José Latour, originario dell'Avana, si è ritagliato una nicchia con le sue incisive esplorazioni del crimine e della critica sociale. Il suo lavoro, spesso ambientato sullo sfondo turbolento della Cuba post-rivoluzionaria, approfondisce temi di corruzione e repressione politica. Influenzato dalla classica narrativa poliziesca, lo stile di Latour è caratterizzato da trame avvincenti e acuta intuizione psicologica. I suoi scritti, che hanno coraggiosamente affrontato l'oppressione ideologica, offrono uno sguardo agghiacciante sulla natura umana e la ricerca della giustizia.
Uno scrittore cubano che vive a L'Avana, scrive in inglese e ambienta quasi tutto un suo romanzo negli Stati Uniti suscita certamente curiosità. Se, inoltre, il libro è candidato negli Usa a un prestigioso premio letterario ed è stato tradotto nelle più disparate lingue, dall'olandese al francese, al giapponese, la curiosità aumenta ancor di più. E Lontano da Cuba è tutto ciò: un giallo che sembra scritto da un nordamericano ma che ha infinite sollecitazioni latine.
Arici Landa is a dedicated Cuban communist, a talented soldier and an experienced commodity trader. After returning with Cuban forces from their deployment to Angola in 1988, Landa's friend in the Cuban government approaches him with an opportunity to go to Mexico to trade sugar to earn money for the regime that would skirt the US embargo on the communist island nation. Seeing an opportunity to do good for his country, Landa agrees, but even as he racks up success trading and earning hard currency, Landa's part in international trade are not as they seem...
Elliot Steil works as a down-and-out school teacher in Havana. Resigned to the tedium of his simple life, Elliot has put any hopes of a better future to one side. But his aspirations are rekindled when he is offered an opportunity by a mysterious visitor who claims to know his late father.
Set against the backdrop of contemporary Havana and Miami, the story follows Colonel Victoria Valiente, a top intelligence officer who grapples with her loyalty to a crumbling regime. Persuaded by her husband to defect, they embezzle $2.7 million and attempt a daring escape to Key West. Unbeknownst to them, the FBI is already aware of their plans, having enlisted the help of a Cuban exile. This novel weaves suspense and eroticism into a thrilling narrative, providing a deep exploration of Cuba's political landscape and the complexities of loyalty and betrayal.
A moody slice of Cuban noir from the acclaimed author of Outcast: 'A masterful book ... passionate, frightening and extremely violent' Independent on Sunday Years ago, a fleeing Batista supporter reportedly stashed an incredibly valuable collection of diamonds in a Havanan apartment. Now a pair of Americans (posing as Canadians) have come to Cuba to find the jewels on behalf of the man's blind son, who promised them a share of the fortune if they can make it back to New York. Arriving at the apartment, they have to negotiate its present occupants - a mismatched brother and sister: he a Cuban wide boy scraping a living out of selling girls, pornography and drugs to foreigners; she an upright, vulnerable, beautiful woman with a tragic past. (Their father, the hero of the Cuban revolution, is in gaol after shooting his wife's lover.) Add to this is a hitman the Americans unwisely hired to get rid of one of the obstacles in their path, who now wants a piece of the action himself, and the pressure is on to find the diamonds and get out of Havana - before someone else gets their hands on them.
