Kahawa [Mass Market Paperback]

Donald E. Westlake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

In Uganda in 1977, a particular trainload of coffee, mostly belonging to dictator Idi Amin, is worth six million dollars. As a group of scoundrels and international financiers hijack the train, the double and triple crosses pile up and the comic tension escalates in a brawling brew of buffoons, bumblers, beans and boxcars.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This 1981 Westlake gem is back in print. A mile-long freight train steams through the heart of Idi Amin's mad, tortured, magical, and corrupt Uganda, loaded down with kahawa (Swahili for coffee). What Amin doesn't know, what his most beautiful spy has not been able to wring out of her latest victim, and what the world's coffee markets may be unable to swallow, is that the train and six million dollars worth of coffee are about to disappear into the hands of a conflicted, colorful, swashbuckling band of mercenaries and moneymakers.

"Kahawa is such a splendid huggermugger that if you don't like it, there's something wrong with you.... No reader that I will ever want to meet should dare complain." --The New York Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

DONALD E. WESTLAKE has written numerous novels over the past thirty-five years under his own name and pseudonyms, including Richard Stark. Many of his books have been made into movies, including The Hunter, which became the brilliant film noir Point Blank, and the 1999 smash hit Payback. He penned the Hollywood scripts for The Stepfather and The Grifters, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. The winner of three Edgar awards and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Donald E. Westlake was presented with The Eye, the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Shamus Awards. He lives with his wife, Abby Adams, in rural New York State.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446403431
• ISBN-13: 978-0446403436
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.9 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kahawa is the "thinking man's adventure novel.", September 20, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Kahawa (Mass Market Paperback)

You don't read adventures. I don't read adventures. Kahawa is an adventure book worth reading. Kahawa is a well-researched, gloriously well written, carefully characterized adventure novel about a plot to steal a train of freshly harvested coffee from 1970s Uganda. 1970s Uganda and Idi Amin, who is prominently featured in the novel. Kahawa is filled with historical (true!) anecdotes about early Africa, and is set in an accurate portrayal of the horror of Amin's brutal Ugandan dictatorship (which to most people today is just a memory). It's main characters are real people -- not the supermen and fearless heroes found in most adventure novels. And best of all, Westlike writes the story with a touch of humor and wit, giving the reader a look at the stark reality of Uganda, Africa, racism, and piracy while at the same time keeping the reader comfortable with the deeds of the main characters, and hopeful that they will be successful

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read long ago, but not forgotten, February 25, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Angelholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kahawa (Mass Market Paperback)

As I remembered the novel, it was the best I ever read. My rating may have been coloured by my living in Liberia 15 years ago when reading the book. Samuel K. Doe was at the time turning our life upside down (I later lived for some years in Tanzania, bordering lake Victoria). The book is totally different from anything else that I have read from Westlake. Did I find it good if I'm searching for it 15 years later?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, January 7, 2003

By 

Bill Thomson "drbillthomson" (Bozeman, Montana USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kahawa (Mass Market Paperback)

Understand that this book is a major departure for Westlake, and is darker tham a lot of his other books. This is a good thing, I've read a few of his other books, and while they were ok, Kahawa is simply woderful. By blending some actual figures into the book, Westlake adds realism, which makes it even more gripping. Worth more than 5 stars!