A Good Day to Die: A Novel

by James Coltrane (Stewart O´Nan)

Follows war-weary Jorge Ortega, the recently U.S.-appointed leader of a small band of Cuban revolutionaries who, in the wake of Fidel Castro's death, hopes to regain control of their homeland

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Stewart O'Nan has published this one book under the pseudonym James Coltrane.
Here is his real Author page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18341.Stewart_O_Nan

Reviews

[Zach Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The secret Stewart O'Nan book! This was an interesting read, set in an alternate history in which the US is trying their hand at controlling Cuba via the CIA after Fidel Castro's death. We follow one operative with a troubled past, Ortega, as he attempts to band local resistance fighters to storm a local radio station. Like so much of O'Nan's work, the genre backdrop (soldiers! secret agents! Agency intrigue!) is less important than the characters. Ortega has a horrendous past, losing loved ones during past missions, and (as the title suggests) he is ready to die. But we learn so much about his past, including the relationship he had with his father, a famous figure in Cuba, that we hope that Ortega somehow pulls off an impossible mission.