Cuba
By Stephen Coonts
St. Martin's, $24.95
ISBN 031220521

Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

"El Presidente is dying."

This news is neither unexpected nor entirely unwelcome in either Havana or Washington; it is however, one more complication in the mission given to Jake Grafton, now a rear admiral commanding a carrier task force off the Cuban coast. The United States has discovered a cache of biological weapons unwisely stored at Guantanamo in an earlier effort to intimidate the Cuban leader. Grafton's task force has been ordered to "monitor" the retrieval of the weapons and their return to the United States for destruction. As fans of Stephen Coonts' hero already know, Grafton has a demonstrated knack for being where the action is ever since his combat missions flying an A-6 Intruder in Vietnam. This has never been more true than in Cuba, where the fate of millions hangs in the balance.

Grafton's mission is further complicated by the discovery that Cuba too has developed and deployed biological weapons. Cuba's weapons, aimed at America's population centers, are to be delivered by Russian missiles long believed to have been returned to Russia in the 1960's crisis. Although the existence of these missiles is a closely held secret, those who would assume Fidel's mantle are well aware of the lethal potential they represent. The admiral's charge instantly expands to include destruction of the Cuban missiles and biological weapons facilities before they become pawns in the succession power struggle.

Five members of a large Cuban family, the Sedanos, are drawn into the vicious intrigues to succeed Castro -- the country's finance minister, a hugely popular baseball player, and a charismatic priest. The widow of still another is Castro's mistress and confidant. Each of the Sedanos becomes a target and victim of the ambitious Minister of the Interior, Alejo Vargas. Beyond the prize of absolute power, the Praetorian schemers are driven to recover the millions in gold that Castro collected but never used after the sudden collapse of the Batista regime.

Cuba demonstrates that Coonts has lost none of his grasp of military hardware and tactics. His easy style combines accuracy and detail without reading like a technical paper. The plot anticipates tomorrow's headlines, with descriptions combining such advanced weapons as the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and F-117 along with updated versions of the C-130, EA-6B and F-14, and gives this thriller a sense of virtual reality.

John Messer is a freelance writer in Ludington, Michigan.