Outcast - Softcover

Latour, Jose

3.52

128 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1888451076 ISBN 13: 9781888451078

Publisher: Akashic Books,U.S., 1999

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Outcast is a smart, multi-voiced, savagely unsentimental Cuban crime novel that combines cultural critique, personal discovery and explosive violence.

Elliot Steil, the son of a Cuban mother and a U.S. labourer stationed on the island before the revolution, works as a down-and-out school teacher in Havana. Quietly resigned to the tedium of his simple life, Elliot – like many of his fellow Havanans – has put any hopes of a better future to one side. But his aspirations are rekindled when he is offered a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity by a mysterious visitor to the island who claims to know his late father.

When the stranger quickly turns from saviour to would-be assassin, Elliot finds himself perilously immersed in the waters of the Florida Straits, face to face with a past that he has spent most of his adult life trying to forget. Surviving the ordeal, Elliot embarks on a search for the man who betrayed him – and on a journey of self-discovery that draws him deep into the deceit and corruption of the Miami underworld.

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Review:

‘Jos� Latour is a master of Cuban Noir, a combination of ’50s unsentimentality and the harsh realities of life in a socialist paradise.’
Martin Cruz Smith

‘Cuba has been a closed world for most of us for decades now, and Cuban crime fiction has remained a well-kept secret. It’s alive and well, and brilliantly represented by Jos� Latour. Don’t miss this one – it’s terrific!’
Lawrence Block

‘With a sharp prose style and good pace, Latour keeps the suspense up and delivers some real surprises’ Anthea Lawson, The Times

‘Dark, exciting, finally triumphant narrative which offers not the genial buzz of good times remembered, but the visceral thrill of bad times overcome’ Philip Oakes, Literary Review

From the Back Cover:

"Cuba has been a closed world for most of us for decades now, and Cuban crime fiction has remained a well-kept secret. It's alive and very well, and brilliantly represented by Jose Latour. Don't miss this one, it's terrific!"
LAWRENCE BLOCK

Elliot Steil, the son of a Cuban mother and a U.S. labourer stationed on the island before the revolution, works as a down-and-out school teacher in Havana. Quietly resigned to the tedium of daily life, Elliot, like many of his fellow Havanans, has put any aspirations for a better future to one side. But his hopes are rekindled when he's offered a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity by a mysterious visitor to the island who claims to have known his father.

Persuaded to leave Cuba, Elliot soon finds he has involved himself in something more complex and dangerous than he could ever have imagined. Surviving the ordeal of the Florida Straits, he embarks on a search that will draw him deep into the deceit and corruption of the Miami underworld, forcing him to confront a past he has spent most of his adult life trying to forget.

A smart, multi-voiced, multi-layered crime novel, 'Outcast' combines cultural critique, personal discovery and explosive violence.

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