In view of recent events in Cuba, I needed to update the novel to take these into account. So while the bones of the novel are the same, "Mojito!" has been updated.
​
New York Times Best Selling Author of “Niceville” and “Cuba Strait”: Carsten Stroud says: "I Loved This Book...This book is not only a powerful read, it's also a perfect shot to the side of the head for all those blissfully unaware folks who go off to Cuba every year for some sun and surf and come back chirping about "how happy and smiley all those Cubans are! This guy knows Cuba the way Hemingway knew it. Compelling and raw and gutsy."

Danger, Intrigue, Romance & Music in Castro's Cuba

Mike McCaul is a sinister security operative living in Havana, hired by the CIA to do a threat profile on the faltering Cuban regime. He connects with his mission partner, Lucien Ruel, a deadly commando with ulterior motives. Then he runs into his lost flame Kate Adams, now a reporter with CNN. Together, with an heroic Cuban chopper pilot, a street kid and the head of Havana's mafia, McCaul and Kate dodge Cuba's security apparatus and find a rebel camp in the mountains. When a Miami Herald reporter is killed by the Cuban secret police, the White House is in a panic. Then word leaks out that Fidel has died...
​Over the course of a week Alec and Kate take on the Castro regime, Islamic terrorists, the CIA and barely manage to survive the treacherous outcome.
All the characters in "Mojito!" are fictional, but their personalities and life-styles are based on people the author has sent time with durign his many trips
The author will donate 1/4 of his income from sales of Mojito! to las Damas de Blanco, the women in white who protest the imprisonment of their men in Fidel's jails.

New Novel: Tintamarre! Website
Visit Author's Home Page
& Big Fish Blog

The Trailer


​Be Informed of Travel Risks
Cuba is a communist police state. While the government treats tourists better than citizens, there are still real risks to visiting there. Be informed:
http://cubaadvisory.org/
http://cubacid.blogspot.ca/
(open in chrome browser for translation)

Author Interviews

3/27/13 Interview on Cuba with Silvio Canto Jr. 
10/06/12 Interview on Cuba with Silvio Canto Jr. 
Author's Interview on Cubanarama Radio!!!

Reader Reviews

* * * * * CUBA LIBRE
By El Rayo (Southern California) "An excellent read. A real time insight into modern day Cuba. Only the canucks go to Cuba for vacation and this author has for sure spent some time there. Good description of the culture, music, food, dance, politics,women, night life and rum. Also a sad commentary on the deterioration of this once beautiful island.
A good suspense novel with a super twist at the end."
 * * * * A trip through Cuba
By Andrea Whyte (Ontario, California) - This is not really my usual type of book but I must say I did enjoy it. It's more actiony and man things than I usually read, but it was a good quick read. I liked the descriptions of places and people in Cuba. I can recommend this. 
* * * * *  Swept Away
By D. Spillman (San Francisco, CA) - I did not have great expectations going in, but was pleasantly surprised to find myself "swept away" in time and place, barreling along in page-turning frenzy to the end.
A tight and twisting plot......with the action kinda like a roller coaster ride......peppered with historical references; people, places, events, well lubricated with rum and Cohiba-smoking and that irrepressible vitality that endears Cuba and it's people to our imagination and hearts long after any economic relevance........for me on a par with the lure of Tango and Buenos Aires. Plays nicely with other books I've read about Cuba; notably "Cuba and the Night" and "Havana Nocturne". All in all very good fun and a nice diversion if you're looking for one. 
* * * * * Mojito! is A+
By bronx52 If you are interested in Cuba and like a good mystery then this book is for you. I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr French has managed to inject important history lessons without making them burdensome, as well as educating those of us from the US on some interesting points from our friendly neighbor to the North: Canada! (anyone who has attended public school will get the reference!) It is clear the author has a love for Cuba and the Cuban people! The plot is interesting and the story flows....do get this book. A fun read!

A film of the Castro Revolution

Una Mojito Para Usted!
(a mojito for you...)

One step onto Obispo, and again it is obvious to McCaul that it's a very special place. Sloping gently downhill with more potholes than gravel or cobblestone, the 30 foot wide pedestrian mall was awash with people: late middle-aged couples looking for photo subjects, sidewalk fixers, sidewalk hustlers, cigar sellers, 80 year old paper boys, children playing tincan soccer. Music blaring, people dancing, sweating people leaning into holes-in-the-wall buying ice cream. People strolling down the byway licking their ice cream with rapturous expressions, laughing all the way, smoke trailing behind from cigars in their free hands. Middle aged Hemingway doppelgangers smoking fat cigars and speaking in English, Italian and German.
Buildings on either side that lifted spirits: many, many generations old; people leaning over balconies festooned with plants, yelling at compañeros across the street, and being laughed at back.Many dogs, none of a consistent genealogical heritage, yapping, snarling, wrestling and jumping on anything that seemed the least bit edible. Old women, obviously weak from age and lack of food, quietly holding out their hands, looking for even a gram of charity.
Cars parked along each side street. The ubiquitous Havana jalopies, some in much better condition than others, like they had just rolled off the showroom floor after their buyer had seen a “see the USA in your Chevrolet” television ad. Some others lurching along, like every breath of exhaust might be their last. Cubanos in various stages of conducting mechanical work on their beloved cars, some leaning into engine compartments, others just visible as disembodied legs sticking out from underneath.
 (Excerpts)

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