favourite mechanical characters!) and naval destroyers is well staged with thoughful strategy, all the familiar characters are there - Toad Tarkington, Rita Moravia and Jake - and the Washington scenes where an incompetent President has to succumb to military thinking are just about right and not too drawn out, unlike Clancy's EXEC ORDERS and DEBT OF HONOUR with too much unnecessary detail. Coonts, as ever, has got writing down to a fine art, and you'd be a fool not to miss this stunning novel. Hard to fault.