Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard

It is 1898 and an explosion in Havana Harbour sinks the U.S. battleship Maine. Three days later, a cowboy named Ben Tyler arrives in Cuba from the United States with a group of horses that he wants to sell. In the ensuing days, which take place on the eve of the Spanish-American War, Ben sells his horses to Roland Boudreaux, a rich landowner in Cuba who soon becomes his enemy, falls in love with Boudreaux's mistress Amelia, befriends a survivor of the Maine explosion, and fights members of the Guardia Civil.

Elmore Leonard is an excellent writer who has a gift for crafting brilliant dialogue and interesting (if not quirky) characters. This book, however, is pretty flat. Reading this novel reminded me of a bad movie of the week on TV.  Despite being based on an interesting historical era, this novel was ruined by cheesy drama and some pretty tacky dialogue. As a case in point, we can consider this passage that, to be honest, could have come straight out of a romance novel:

"(Ben) sat waiting for dark in an empty office down in the quarry, thinking about his night with Amelia Brown, hearing her say, "Do you love me, Ben?" And his own voice in the dark saying, "Yes, I do." And then Amelia asking, "Can you say it?" Something he'd never done in the thirty-one years of his life. He had shot four men -- no, five -- had taken their lives, but had never said, "I love you" to a girl. Or to anyone."

One can almost see the cheese dripping off the page after reading paragraphs like that. If you want to kick back on your coach and enjoy excellent writing and fun stories then I highly recommend that you pick up an Elmore Leonard book. That being said, you wouldn't be missing much if you decided to forego this novel.

2 out of 5 stars