It’s 1961 and Fidel Castro, having recently gained power, is a polarizing figure to say the least. A handful of Americans has been hired to sneak into the island nation and assassinate Castro in exchange for a small fortune.

Published by Hard Case Crime in 2008, Killing Castro had originally been written under a pseudonym (Lee Duncan) in an era when Lawrence Block had been churning out books on a monthly, sometimes weekly basis.

While I’m a big fan of Hard Case Crime and the work they do, not everything they put out knocks my socks off. This one from early in Block’s career is about as forgettable as it gets. The book definitely has its fair share of sex and violence, like you expect from Hard Case, but Killing Castro really shows how far Block has come as a writer.

That being said, this book isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not. Block wasn’t looking to tackle communism in the form of a drug store paperback. If you’re looking for a quick and violent read, this should do the trick.