Havana

It's 1953 and Earl Swagger, now a sergeant in the Arkansas State Police, is persuaded to hire on as a bodyguard for Congressman "Boss" Harry Etheridge on a visit to Cuba, but unknown to him he is being lured to the island to assassinate the young and troublesome Fidel Castro, who is going about making speeches about Cuba for Cubans. This is bad for the CIA, the Mafia, Big Sugar and Big Rum, all who want to maintain the status... Read Full Review

If, like me, you've been following the Swaggers, father and son, then you have been eagerly awaiting HAVANA. I couldn't wait to set eyes on pages, because I have to admit that I like the way Stephen Hunter serves up his violence. Straight forward and justly deserved. The Swaggers are no nonsense guys who are firmly rooted with a morel code that brooks no nonsense. Mess with them and bad things happen to you. I grabbed a Carib... Read Full Review

Stephen Hunter has come a long way since he wrote (and I read) The Master Sniper, perhaps two decades ago. I have to say I wasn't very impressed with that book, and it was some years before I picked up another of Hunter's books, Point of Impact as it happened. I still think that's his best book, though Time to Hunt is also very good, and the rest of his books since then are an improvement over his earlier works. Point of... Read Full Review

This is a good one. Besides Hunter's continuation of the Swagger family history, a plus in itself, it is also replete with historical and semi-historical material which brought back memories. In one incident, Gunter sort of "took a shot" at Papa Hemingway--made him out to be a drunken boor--and maybe he was, but I loved Hemingway's writing, and thought better of him. It reminded me a little of what Steinbeck did to the... Read Full Review

Cuba in 1953 is wide open, appealing to rich Americans who want to revel in wine, women and gambling. The Mob, the CIA and Big Sugar want it to stay that way. Castro and the Soviets want change.Earl Swagger has been brought to the country under false pretenses. He thinks he's there to bodyguard a congressman, but the CIA puts him on the hunt for Castro's head. The Russians however have their own version of Swagger, a guy fresh... Read Full Review