Havana

A Swagger Family Novel (Earl Swagger, Book 3)

By: Stephen Hunter

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

High summer in Cuba, 1953, and Havana gleams with possibility. Flush with booming casinos, sex and drugs, Havana is a lucrative paradise for everyone from the Mafia, Domino Sugar, and United Fruit to pimps, porn-makers, and anyone looking to grab a piece of the action - including the Cuban government, which naturally honors the interests of its old ally, Uncle Sam.

Of course, where there's paradise, trouble can't be far behind. Trouble, in this case, makes its entrance in the terrifically charismatic and silver-tongued form of a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro. The Caribbean is fast becoming a strategic Cold War hub, and Soviet intelligence has taken Castro under its wing. The CIA's response is to send the one man capable of eliminating Castro: the legendary gunfighter and ex-Marine hero Earl Swagger, who proved his lethal talent in the national bestsellers Hot Springs and Pale Horse Coming.

In Cuba, Earl finds himself up to his neck in treacherous ambiguity where the old rules about honor and duty don't apply, and where Earl's target seems to have more guts and good luck than anyone else in Cuba.

©2005 Stephen Hunter (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

narrator

needs to learn a pronunciation or two - otherwise carries the story and character forward.
not my favorite of the series.

The narrator’s talents did NOT fit this genre.

Not a bad story, but the narrator was not suited for this book. He was talented, but his voice was too feminine for such a masculine themed book. Tell a story of shooters and death with a romcom narrator? Not a good choice.

Terrible narrator

I have read all the stephen hunter books and have enjoyed them all. I enjoyed Havana when i read it. Lately i have been listening instead of reading as its nice to just relax and listen. Hot springs and pale horse coming was narrated superbly. The narrator put across tough Earl swagger. But this guy i don't get it. He makes every character sound like a whiney little kid. The tone of his voice is terrible and Earl comes off as a sissy instead of the earl we know. I am shocked they allowed this to be a finished book. This narrator did a huge disservice to Earl Swagger and nearly every other character in the book. His acting may be great for other genres, but not for tough guy action books. I dont even know if i will be able to stand to finish this book

great historical references

as in the previous two books in the series the historical and regional references are an amazing twist

Great story, but...

Like the first 2 books in the series, I loved this one as well, EXCEPT for the narrator. The narrator of the first two books, Mr. Eric Dove, just gives you the feeling that you're dealing with characters from Arkansas. I wish they kept Mr. Dove for 'Havana'. With Mr. Dufris' narration, I just didn't have a sense for the real Earl Swagger.

Lesser of the Swagger Novels, still good

Where does Havana rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In this series it is at the bottom. Still, I really like the Swagger novels and William Dufris as narrator. Guilty pleasure

What other book might you compare Havana to and why?

The other Swagger novels by Hunter because they are the only thing in this genre I have read.

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He makes these books. Got that Arkansas, hillbilly swagger going on.... No pun intended.

Weakest of the 3

Story was OK. Seemed forced with too many fluffy adjectives. I personally liked the performance in the first 2 books.

Good story, bad narration

Prior to this book, I had listened to Hot Springs and Pale Horse Coming. As in the previous reviews, I'm not sure why they switched the narrator. The story was interesting, but the narration was way off. The Russian characters did not sound Russian, the Cuban same thing, and Earl did not sound like Earl. It really is amazing how a bad narration can skew your audible experience.

great Earl Swagger story.

This story is great. I've read it twice and just listened to it.
MY only gripe is how Roger is portrayed as a poof. The narrator makes him sound so efemininate ..or even gay. In Master Sniper Roger was far from this

The Review

Another outstandingly well written book by Mr. Hunter, I truly look forward to more books of Bob Lee when he was a younger man like in his 30's or 40's of which i"m sure will keep me riveted as all 15 other titles have done. I just sorry I've reached the end of them...Damn😎♠️🙂✨👍🙏🏿🍾🍸