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Killing Che
A rich, complex historical novel in the spirit of Graham Greene and John Le Carre, Killing Ché is a personal and political thriller that pits history's most infamous insurgent against a conflicted and world-weary CIA officer.Pulsing with action, populated by rich characters, and filled with authoritative and inside details from the author, a counter insurgency expert, Killing Ché is a stunning recreation of a conflict that sealed the fate of one of the 20th century's most charismatic and controversial figures.
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First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Chuck Pfarrer
12 books21 followersChuck Pfarrer is a former assault element commander of SEAL Team Six. He has written op-eds for The New York Times and the Knight Ridder syndicate, and appeared as an author and counterterrorism expert on C-SPAN2, NPR, Alhurra, IPR, Voice of America, Fox News, and America Tonight. Pfarrer serves presently as an associate editor of The Counter Terrorist, the American Journal of Counterterrorism. Pfarrer is the author of the bestsellers SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden and Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL. His Hollywood credits include writing and producing work for Navy Seals, Darkman, Hard Target, The Jackal, Virus, and Red Planet. He lives in Michigan.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/chuckp...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/chuckp...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 20, 2007
Former Navy SEAL, Chuck Pfarrer, has produced a beautifully written and exhaustively researched historical novel that follows a barely fictional CIA contract agent, Paul Hoyle, on his mission to engineer the killing of Cuban revolutionary hero, Che Guevara, during his 1967 insurgency against the American backed regime of President Rene Barrientos in Bolivia.
After being disciplined for his complicity in the murder of a British journalist in Vietnam, Hoyle (the infamous “Larry S” of other historical accounts) impulsively resigns from the CIA. In order to “rehabilitate” his image inside the Company, Hoyle signs on as a “contract agent,” a “nomenclature…used for assassins, poisoners, and prostitutes: dispensable people with objectionable skills.”
In Hoyle, Pfarrer has written a noir character worthy of Hammett or Chandler, a good soldier with scant ethical compunctions who, as his time in Bolivia unfolds, learns that the United States is backing a corrupt government and that he has been sent to kill perhaps the most decent man there.
Hoyle’s education is initiated by his affair with Maria Agular, mistress to Bolivia’s secretary of information. Hoyle’s attraction to Maria is, as it were, love at first flight. “When [Hoyle:] first looked at her, he’d felt the exact sensation he had when he parachuted from an airplane.” When Maria jumps, however, it is without a parachute. She becomes, in her own estimation, “a rare and wanton thing: a mistress who takes a lover.” In the world of espionage, however, every pairing is duplicitous. “[Hoyle:] knew he had compromised Maria by becoming her lover; in the trade, this was his handle, the means by which he could control her.”
Falling in love with Maria is the portal through which Hoyle confronts the tremendous conflict between what he is observing and the nature of his job. We watch as a farmer and his son are executed by drunken Bolivian policeman who don’t have anything better to do, causing Hoyle to commit an act of violence that Pfarrer describes in page turning detail. On the other hand, Hoyle encounters another farmer and his family that Che, a physician, had treated, inoculating one of the farmer’s children against small pox. “…Evidence of the little girl’s inoculation and the surgical scar on her forearm,” Pfarrer writes, “were as unlikely as Truth and Justice.”
Pfarrer portrays Che as a man for whom revolution is the highest calling. “Some might have pitied him over the obligation of this work, the austerity of the reward, but in his heart, Guevara was happy. This life had come to him because he chose it."
While his heart resided in Cuba with his wife, Aleida, Che allowed himself the pleasure of “Tania” (Hayde Tamara Buknke Bider), an apparently devoted revolutionary, but also a Soviet double agent. Here Pfarrer portrays, in heartbreaking fashion, Che’s fatal flaw: his naiveté, his inability to discern how the Cubans, Soviets, and even the Bolivian Communist Party, had forsaken the revolution for “greed and the joyless quest for power.”
By the end of Pfarrer’s novel, we are left with Hoyle, a man changed by his love of a woman and his admiration for a man who sacrificed his life for an impossible ideal. We can only hope that there are people like Hoyle who have learned the terrible lessons of our foreign policy blunders and who will use that knowledge to steer our country along more humane and self-preservative paths. Perhaps we have met such a person, however indirectly, in the author of Killing Che.
After being disciplined for his complicity in the murder of a British journalist in Vietnam, Hoyle (the infamous “Larry S” of other historical accounts) impulsively resigns from the CIA. In order to “rehabilitate” his image inside the Company, Hoyle signs on as a “contract agent,” a “nomenclature…used for assassins, poisoners, and prostitutes: dispensable people with objectionable skills.”
