The Great American (First Edition)

Involved in a romance with Laura, a young revolutionary, Ohio Marine William Morgan, stationed in pre-Castro Havana, becomes caught up in the turbulent struggle against Batista, only to be faced with disillusionment, loss, and betrayal in the aftermath of Castro's triumph. 17,500 first printing.

A labored second thriller by Abella (The Killing of the Saints, 1991), this set in revolutionary Cuba and featuring double agents and corruption, ambushes and betrayals, lurid sex, and an innocent American protagonist seemingly fated to be disillusioned by all the causes that he's embraced. It's 1957, and William Morgan, an AWOL marine, has arrived in Havana just days after a failed attack on the life of the corrupt President Batista. William is inadvertently sucked into the pervasive political chaos when he kills one of a gang of men beating up a prostitute. The dead man turns out to be a police sergeant, and William, on the run, accepts the help of the mysterious Max Weinberg, who may or may not be working for the CIA. He also falls madly in love with a young revolutionary named Laura, who convinces him that he must kill Batista. And so, at a black-tie affair at the Havana Yacht Club, he aims at the president, but, of all the rotten luck, young Senator Kennedy's head gets in the way ``as though prefiguring the fate that will befall him.'' Laura is killed in the aftermath, but William escapes, casting his lot with the rebels. Believing that he has to atone for his failure and for Laura's death, he leads small bands of rebels in guerrilla warfare, rubs shoulders with Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, and meets Irma, a young Christian missionary from California. William, who distrusts Castro, rationalizes that he is fighting against Batista, rather than for Castro, but his personal beliefs are soon overwhelmed by Castro and his supporters, who transform William into a symbol of the revolution. Then he discovers that Castro and Laura have had a fling, that Laura may not be dead, and that he is caught between warring conspiracies. A contrived hero and a myopic view of an otherwise interesting historical moment add up to an unconvincing thriller. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Cuban-born Abella's (The Killing of the Saints, LJ 9/1/91) second novel is set amid the drama of the overthrow of Cuban dictator Batista and the rise of Castro. William Morgan, an AWOL marine, comes looking for fun with a Cuban pal but is quickly caught up in the fight to topple Batista. Love also plays a central role, as the idealistic Morgan is driven by his often conflicting loves for Laura and Irma. The novel makes several direct references to Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, but this novel is not of the same caliber. Abella excels when he incorporates witchcraft scenes, Morgan's awkward use of Spanish, and the complexity of the Castro revolution, especially as these relate to U.S. interests. But while an action novel with a conscience is to be appreciated, Morgan's political-religious soul searching often intrudes. Look for this romantic novel possibly to resurface as a film.?Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1957, big, blond, blue-eyed William Morgan, an AWOL U.S. Marine, is lured to Cuba by a military comrade turned revolutionary. Led more by lust than conscience, Morgan is soon bedding luscious Laura Fernandez and plotting to assassinate President Batista. Meanwhile--in a milieu in which all sides ally themselves based more on strategy than principle--the CIA is tracking Morgan, and Batista's repressive police force is pressuring him for reports of Fernandez family conspiracies. When the assassination attempt fails and Laura is left for dead, Morgan takes to the hills, where he meets Che Guevara, falls in love with American preacher Irma O'Farrell, and joins forces supporting Fidel Castro. A fearless fighter and skilled killer, Morgan becomes a hero of the revolution, betrays the woman of his heart, and follows his conscience when conditions fail to improve under Castro. By a Cuban-born writer, a heartfelt if flawed fictionalized account of his country's travails. Michele Leber