Comrades in Miami

by José Latour

Only ninety miles of open water separate Florida from Cuba. But after more than forty-five years of Communist rule, the two tropical paradises couldn’t be more different. José Latour, who has been lavishly praised by Martin Cruz Smith, brilliantly brings both worlds to life in Comrades in Miami . In Havana, spymaster Victoria Valiente, head of Cuban Intelligence’s vital Miami Desk, and her husband, Manuel Pardo, a computer expert, are tired of their sacrifices. They try to pull the wool over the Chief ’s eyes and escape to freedom after an electronic heist, but their actions take place in a world of espionage as cutthroat as anything from the height of the Cold War. Both governments draw out all the players, including a gardener with more abilities than just a green thumb, secret foreign operatives, the FBI, and an unsuspecting former English teacher. Comrades in Miami is a tour de force, an exquisitely crafted novel of sex, politics, and espionage that bridges the gap between the neon streets of Miami and the crumbling facades of Havana.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

José Latour was born in Havana, Cuba, on April 24, 1940. He started read­ing at a very ten­der age, pro­gress­ing from Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen and the Grimm broth­ers as a child to Ray­mond Chan­dler and Erle Stan­ley Gard­ner in his late teens.

By the time the Cuban Rev­o­lu­tion came to power, José, who was 19, had become an ardent sup­porter. He joined the Min­istry of Trea­sury as a junior finan­cial ana­lyst and trans­la­tor and later moved on to the Cuban Cen­tral Bank. From there he trans­ferred to the Min­istry of Sugar, end­ing up in the State Com­mit­tee of Finance, where from 1977 onwards he swelled the ranks.

Shuf­fling papers, how­ever, was not chal­leng­ing enough. In that same year José started writ­ing crime fic­tion in his spare time. His first three nov­els (Pre­lu­dio a la Noche, Medi­anoche Ene­miga and Fauna Noc­tura), set in pre-revolutionary Havana, were pub­lished by Edi­to­r­ial Letras Cubanas in 1982, 1986 and 1989. The fourth (Choque de Leyen­das), was launched in 1998, nine years after he first deliv­ered the man­u­script to the publisher.

José also joined the Union of Cuban Writ­ers and Artists and the Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion of Crime Writ­ers (IACW) in1988. Two years later he resigned his posi­tion as global finan­cial ana­lyst in the Min­istry of Finance to become a full-time writer. In 1998 he was elected vice-president for Latin Amer­ica of the Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion of Crime Writers.

In 1994 José deliv­ered to his pub­lisher The Fool, a novel based on a real-life case of cor­rup­tion in the min­istries of the Inte­rior and the Armed Forces that was uncov­ered in 1989. This book was con­sid­ered coun­ter­rev­o­lu­tion­ary and José was labeled an “enemy of the people.”

Cer­tain that nei­ther The Fool nor the books he wanted to write would get pub­lished in Cuba as long as all pub­lish­ing houses were state-owned, reject­ing ide­o­log­i­cal sub­servience and adamant about pur­su­ing a career as a nov­el­ist, José took a shot at writ­ing in English.

His first novel in that lan­guage, Out­cast, was pub­lished in the U.S., six West­ern Euro­pean coun­tries, Brazil and Japan. It got flat­ter­ing reviews and was nom­i­nated for an Edgar. Since, he has penned Havana Best Friends (2002), Havana World Series (2003), Com­rades in Miami (2005), The Young Eng­lish­man (2009 - as Enrique Clio), and Crime of Fash­ion (2009).

Seek­ing cre­ative fic­tion and fear­ing dic­ta­to­r­ial repres­sion, the author and his fam­ily moved to Spain in August 2002 and to Canada in Sep­tem­ber 2004.

Reviews

[Jim Cullison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty boring except for the periodic jabs at the dysfunction and decay of Castro's Cuba.

[James Bruno · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a crumbling tropical satrapy peopled by cynics, sycophants, hypocrites and accommodationists; but above all, by a population with its collective eye on the clock, waiting patiently for the regime's aged leader to die, a key intelligence agent and her husband take things into their own hands and plot their escape, greased by looted state financial resources. Into their web fall a cast of business people, Mossad agents, a fashion model and the FBI. Rich ingredients for a plot as involved and twisting as any good spy yarn.

Latour is the rare contemporary fiction writer who can authentically capture the mind-set as well as the textural and sensory conditions of today's Cuba and its people. As a recent (2002) emigrant from the island, he possesses the fingerspitzgefuhl on Cuba that provides his readership with true insight into a closed society. The only stuff he needs to make up is his complex story. As one who worked and traveled in Cuba, I can attest that the setting and emotions are genuine. He also possesses the master storyteller's talent for unraveling his story as an expert stripteaser does her clothes. Each new peek completes a part of the picture and keeps the reader turning the pages wondering, What next?

Given his recent departure from his homeland, Latour's nuanced command of the English language is impressive, though not as impressive as a Joseph Conrad. There are occasional cognates directly translated from the Spanish (e.g., "devolution" vice "return") and awkward turns of phrase and idioms that also appear to be literal translations. Better copyediting should have caught these. Another peculiar element in Latour's writing is the virtual absence of any Spanish. Hence, Fidel's monicker as "El Jefe" is always rendered as "the Chief." Even most Cuban curses are merely rendered in English translation. A few Cubanisms would have lent "Comrades in Miami" yet more spice and authenticity, vis, Martin Cruz Smith's "Havana Bay."

The author's command of intelligence tradecraft reveals either an avid reader on the part of Latour of espionage stories, or solid contacts in the intelligence community to advise him. Most of his espionage elements do not ring of artifice, but rather, again, of authenticity. A minor point: the key character Elliot Steil, it turns out late in the story, had an American father -- yet was a balsero in leaving the island. In actual fact, Steil would be considered an American citizen by the U.S. government by virtue of his parentage and therefore presumably could have left the island with a U.S. passport. A small research-related point.

Finally, while "Comrades in Miami" received some good reviews, it strikes this reader that the book could have benefited from a more vigorous publicity campaign by the publisher. Initial reviews of Latour's latest novel seem to show a better effort in this area. I look forward to reading more from this very talented expatriate writer.

[Richard Janzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard spy-type fare. Interesting mainly because Cuba-related. Aug 07

[Bill Thibadeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good albeit choppy read. The storyline is interesting if you desire to understand the cuban psyche'. Mr Latour does spin a good but somewhat predictable yarn.