In Hoyle, Pfarrer has written a noir character worthy of Hammett or Chandler, a good soldier with scant ethical compunctions who, as his time in Bolivia unfolds, learns that the United States is backing a corrupt government and that he has been sent to kill perhaps the most decent man there.
Hoyle’s education is initiated by his affair with Maria Agular, mistress to Bolivia’s secretary of information. Hoyle’s attraction to Maria is, as it were, love at first flight. “When [Hoyle:] first looked at her, he’d felt the exact sensation he had when he parachuted from an airplane.” When Maria jumps, however, it is without a parachute. She becomes, in her own estimation, “a rare and wanton thing: a mistress who takes a lover.” In the world of espionage, however, every pairing is duplicitous. “[Hoyle:] knew he had compromised Maria by becoming her lover; in the trade, this was his handle, the means by which he could control her.”
Falling in love with Maria is the portal through which Hoyle confronts the tremendous conflict between what he is observing and the nature of his job. We watch as a farmer and his son are executed by drunken Bolivian policeman who don’t have anything better to do, causing Hoyle to commit an act of violence that Pfarrer describes in page turning detail. On the other hand, Hoyle encounters another farmer and his family that Che, a physician, had treated, inoculating one of the farmer’s children against small pox. “…Evidence of the little girl’s inoculation and the surgical scar on her forearm,” Pfarrer writes, “were as unlikely as Truth and Justice.”
Pfarrer portrays Che as a man for whom revolution is the highest calling. “Some might have pitied him over the obligation of this work, the austerity of the reward, but in his heart, Guevara was happy. This life had come to him because he chose it."
While his heart resided in Cuba with his wife, Aleida, Che allowed himself the pleasure of “Tania” (Hayde Tamara Buknke Bider), an apparently devoted revolutionary, but also a Soviet double agent. Here Pfarrer portrays, in heartbreaking fashion, Che’s fatal flaw: his naiveté, his inability to discern how the Cubans, Soviets, and even the Bolivian Communist Party, had forsaken the revolution for “greed and the joyless quest for power.”
By the end of Pfarrer’s novel, we are left with Hoyle, a man changed by his love of a woman and his admiration for a man who sacrificed his life for an impossible ideal. We can only hope that there are people like Hoyle who have learned the terrible lessons of our foreign policy blunders and who will use that knowledge to steer our country along more humane and self-preservative paths. Perhaps we have met such a person, however indirectly, in the author of Killing Che.
December 23, 2011
I can't recommend this book, although I found it somewhat interesting for what I learned about a portion of recent history I knew next to nothing about. But since it's fiction based on history I didn't know what to trust and what to regard as mere speculation.
As far as the writing itself, it wasn't too bad although man, talk about overuse of cheesy metaphors. My eyes are sore from rolling them so much.
As far as the writing itself, it wasn't too bad although man, talk about overuse of cheesy metaphors. My eyes are sore from rolling them so much.
June 11, 2014
I read this book based on the promotional comparisons to Graham Greene, an author I really love. Unfortunately, after reading, I found the similarities are only superficial at best. Yes, it is a novel of espionage set in an exotic locale during a time of historical crisis. But that's it.
What makes Greene's books so interesting, at least to me, are the characters that he sets in these situations. They are deeply flawed, interesting individuals, with prejudices and problems, who have to navigate their own personal issues as much as the issues in the world about them. The protagonist in this novel is not flawed, at all. He is a man's man, and his only flaw seems to be that he had too strong of a moral compass to keep a job with the CIA during Vietnam. He is rugged and relatable to the soldiers, intelligent enough to discuss literature, charming enough to seduce a beautiful woman, not too high brow to use physical confrontation, and ultimately guided by what is morally right, all of the time. Even if he is "having an affair," the cuckolded individual is despicable, so his actions are justifiable, because he and Maria are really in love. The seeming perfection of this character is simultaneously irritating and dull, and his utter lack of flaws makes him seem better suited to a grocery store paperback.
The women in this novel are also really poorly written. They are very one-dimensional and are completely dominated by––and more strikingly, defined by––their relationships with the men. In Greene's novels (and the ones that come to mind immediately are "The Comedians" and "Travels With My Aunt"), the women are flawed individuals too, but more importantly, exist in a world where they are their own actual people. Their lives, decisions, and actions are not dictated solely by the mad, passionate love they feel for the flawless protagonist or the romantic revolutionary, but they have their own agency, something that the author here does not grant.
