Operation Mongoose, R.I.P.

Blackford Oakes #8

by William F. Buckley Jr.

The year is 1963 and Fidel Castro, seeking revenge for his humiliation during the missile crisis, has become an assassination target. When the CIA's ace agent Blackford Oakes is called upon to carry out the plan, he discovers he is a pawn in the agency's plans--which also calls for his own death! 480 pp.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Novels, Espionage

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.

Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.

Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to read some WFB Jr fiction, and was surprised to see his fictional characters quote his non-fiction books! In fact, Mongoose R.I.P. appears to be an alt-history timeline of Buckley's own life, as Blackford Oakes is the same Ivy League, sailboat and scuba-loving patrician patriot as WFBJ. Except, in this book, Oakes is unsuccessful in everything he attempts (from love to saving the life of JFK). That is a nice dose of reality and humility by an author towards his character in this day of superhero thriller characters, where every author attempts to make their man Jack Bauer. Actually, I would classify Mongoose R.I.P. as a spy novel, but not a "thriller." The plot is good, with several initially unforseeable twists, but all in all WFBJ focuses on the motivations, thoughts, and deepest desires of his characters--not shoot 'em-up scare 'em action (like, say Brad Thor's State of the Union https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).

That's the best facet of the novel, in my view. WFBJ provides you with rational, plausible thoughts that help you better visualize and humanize Fidel Castro.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't remember much about any of the Buckley spy stories -- only recall that they were all infinitely better than Norman Mailer's Harlot's Ghost.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am an admirer of William F. Buckley and have read and enjoyed several other Blackford Oakes novels. This one was less entertaining to me---Buckley's wit and erudition somehow eluded the finished copy of this novel.

I was a schoolgirl, living in Miami during the Castro Revolution and Cuban Missle Crisis so I picked up this book to educate me on elements that I was too young to recall---even though they were of serious interest to our State. I enjoyed the look into Castro's personality and leadership style, but was bogged down by the details of "spycraft" in this book.

It was an interesting piece of period spy fiction, but not Buckley's finest hour as a novelist.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The CIA is still trying (and failing) to assassinate Fidel Castro. One could wish for a different outcome, but this ain't alternate history. At least I didn't think so, until Lee Harvey Oswald showed up.

A decent effort, though Buckley still hadn't mastered the difference between being mysterious and being vague. Good authors include orienting clues that remain subtle while providing an anchor as the reader follows the plot. WFB just jumps around.

[Robert A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too wordy. Every paragraph gets bogged down in detail. Get to the point. In one paragraph he described his two oufits....one for country and one for city....the color, the material....
who cares! Just say he walked in the room with a tweed coat. The coat or suit has nothing to do with the story. Plus the author uses a lot of big words and too many adjectives.

Not a fan!

[Jorn Barger · Rating 2 out of 5]

In order to involve Oakes in the JFK assassination without culpability, WFB adds a Cuban nuke that almost takes out Dallas. As a visualisation exercise it's useful but way farfetched. (Why would Oswald give the Cubans his target time? Why would Fidel time the missile to Oswald?

[Mike Glaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid entry in the series, although at times there seems to be some padding with back stories that do not make a lot of sense. Highly recommended if you are enjoying the series, not so much if you are reading this book on its own.

[Jerry King · Rating 1 out of 5]

1997

[John Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read some years later. Very well done.

[Donn Lorber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed fictional account of the Kennedy/ Castro relationship. Bay of Pigs/the missile crisis thru the Kennedy assassination .. very well written

[Geo Forman · Rating 3 out of 5]

surprisingly good spy thriller. Easy, quick read that maintained my interest

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1989. The eighth Blackford Oakes mystery.

[Helen]

Blackford Oaks and the CIA do their best to eliminate Castro. His revenge becomes focused on killing Kennedy. An American veteran appears in Mexico announcing that this is his plan. But, in case he fails, Castro happens to have a left over Soviet middle aimed at Dallas.

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up by chance in the library because of the author. I had known that Buckley had written a spy novel but not that he wrote this whole series with the protagonist an alter ego character: Yale, C.I.A. etc. The book starts out OK and the quality of the dialog is not bad. Also the idea to populate the book with characters from real life; Fidel Castro, Nikita Khrushchev, Jack and Bobby Kennedy, who are essential to his plot, is good.
The problem is the plot is absolutely ridiculous, silly and contrived. Also, spy novels are supposed to be technically plausible, but this is filled with nonsense and impossible coincidences.

[Royal Dun · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the second piece of Mr. Buckley's fiction that I tried to slog through. I'm getting the impression that fiction is not his forte. I found the work obtuse and rambling. Too much effort to be entertaining.

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of the better books of the Blcckford Oakes series but an interesting look at the Cuban Missile Crisis and the attempts of Castro's life afterward.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always enjoyed reading the nonfiction of Buckley. This fiction was terrible. So unbelievable a plot and characters. I have to admit that I almost never like this type of work

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical Fiction. Read as prep for my trip. Easy and very entertaining spy-novel read.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy plot against one another. Blackford is caught in the middle.