Cuban Confetti
By Stephen Barlay
1962. The fear of sparking World War III permeates the air as the relations between Russia, Cuba, and the United States of America grow more and more strained…
Why are so many Russian freighters bound for Cuba?
What does the Russian expression porokhovyye konfety mean?
Why does it appear on a shopping list stolen from Castro’s desk?
What lures buccaneering Helm Rust away from his idle life in the Florida Keys surrounded by women and booze – and, more importantly, why?
Although prematurely retired from the CIA, Rust is still a player in the game, a compulsive risk-taker with deep-seated loyalties and ties to The Company that could prove to be an occupational hazard.
With one eye on Cuba and another on the Soviet Union, he is quick to sense there is a game in the air.
What instinct cannot tell him, however, is that those bizarre words – porokhovyye konfety, translated as ‘powdered sweets’ – have the potential to make him the hottest property in one of the hottest games ever.
Receiving word that his father is in trouble in Moscow, Rust sets out on a perilous journey that just might cost him his life – and discovers that the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Through the fraught events of that summer and autumn, Rust discovers that patriotism and betrayal are not such strange bedfellows after all…
But there are still loyalties to be honoured and debts to be paid.
The real question: How far are the Soviet Union and the United States willing to go?
Cuban Confetti is an engrossing thriller that keeps you hooked, whilst simultaneously imparting a new understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis and its heroes.
Praise for Stephen Barlay
“A book to make the authorities sit up.” – Guardian
“The maniac energy of the writing holds you tight.” – The Times
“Stephen Barlay has jumped into the front rank of thriller writers…Highly recommendable… a story of mounting complexity and excitement.” – Irish Times
“Barlay keeps things steadily on the boil, ending on a note of irony…fine escape reading.” – New York Times
“A book spattered with thrills and surprises and delightfully free from the pseudo-intellectualism which seems to have eaten its way into so much of today’s literature. No need to tell you to read it to the end. Once you’ve started, you can’t help doing so.” – Manchester Evening News
Stephen Barlay was an acclaimed writer and journalist. Born Istvàn Bokor, Barlay worked as a radio journalist in Hungary, before fleeing to England in 1956 in the wake of the Hungarian uprising. He quickly rose to prominence as a writer of thrillers. Despite having no English on his arrival, Barlay quickly mastered the language, writing exclusively in this foreign tongue. His son remembers that his relentless smoking matched only his work ethic. Barlay’s other books include Aircrash Detective, Fire, Double Cross, Sex Slavery, Crash Course, Blockbuster and That Thin Red Line.
