Havana
World Series
Non-series
José
Latour
Grove/Atlantic
(Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-8021-1754-6 (0802117546)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-1754-0 (9780802117540)
Publication Date: February 2004
List Price: $23.00
Synopsis (from the publisher): It is the fall of 1958 and all of Cuba is riveted by the World Series-Mickey Mantle's New York Yankees are playing the Milwaukee Braves and bets are coming in fast and furious. Thanks to his friends in the country's troubled dictatorship, the infamous Meyer Lansky's gambling empire is raking in millions, much to the envy of rival mafia boss Joe Bonanno. With a team of Cuba's boldest and most ingenious criminals, Bonanno plans to hijack the small fortune Lansky stands to gain from a Yankees win. The heist goes off brilliantly until Bonanno's point man is double-crossed and shot dead. As Lansky's man in the police department investigates the murder, he suspects the involvement of career criminal Mariano Contreras - and to get Bonanno out of the Cuban racket once and for all, Lansky will stop at nothing to track Contreras down.
Review:
Havana
World Series is
José Latour's eighth novel, and his third to be written in
English.
Havana
World Series is a crime
caper. The reader knows at all times the motivations of the characters,
who is doing what to whom and, usually, why. The appeal of this book,
and it is a very good book, is the setting and locale (late 1950's
Havana), and the author's ability to construct a plausible and
interesting story using a large cast of characters.
There are no "good guys" in Havana
World Series.
The principal characters are thieves, gangsters, or corrupt government
officials. But Latour doesn't portray them as "bad guys" either. The
thieves are generally family men, the gangsters are businessmen looking
to make a semi-legitimate profit, and the government officials see
themselves as less corrupt than men higher up in their own
organizations.
Despite the rogue cast of characters, violence is minimal with emphasis
instead placed on a complex plot and character development. Havana World Series,
which concludes in a satisfactory, if somewhat unexpected, manner, is
an entertaining novel.
Special thanks to Grove/Atlantic for providing an ARC of Havana World Series for this review.
Review Copyright © 2004 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Havana World Series? How would you rate it?
Other books by this author ...
Havana World Series
Grove/Atlantic (Hardcover), February 2004
ISBN-10: 0-8021-1754-6 (0802117546)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-1754-0 (9780802117540)
Comrades
in Miami
Grove Press (Hardcover), September 2005
ISBN-10: 0-8021-1810-0 (0802118100)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-1810-3 (9780802118103)
Hidden
in Havana
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), March 2008
ISBN-10: 0-312-37567-0 (0312375670)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-37567-6 (9780312375676)
Omnimystery
keywords for Havana World Series
...
Location(s) referenced: Havana, Cuba.
