Because so much about Cuba, its people and its politics remains unknown to many Americans, there exists potential for a great political and conspiracy thriller. Roland Merullo saw this potential and ran with it in his latest novel, ""Fidel's Last Days.""
The plot centers around a plan to assassinate Castro before he dies of old age, preventing the regime from naming a successor and allowing the opportunity for a new form of government to come into place. Behind this plot is White Orchid, a privately run, secret organization.
Merullo does not divulge many of the inner workings of the White Orchid, which is for the best, since the group can, at times, seem more like a spin-off of the anti-Nazi group the White Rose than a fearsome undercover network.
To assassinate Castro, the White Orchid relies on Carolina Perez, a former CIA agent. Perez was too focused on Cuba to continue working for the U.S. government, which is understandable given the fact that Perez's uncle, Roberto Anzar, is an extremely wealthy political figure in Miami's anti-Castro Cuban immigrant community.
Perez is ordered by the White Orchid to sneak poison into Cuba in a tube of lipstick.
Here the novel becomes complicated for no apparent reason. Although Merullo may be trying to twist the plot to withhold important information that could ruin the suspense aspect of the novel, his style leaves the reader confused. The novel loses a little of its interest, no longer seeming realistic.
As it turns out, the assassination does not rely on Perez alone. She ends up working with someone deep within Castro's inner circle: Carlos Gutierrez. The Minister of Health, Gutierrez also acts as Castro's personal physician. The doctor becomes intimately involved in the assassination plot, risking his life as well as those of his wife and their children. After he sees what Castro's regime is really about—the torture, famine and oppressive conditions—he believes such risks are worth it.
While the novel becomes more interesting with the added danger of Gutierrez's situation, there is something missing. It's partly the lack of description in Merullo's narrative, making it nearly impossible for the readers to fully visualize the novel.
Another issue is that the characters are not used to their full potential, especially in the case of Gutierrez. Merullo places Gutierrez in a unique position to explore post-revolutionary Cuba, the subject of mystery for the U.S., but the author only scratches the surface with this plotline.
To put it plainly, ""Fidel's Last Days"" comes close, but no Cuban cigar.
