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Final Acts |
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Final Acts by Alex AbellaSimon and Schuster 304 pages, December 2000 ISBN 0684859890 Reviewed by Reed Andrus As I read beyond the first few chapters of this book, becoming deeply absorbed into its fascinating Latino/Hispanic ambience, I reflected on other recent genre novels that have used Cuba as physical location and cultural driver for both plot and characterization. It wasn’t difficult to bring up titles - Randy Wayne White’s North of Havana; Martin Cruz Smith’s Havana Bay; Dan Simmons’ The Crook Factory; Edna Buchanan’s Britt Montero series; Jose LaTour’s Outcast; and of course, Alex Abella’s series featuring PI-turned-lawyer Charlie Morell, of which Final Acts is the third episode. No one can accuse this author of being prolific. Abella introduced Charlie Morell to mystery readers in 1991 with the well-received The Killing of the Saints, but didn’t follow up with a sequel until Dead of Night hit bookstores in 1998. In between those two thrillers, the author produced The Great American, a mainstream novel focusing on (I assume) Jose Marti’s role in the Cuban Revolution of 1895. Abella’s writing is topical, and obviously wrenched from a heart still residing (at least partially) on that large island ninety miles south of Florida. Indeed, his fictional output is less a series than it is a triptych, with a common thread solidly grounded in the strange African-Catholic hybrid religion known as santeria, and its bastardized black magic offshoot palo mayombe, often confused with Haitian voudon. Charlie Morell has been fighting members of the latter sect across all three novels, and plot similarities are strong enough to recommend not reading them back to back. Conversely, strength of continuity dictates they should be read in order for maximum enjoyment. Perhaps it is that similarity that caused Abella to manipulate character viewpoint in Final Acts. Part of the book is told in real time first person by Charlie’s feisty Latina lawyer, Rita Carr; the other part is told by Charlie, in first person flashback. The result is interesting, but only somewhat successful in that I could predict much - not all - of the outcome by the end of the book. I also found myself liking Rita Carr more than Charlie. Where Charlie comes across more Anglo than Cubano, Rita’s view of Southern California politics carries a distinctively Hispanic ring: "Growing up half Irish and half Mexican, I was always aware of Senator Decker’s colorful career. For more than twenty years he represented a district that had gradually been transformed from lily-white upper class to lower-middle-class brown. Irish like my mom, he too had a Mexican spouse, and he reportedly mangled the Spanish language with the largesse that only those who live with a native speaker would dare. Known as the compadre guero, the fair-skinned compadre, he controlled his fiefdom with an iron fist. He was, in essence, the last of that small group of Anglos who ran Southern California until the 1970s, when Tom Bradley and his black-Jewish coalition defeated Sam Yorty and brought the century-long reign of the white man to a close." Charlie Morell’s mystical triptych motif will disappear if the author decides to continue on with Charlie’s war against palo mayombe. I hope Abella can add fresh perspective as he goes. Final Acts is a wild and crazy reading experience that succeeded for me as a thriller – there is pain, blood, a nasty villain or six. It will also be satisfying for any reader not bound by a traditional mystery storyline. |
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