Customer Reviews

The Castro Gene

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

What do a former boxer, a multi-billionaire king of hedge funds, and a feisty female environmentalist have in common? Strangely enough--it seems to be Fidel Castro.

This fast-paced novel revolves around the speculation that Castro left descendents who are now living in America. It also offers an unusual storyline. The hedge-fund genius, Paul Tremont, holds a grudge against Castro for costing him millions when the dictator marched into Havana. He picks up a young boxer, Lucas Braden, who has killed a man in the ring and swears never to fight again, and attempts to mold him into the perfect [..]. He also hires eco-protester Cori Leopard to get her off his back, and romance develops between her and Lucas.

Why Lucas and why now? You'll find out as this startling story unfolds and how "the Castro gene" in the players is exposed. The author, Todd Buchholz, who manages a hedge fund himself, has previously written bestselling books on economics.

Buckholz has written a fast-paced rocket-stride that will take you on a wild orbit. I have only one question: there is a logical "disconnect" between Lucas' grandmother and the woman she wants to kill. If Oriana is in love with Castro, then why should she want to kill a woman who apparently had nothing to do with him? We could use some further explanation here.

Armchair Interviews says: Stories about Castro and Cuba are always timely--and fascinating.

Mr. Buchholz needs to stick with financial non fiction writing. I could live with improbable plots, but this one is totally unbelievable. Not just the main premise of the book- the ancestry of the main character,which I could live with, but all of the plot development to get to the punchline. And his transitions are non-existent.

Even his financial machinations are incredible and crude- a mid sized US company buying a trillion dollars of stock on the basis of one phone call in one day just boggles my mind.

Stick with non fiction, Mr Buchholz. You don't have a clue how to write a fiction thriller.

What a story!!!! Fertile imagination suggests unreal expectations which even James Bond would shake his head in amazement. But besides such a far-fetched plot and sub-plots is the writing. The author tries to describe every event with off-the-wall phrases." Examples: "he threw around Greek letters.....that Luke began to feel as if he were touring fraternity row." "Luke galloped toward..." "Caesar watching the gladiators." On and on it goes on just about every page. Even Yogi Berra's Deja Vu made the cut!

As I said if it comes out as a movie it might keep your interest but reading such poor writing is a waste of time!

I was a bit disappointed to see Publishers Weekly call Buchholz's novel an "awkward fiction debut..." I found the book delightfully entertaining. The main character, Luke Braden, is a young man who quits high school, moves out to his own basement apartment and trains for professional boxing. Luke's venture into boxing is short-lived when he kills his opponent in the boxing ring.

When he walks away from boxing, he hopes to become a financial advisor by working his way up the ladder. By some miracle, he lands a job as a security guard in a building owned by Paul Tremont. (Tremont is president of his own hedge fund and worth billions.) Eventually through what Luke thinks is clever maneuvering he gets a meeting with Mr. Tremont, but he doesn't know that Mr. Tremont has been watching him and waiting for the right time.

Luke becomes Tremont's protégé and overnight, his ratty basement apartment is replaced with a penthouse, his gym clothes for designer suits. Luke has no clue he is but a pawn in a dangerous game that will have him in a fight for his life.

What I enjoyed best? The a little Kennedy/Castro history mixed with revenge and murder. The ending was another favorite part too.

The debut novel of former White House Director of Economic policy Todd Buchholz, The Castro Gene is a dramatic novel of one man caught amid a power struggle of international proportions. When boxer Luke Braden kills his opponent in the ring, it catapults him headlong into danger. Offered a shot at the big time by a hedge fund kingpin, Luke becomes inextricably involved in the machinations of Fidel Castro, during the last days of Castro's dictatorship. Luke will have to face his biggest fight yet - with his life as the prize! A taut, action-packed thriller.

