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CUBA Unchained

Name: CUBA Unchained
Author: Gerard Dion
ISBN: 978-1-5035-7954-5

A NOVEL

by Gerard Dion ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2015

An interesting thriller that doesn’t quite match the ambition of its protagonist.

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In Dion’s debut political thriller, an ambitious businessman takes it upon himself to fix relations between the United States and Cuba.

After growing restless in his retirement, successful businessman and former Marine Corp captain Nickolas Harvey sets out to realize what he refers to as his “Signature Event,” an ambitious project he hopes will be his legacy. Enlisting several former business colleagues, Harvey creates a political organization whose main objective is to end the embargo against Cuba. Harvey’s campaign quickly gains publicity; he garners enough support to become the point of interest for several major political groups. Harvey’s success also makes him a target of rival organizations and those looking to maintain the current state of affairs. Fending off both political and physical attacks, Harvey takes his cause to the highest levels of U.S. and Cuban governments with the goal of ending their Cold War animosity. Dion delivers a complicated thriller that expands its focus to include the plight of those living in Cuba under the effects of the embargo, particularly those looking to seek asylum in the United States to escape poverty or political prosecution. The novel unfolds at a quick pace and uses the character’s campaign to offer essential background information regarding U.S.–Cuba relations. Despite the fast pace of its plot, Dion’s writing sometimes drags and falls flat; the more dramatic moments of the novel are treated with the same muted tenor as the more mundane. The novel also spends a great deal of time invested in the political and business elements of the plot, which may not satisfy those looking for a more action-oriented thriller, but these details do offer additional realism.

An interesting thriller that doesn’t quite match the ambition of its protagonist.

Pub Date: July 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-5035-7954-5

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Xlibris

Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.