KILLING CASTRO

Thank heavens for audiobooks; you can get one of Lawrence Block's first thrillers, published in 1961, enhanced by Henry Leyva with some perspective you couldn't get from a reprint. The story, which was probably supposed to take place after Castro's revolution, but before the Bay of Pigs, centers on five Americans who answer an ad posting a reward of $100,000 (not much money these days) for Castro's head. A young fellow seeking revenge, a dying banker, a hit man, a loner, and a mercenary agree to split the reward five ways. Leyva portrays five markedly different characters, each with the right intonations. He plays the loner, hit man, and mercenary with the toughness you'd expect, and the two amateurs with great sympathy. He makes this short thriller a pleasure to listen to. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]