The one interesting part of this novel is the reliance on Che's own journals to construct, at the very least, the narrative of his time in Bolivia. It is a piece of authenticity that allows the author to hypothesize on the revolutionary's personality and convictions, and ultimately makes him the most interesting character in the book (which I am assuming is due to what makes him interesting in the novel being part of real life and not of the author's invention).
Ultimately, I would rate this book as very much unlike Graham Greene, and am disappointed to have spent the time I did reading it.
What makes Greene's books so interesting, at least to me, are the characters that he sets in these situations. They are deeply flawed, interesting individuals, with prejudices and problems, who have to navigate their own personal issues as much as the issues in the world about them. The protagonist in this novel is not flawed, at all. He is a man's man, and his only flaw seems to be that he had too strong of a moral compass to keep a job with the CIA during Vietnam. He is rugged and relatable to the soldiers, intelligent enough to discuss literature, charming enough to seduce a beautiful woman, not too high brow to use physical confrontation, and ultimately guided by what is morally right, all of the time. Even if he is "having an affair," the cuckolded individual is despicable, so his actions are justifiable, because he and Maria are really in love. The seeming perfection of this character is simultaneously irritating and dull, and his utter lack of flaws makes him seem better suited to a grocery store paperback.
The women in this novel are also really poorly written. They are very one-dimensional and are completely dominated by––and more strikingly, defined by––their relationships with the men. In Greene's novels (and the ones that come to mind immediately are "The Comedians" and "Travels With My Aunt"), the women are flawed individuals too, but more importantly, exist in a world where they are their own actual people. Their lives, decisions, and actions are not dictated solely by the mad, passionate love they feel for the flawless protagonist or the romantic revolutionary, but they have their own agency, something that the author here does not grant.
The one interesting part of this novel is the reliance on Che's own journals to construct, at the very least, the narrative of his time in Bolivia. It is a piece of authenticity that allows the author to hypothesize on the revolutionary's personality and convictions, and ultimately makes him the most interesting character in the book (which I am assuming is due to what makes him interesting in the novel being part of real life and not of the author's invention).
Ultimately, I would rate this book as very much unlike Graham Greene, and am disappointed to have spent the time I did reading it.
March 4, 2018
This book does have some pretty significant flaws, yet it was worth reading.
The lead character Paul Hoyle's overbearing white saviour complex in 'poor & hopeless' Bolivia, two extremely shallow love stories and run-of-the-mill spy thriller cliches did test my patience but the book was redeemed by what I thought was a very believable fictionalization of Che Guevara's inner thoughts.
Both irredeemable murderer and immortal symbol of hope, the conflicted nature of Che Guevara's significance has been brought to light with well chosen incidents and dialogues from his last few days. The descriptions of Central Bolivia's jungle terrain and the closing scenes of the guerrilla army's last stand are so enthralling that it made me wonder if the rest of the book was by the same author. It's a real pity that the rest of the book's characters & plots were not given as much thought as Che because if the author had done so, this really would have been a cracker of a book.
That said, still a good read, if only for the feel and fall of Ernesto Che Guevara.
The lead character Paul Hoyle's overbearing white saviour complex in 'poor & hopeless' Bolivia, two extremely shallow love stories and run-of-the-mill spy thriller cliches did test my patience but the book was redeemed by what I thought was a very believable fictionalization of Che Guevara's inner thoughts.
Both irredeemable murderer and immortal symbol of hope, the conflicted nature of Che Guevara's significance has been brought to light with well chosen incidents and dialogues from his last few days. The descriptions of Central Bolivia's jungle terrain and the closing scenes of the guerrilla army's last stand are so enthralling that it made me wonder if the rest of the book was by the same author. It's a real pity that the rest of the book's characters & plots were not given as much thought as Che because if the author had done so, this really would have been a cracker of a book.
That said, still a good read, if only for the feel and fall of Ernesto Che Guevara.
January 24, 2008
Not a bad story, per se... but the author spent way to much time with the whole Hoyle/Maria thing. Without all the squishy Harlequin love story bull crap it might have been a semi-readable novel. As it is, it’s merely tolerable.
October 17, 2015
Really is a fantastic book, I've read it several times and am still compelled by the drama... and even more it's a real story
August 6, 2024
Populated with powerfully drawn characters, Killing Che is a stunning re-creation of a conflict that sealed the fate of one of the twentieth century’s most controversial and complex political figures-a man whose renown continues to grow decades after his violent end. The writer uses two protagonists, tells us about their life, how they became what they are now and how they became a tool that was used by the government officials. Although the setup of this book is of a political/ militant thriller, the storyline revolves a lot around their love life and how the struggles of their personal life shaped their lives. Although death of Che Guevara might come to the minds of the reader quite naturally (as in yeah he is gonna die since the name of the book is Killing Che), the reader will be surprised to see the complexity with which the story of this particular incident is woven.
