A Suspense Thriller By Jorge E. Goyanes
In 1959 Cuba was living its last days of the so-called democratic government of Fidel Castro and his cronies. But before Jose Castillio could see the end of it, he was on his way to Florida, where he earned a degree in criminal justice, owned an auto shop that restored classic cars and also opened his own PI practice. Life seemed fair again.
One day, though, Frank Santana’s wife enters his shop. Santana is a well known drug dealer and she is not there to have her car repaired. Instead she requires his assistance as a PI to convince a guy her husband is dealing with to be more… cooperative.
There is a brief exchange between the two, that leaves more question marks and unspoken truths than actual answers, and Mrs Santana leaves. Jose takes a break and has a long discussion with Kat, his fiancé, on the best course to take. She is not happy to be involved in such a crossed-fire – who would be? – but as Jose says ‘do I really have a choice?’ And the answer is no. So, when Mrs Santana calls him the following day he picks up the phone and sets the ball in motion.
The case is not so straight-forward as it had been presented: Armando, Jose’s cousin who works for Mr Santana, is killed as he was meant to meet ‘someone’ at Jose’s place, then Mrs Santana’s shocking alibi is revealed, as things continue to go down hill.
I have to say I really enjoyed this book. To start with, the setting is brilliant: it’s so Magnum P.I. meets Miami Vice, down to the Hawaiian shirts, the vintage sunglasses and the high leg bikini bottoms. There is no clear indication about the year, but somehow I like to imagine the book set in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, when mobile phones already existed in some capacity but were definitely not connecting to the Internet, music was good and a general optimism permeated every single life activity.
All in all it was a pleasant read. The narrative in itself is nice: clean, clear, not artificial. For example, the name the company is registered under is ‘Joe Castle’, not Jose Castillio, representing the character’s attempt to integrate with the local population, like we all probably try to do when we move to a totally different environment. The same goes for the casual insertion of Spanish here and there along the narration: every single person who speaks at least two languages fluently, sooner or later will let one slip into the other, especially when they get angry or upset.
However, as good as this story is, it needs some more meat to the bone and additional detail, maybe even the occasional filler scene, where the characters are simply put in their everyday contest, as it would give them a more tridimensional shape, really making them stand out off the page. But at the present time, we don’t now if this minor issue has been resolved in the second book of the series, because, unfortunately, it’s not available anywhere, despite what the Internet says. Shame.
‘Miami Beat’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/47Sg0tG