Short Story Wednesday Review: The Havana Run: A Short Story by Ace Atkins

 

George and Jay are two out of work newspaper reporters who need money as The Havana Run: A Short Story by Ace Atkins begins. They are meeting with an elderly man at the La Tropicana in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. He has a lucrative proposition for them. The only problem is they have to agree to do the job without knowing much about it. They have to go to Cuba and pick up something unspecified for him.

 

All Navarro will tell them is that he wants “family valuables” retrieved and brought back. All they have to do is go down to Cuba, get the family valuables that have been hidden since the revolution, and bring them back. Fidel Castro died a few months ago and things in Cuba are probably a bit shakier. Un the upside, they can pass as tourists, and get in and out over a couple of days. Plus, they do need the money.

 

When you have read a lot of crime and mystery fiction, and are an older reader, you know those guys are going to take the job. You also know that once in Cuba things are going to go from bad to worse. The only question is how?

 

It does and the result is the highly entertaining The Havana Run: A Short Story. Author Ace Atkins keeps the twists coming in a fast-moving novella. He also packs in plenty of character development regarding our reporters who are just doing the best they can. The result is a quick read and one of the better tales I have read this year. Well worth your time.

 

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My reading copy came by way of a purchase using funds that were recently donated via the PayPal widget on the left side of this blog.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024