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Revere Falk is an interrogator at “Gitmo,” assigned a Yemeni prisoner who may have valuable information about al-Qaeda. But suddenly he is put in charge of an investigation into the death of American soldier washed ashore in Cuba. And there is an unusual level of interest in the proceedings, from his commander, the Cubans, and the various factions of the military....
Dan Fesperman’s award-winning novels have transported readers to the heart
of some of the world’s most volatile places: Yugoslavia during the Balkan Wars
in Lie in the Dark and The Small Boat of Great Sorrows (“A new
standard for war-based thrillers”—Los Angeles Times), and Afghanistan
during the last days of the Taliban in The Warlord’s Son (“A first-rate
geopolitical yarn”—Entertainment Weekly). Now he turns his sights closer
to home—to the secretive, overheated world of Guantánamo—to give us a
galvanizing new thriller.
Revere Falk—FBI veteran, Arabic speaker—is an interrogator at “Gitmo,” assigned
to a “hold-out,” a Yemeni prisoner who may have valuable information about
al-Qaeda. But these duties are temporarily suspended when the body of an
American soldier is found washed ashore in Cuban territory. No American has ever
turned up dead on the wrong side of the fence before. Suddenly, Cold War tension
is back, and Falk finds himself at the heart of it when he’s put in charge of
the investigation into the death. Almost immediately he senses an unusual level
of interest in the proceedings: from his commander, from the Cubans, and from
the various factions of the military. And when the Defense Intelligence Agency
unexpectedly sends its own team to “reinforce” the investigation, Falk
understands that there is much more at play than anybody is willing to admit. He
is drawn into a game of evasion and pursuit, a game whose stakes spike
dangerously when a figure from his past reappears—someone who knows secrets
about him that he had hoped were buried forever.
An intricately layered, blistering tale of subterfuge and deception at the
highest, most hidden levels of the government, and in the most intimate, and
vulnerable, moments of individual lives, The Prisoner of Guantánamo is as
timely and razor sharp in its depiction of life—and death—at Gitmo as it
is unstoppably suspenseful.
What comes across loud and viscerally clear is the all encompassing presence of the US military, controlling every aspect of the base, and the people's lives therein, irrespective of which side of the bars they happen to be...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean (780 miles long, 140 miles at its widest point) with a population of about 11 million; and infant mortality, life expectancy and literacy rates on a par with the USA (6.45 deaths per 1,000 live births, 77 years life expectancy, 97% literacy). It suffered a severe economic recession in the 1990s following the withdrawal of subsidies from the former Soviet Union and has not yet recovered to its pre '90s strength.
About 1.5 million tourists visited Cuba in 2004, including about 100,000 Americans (despite the travel restrictions). It is the #1 Caribbean tourist destination for Canadians. In 2003 the U.S. Senate voted (59 to 36) in favor of lifting the ban on travel to Cuba. The result was similar to a...
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