The Castro Gene, written by Todd Buchholz (Oceanview Publishing ISBN: 1933515066), is an excellent example of how an author can take his real world experiences and translate them into a fictional world. Many know Todd Buchholz's name from his expertise in current events, especially economics, and this expertise helps to make the story in The Castro Gene to seem more real. There is no doubt that it's a fictional account of the Kennedy/Castro days, but the author's credibility allows you to wonder `what if?' Additionally, and what is probably The Castro Gene's biggest strength, is that the author is able to create a story for the readers to follow.

The story here focuses around Luke Braden, a young boxer of intriguing pedigree: he's the son of a Columbia literature professor, who leaves boxing suddenly following the death of an opponent. In what seems to be an odd change of fortune, he becomes an investment analyst who quickly rises through the ranks under the somewhat watchful eye of his boss, Paul Tremont.

Braden learns that while he may have left the physical fights of the boxing ring behind, the walls of an office are far from innocent. Tremont uses Braden and in a sense Braden allows it. He wants the benefits, the high life, and is seemingly willing to pay any price for it. It's an interesting twist given that we're allowed to believe he walked away from boxing because he didn't like the side effects: namely death.

Another of Buchholz' strengths: we as readers were allowed to draw our own conclusions. Why was a former boxer the key to Tremont's success? Wouldn't a man of his standing have any number of tools at his disposal? What was special about Braden? Why was this important to Braden? He could have done anything, why choose this path?

As a reader who was not yet born at the time of the Kennedy/Castro conflicts, this was an interesting lens with which to view it. "What if..." covers a lot of history. What if Bay of Pigs and/or the Cuban Missile Crisis had turned out differently? What if Kennedy hadn't been assassinated? The book can't answer these questions, and doesn't try to, but it certainly lends some fun aspects to the rear view mirror of history.

What if...?

Fortunately for us, Todd Buchholz has brought his time tested, creative writing talent to the world of fiction with the publication of the Castro Gene. I found the characters deeply interesting and well developed and the plot moved along at a breath-taking pace. For those of us who have so enjoyed Todd's non-fiction writing over the years, this was a wonderful and welcome surprise -- I can't wait to see what he does for an encore.

Interweaving the seamy and steamy worlds of high finance, professional boxing and big-time conspiracy, THE CASTRO GENE moves with the speed of light. With an intricate and compelling plot that has its David v. Goliath elements, THE CASTRO GENE and Buchholz bring to mind John Grisham at the top of his form. Sizzling, top-notch entertainment.

Todd Buchholz's THE CASTRO GENE is a sprawling, yet engrossing thriller that weaves together disparate strands like high-stakes, cutthroat finance, professional boxing, and conspiracy theory into a quick and satisfying read. Buchholz's pedigree is impressive: former director of economic policy at the White House, as well as a managing partner in the $15 billion Tiger hedge fund. He navigates the arcane world of Wall Street with an insider's ease and eye for detail, then applies that acumen to a story that starts with a professional boxer who's beaten a man to death in the ring who is suddenly whisked off into a world high in the financial stratosphere. But nothing comes for free, especially in the boardroom of megacorporations, so the erstwhile boxer finds himself a pawn in an expertly plotted game with the future of an entire country as the prize. A twist at the end slips in like a knife to the ribs, or in this case, a shot from a high-powered rifle that may or may have not hit its intended target.

Being a sucker for a good conspiracy theory, I had a ball with Todd Buchholz's The Castro Gene, which wraps professional boxing, Wall Street and Castro up into a fast read that delivers the goods with a plot that blows up like an exploding cigar from the CIA. Buchholz comes from the world of high finance and seems to know what he's talking about: the boardroom is like the jungle, except the jungle doesn't have a sauna where Thai call girls get murdered in...very creative ways. Buchholz gives us a real S.O.B. in villain Paul Tremont, a super-rich guy who's been playing by his own rules for so long that he's forgotten the actual rules completely. Using every trick he knows, he forces a young boxer into an elaborately plotted scheme to assassinate Fidel Castro and essentially take over the Cuban economy. The fun is watching the strands of the net come together around the young boxer and how he uses his fighter's mentality to wriggle his way out of it. For fans of Oliver Stone's Wall Street and JFK.