It was a novel about a Soviet plot to dominate the Caribbean, where Soviets with their subs and their proxies in the Cubans and Nicaraguans would close off the various straits in the Caribbean to U.S. access for… well, some reason.
Written by one of the second-tier techno-thriller authors of the '80s or '90s, definitely not Tom Clancy and probably not Ralph Peters.
In retrospect, a poorly-written and implausible book, but does anyone know the title?
Thanks!
Aha… Got it - it was “Choke Point” by Charles D. Taylor, from 1988. Amazing to find that there are still some things that are hard to find on google or wikipedia.
So the the steel-jawed and silver-haired former CIA agent Dirk Manley save the day?
Only after buxom blonde Dr. DuGood got in trouble with the nefarious agents of a foreign power and was whisked away to their hideout at gunpoint, I’m sure.
I have very little recollection of reading this book, but I remember the big twist was… the Soviet Navy isn’t going to challenge the U.S. on the North Atlantic, where everyone expects, but instead on the Caribbean, in America’s own backyard.
Even back when I read it, at thirteen or fourteen, I thought isn’t that just going to get them smashed further to bits by remaining within easy range of U.S. airpower and surrounded on every side by either U.S. allies or nations that want no quarrel with the U.S.? And aren’t the Cubans going to be a little hard-pressed to keep the U.S. off the backs of the Soviet fleet in this scenario?