February 9, 2021
CIA contractor Paul Hoyle is an excellent character. Pfarrer sets the political scene in Bolivia well with the bungling and vicious military, predatory elites and both the dire straits of the peasantry and their cynicism. Maria, the mistress with a heart of gold and Tania, the Russian undercover agent in love with Che are well drawn as well. But the plot goes stupid about 200 pages in, Hoyle's travails trying to rescue Maria and the battles with the guerillas were a waste of ink.
February 11, 2017
Despite the boring beginning of the book, it deserves 5 stars even for the end result Book shows clearly what the war meant for both sides
August 4, 2019
This book was amazing!!
January 21, 2020
4,5/5
April 21, 2020
It was really good to read this book and gave the feel of watching a Hollywood movie.
April 5, 2008
I finished reading "Killing Che" by Chuck Pfarrer a fictional account based on Che Guevara's final revolutionary attempt in Bolivia. The book is Pfarrer's first fictional novel, but he did write a non-fiction book and was a screenwriter for several movies including The Jackal, Hard Target, and Navy SEALs.
The book is set in Bolivia in 1967 at a time when the US fears a country by country communist revolution in South America. When a Bolivian army unit is eliminated by guerrilla's the CIA sends in a contractor to investigate. The contractor is Paul Hoyle, an ex-agent now seeking work after a divorce and early exit from the agency.
Hoyle is teamed with a CIA agent and they form a small unit that attempts to track the insurgents. One brush with the guerrilla's provides evidence that the unit is being led by the legendary Cuban Che Guevara. Guevara was thought to be dead and his possible presence increases the stakes.
As the story unfolds corruption and diplomacy go hand-in-hand from the Bolivian army to its government, and operatives in Cuba, Moscow, and the US are all in league at times and against one another at others.
While any student of history knows the ultimate outcome of the book, it had plenty of twists and turns and great insight into both the perspective of the insurgent and counter-insurgent.
In the beginning of the book I found there were some awkward word choices that pulled me out of the story. Some of the scenes were not written "naturally" and the only negative I could give would be that they just didn't have the "absolutely right" word at the right place. Not that this is easy to do, but it was noticeable to me as I read. I did think the middle and end were well done so for a first fiction effort it was a good one.
The book is set in Bolivia in 1967 at a time when the US fears a country by country communist revolution in South America. When a Bolivian army unit is eliminated by guerrilla's the CIA sends in a contractor to investigate. The contractor is Paul Hoyle, an ex-agent now seeking work after a divorce and early exit from the agency.
Hoyle is teamed with a CIA agent and they form a small unit that attempts to track the insurgents. One brush with the guerrilla's provides evidence that the unit is being led by the legendary Cuban Che Guevara. Guevara was thought to be dead and his possible presence increases the stakes.
As the story unfolds corruption and diplomacy go hand-in-hand from the Bolivian army to its government, and operatives in Cuba, Moscow, and the US are all in league at times and against one another at others.
While any student of history knows the ultimate outcome of the book, it had plenty of twists and turns and great insight into both the perspective of the insurgent and counter-insurgent.
In the beginning of the book I found there were some awkward word choices that pulled me out of the story. Some of the scenes were not written "naturally" and the only negative I could give would be that they just didn't have the "absolutely right" word at the right place. Not that this is easy to do, but it was noticeable to me as I read. I did think the middle and end were well done so for a first fiction effort it was a good one.
February 24, 2014
This is the first novel I've ever read that is both very good and very bad. It's uncanny. I've read pretty much all of Chuck Pfarrer's books and have thoroughly enjoyed them. When he writes non-fiction he is articulate, clear and has great pacing, it's a joy to read his books. This fictional novel though... Not so much.
When he's in his element, the book is great, for example when he is describing battles or military equipment, things Pfarrer is intimately familiar with, you can picture everything clearly, as if you were almost there. When dealing with the non-physical world of feelings, etc the writing is terrible, the frequent similes are weird, trite, cliched and out of place, it reads like a bad romance novel.
If you can stomach these terrible bits or just gloss over them, the novel isn't that terrible. It is by no means a good novel, but is interesting if you have any curiosity about Che Guevara's last campaign.
When he's in his element, the book is great, for example when he is describing battles or military equipment, things Pfarrer is intimately familiar with, you can picture everything clearly, as if you were almost there. When dealing with the non-physical world of feelings, etc the writing is terrible, the frequent similes are weird, trite, cliched and out of place, it reads like a bad romance novel.
