Book Review: After Havana

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

After Havana     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Charles Fleming
Class/Genre:   Mystery
St. Martin’s, Jan 2004, $24.95, 336 pp.

In 1958 American expatriate Pete Deacon hides in Cuba from powerful mobsters and business moguls though he sees no difference between the two groups wanting to harm him. Pete loves to play the trumpet and misses his beloved Anita, lost as a byproduct of the IVORY COAST fiasco. His foes want a piece of his butt and own Anita but Pete knows there is nothing he can do except hide his body in Cuba and his mind with alcohol.

To further disguise himself, Pete, who has been in Havana for three years, uses the name Sloan and plays a substitute at best trumpet, a coronet, as part of a jazz band at the Tropicana. However, as is the luck of Pete by any name, Anita escorted by tycoon Nick Calloway enters the Tropicana. Surprisingly, Nick cherishes Anita perhaps as much as Pete treasures her. When the rebels abduct Anita, a weird assortment of allies try to rescue her. However the hills are alive with the sound of treachery, hidden agendas, and double dealing led by American Fed Cardoso as an assassination plot to keep Batista in power unfolds.

This is an exciting historical thriller that brings to life Cuba just prior to the Castro revolution. The story line is exciting, but it is the host of characters kept focused by Pete that makes the era seem so vividly alive. Fans will appreciate this amoral tale in which the results mean everything so double dealing is acceptable by almost every participant, which makes the ethical Pete seem sadly naive. Charles Fleming will have a difficult time keeping the quality as high AFTER HAVANA and the IVORY COAST.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner