WOW! I can hardly believe it, I have been reading Nelson DeMille’s books for almost 30 years. In all that time only a few have failed me, I liked all the others a lot. (Hey, I guess everyone is entitled to an oopsie once in a while.) But A Cuban Affair is classic DeMille, smart and at his best.

Mac, a highly decorated veteran, retires to sunny Key West, Florida to operate his charter fishing boat, ‘Tea METERelderly.’ Mac wants to get as far away from the war as possible. The problem is, the scars people can’t see haunt him more than the ones they can see. As he relaxes at the infamous Green Parrot Bar, he is approached by a lawyer named Carlos who wants to rent The Maine for a trip to Cuba. With thoughts of his boat loan dancing in his head, he reluctantly agrees to meet the client, Eduardo, who works with anti-Castro groups and a beautiful, sassy Cuban-American lady named Sara, with whom he fell instantly in love. Sara wants to recover a trunk hidden in a cave by her grandfather during the 1959 revolution. She is said to have sixty million dollars and land documents proving true ownership of properties illegally confiscated under the Castro regime are worth even more. . He agree.

The plan is for Mac and Sara to mingle on an educational tour of the island. Then sneak out unseen, head to the cave, find the trunk, and then slide down the beach and hitchhike home to The Maine. Simple truth? Not in today’s environment and not with Nelson DeMille holding the pen.

Expertly researched and set just as cold war-era relations were beginning to soften, DeMille has provided an authentic portrait of Cuban-American relations and life on the island. The characters are sharp, deeply drawn, and well thought out. No stick figures here! I feel like I know these people. I wanted to know them and I cared about what was going on in their lives. The pace was fast, with a lot of clever and strategically placed action. (Don’t overdo it, blow everything up for no reason.) The plot unfolded layer by layer, building excitement and tension like the slow rattle of an uphill roller coaster. (I found myself holding my breath more than once.)

Fast-paced action sequences, hold on to your seat, clever dialogue, and DeMille’s unique humor – what more could a reader ask for? It is beautiful, moving, exciting and most of all entertaining. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading a well written story.

Happy reading!