If you can stomach these terrible bits or just gloss over them, the novel isn't that terrible. It is by no means a good novel, but is interesting if you have any curiosity about Che Guevara's last campaign.
May 1, 2012
It reminded me of a younger (and less weighty) Clancy novel. It had all the military action I enjoy from Clancy, and it had decent characterizations. But there were some things that were missing, and some other things that were oddly placed. I don't typically want my masculine male heroes to say something like "it made him want to cry like a baby." It's okay if the male characters get emotional--that's not the problem. But they shouldn't think that they want to cry "like a baby." Why not something else? It happens a few times, and it is like rubbing a snake against the grain of its scales--no one enjoys it. Still, it did take me back to the days when I enjoyed Clancy and could read one of his books in a month ...
November 25, 2014
I devoured this book when it first came out some time ago, and enjoyed listening to the audio telling again just now. It's a sad and courageous story told with great detail and feeling by Chuck Pfarrer. Che is portrayed well without being made the villain or overly romanticized. He was a great man and a revolutionary with a dream, who bit off too much in the end. Even though I knew historically how the book had to end, Pfarrer's story is gripping and I still found myself hoping Che would win. :)
Pfarrer's character Hoyle is also an enjoyable facet of the story. The added romance to the tale made these characters human, I didn't find it tedious like some other readers. Pfarrer has a way of describing battle that is both technical and visceral.
Pfarrer's character Hoyle is also an enjoyable facet of the story. The added romance to the tale made these characters human, I didn't find it tedious like some other readers. Pfarrer has a way of describing battle that is both technical and visceral.
February 27, 2011
A very interesting novel. it takes place in 1967, following Che's goals, beliefs, and lifestlye through the perspective of fictional CIA agent Peter Hoyle. Lots of suspense and danger through firefights in the bolivian jungle and on-road guerrila ambushes. Very well written as it details Che's goals in a very admirable way rather then criticizing them, and shows the reader the true hero in Che. Even if you dont agree with him politically, by the end of the novel Pfarrer will have you saluting Che all the way. " Better to die standing, then to live on your knees" - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.
July 18, 2007
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I mean, it's about Che, South America, US spies, so it sounds good, right? Well, then the writing was crappy. And his facts were wrong. And to top it all off, there's those annoying Quiet American references, where Pyle was his friend and Fowler, who "was an enemy," shot him. So I had to put it down and try to forget about the fact that I'll never get back the time I wasted on this.
April 23, 2009
I suppose I now have a vague idea of how Che came to his demise in Bolivia, and this went pretty quickly as an audiobook. However, this book could have been one-third its length. The writing was often painful, especially where the author put thoughts into the heads of Che and the CIA operatives chasing him. And really, the "love" story was highly unnecessary.
It also didn't help that the narrator couldn't do accents. Que venceremos!
It also didn't help that the narrator couldn't do accents. Que venceremos!
October 21, 2010
This book was BS. I couldn't get into it at all. The writing style wasn't so great and the facts were twisted. Seems a weird subject to write a fictional account of. There is too much emotion when it comes to Che, either you love him or hate him. To try and write fictional account just wasn't a good idea, maybe he thought the title would sell.
January 25, 2013
I couldn't get all the way through this book. It was interesting due to the details of the geography and the portrait of the times, however I got too much of a black and white feeling from the narration. The author was obviously beguiled by the bandit and made him out as a caricature of a real person. I couldn't buy in to the tale.
July 11, 2014
It was a very difficult book to get into in fact I put it down for a couple months and went back to it. The novel does have some facts in it, but it is a story of fiction. Many people are spies for each other and they don't know till towards the end where their loyalties lie, there is blood, war, hate, politics, and a couple love stories all woven into one.
October 15, 2013
As far as actual skill is concerned, the author does a masterful job creating a fact-based account of the dealings of Che Guevara. Unfortunately, I felt uncomfortable wading through the obscenities and illicit relations. It’s a shame. I really wanted to know more.
January 24, 2008
guilty pleasure with a few historical facts...worth the read.
November 13, 2008
This was a random find at the library. I tend to like historical fiction so I thought this might be interesting.
April 5, 2010
Interesting story which is told decently, but the characters are flat and predictable.
March 23, 2013
Couldn't get past page 40
September 5, 2016
Well it is a novel. Was Tania in the KGB? Did the CIA have satellites communication in Bolivia in 1967?
There were modified P51s in Boliva.
There were modified P51s in Boliva.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2024
Good story, fast paced, and a page turner, maps were pretty good as well. At times I felt like it was me humping those trails.
November 29, 2011
A bear.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews