Local author releases timely novel ‘Crosshairs on Castro’

John J. Harrigan hopes historical thriller helps readers understand decades of mistrust between Cuba and U.S.

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

As Cuba opens back up to Americans, a local author is hoping to help people understand what happened between the two countries five decades ago.

“With President Obama’s initiative in opening up to Cuba, this a timely book that I hope everyone will read,” remarked author John J. Harrigan.

His recently published historical thriller, “Crosshairs on Castro,” weaves an assassination plot around the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The book revolves around Army lieutenant Charlie Parnell, who is blackmailed into the scheme by CIA rogue agents. Masquerading as an Irish journalist, he enters Havana only to meet danger at every step. He must elude his Cuban watcher, the tantalizing Isabel Fernandez, who learns his true identity just as the crisis erupts. While she debates what to do, Castro prepares for invasion, throwing Havana into chaos and cutting off Charlie’s escape route. He and Isabel must scramble for their lives.

The book is available in either paperback ($12.95) or Kindle ($4.50) on Amazon.com. Locally, it can be purchased at the Underground Music Cafe, 1759 Hamline Ave.

“In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis came within an eyelash of destroying the bulk of Western Civilization in a cascade of nuclear blasts,” observed Harrigan. “Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s, the CIA devoted enormous energy trying to assassinate Fidel Castro. What I did was create a fictional assassination story and weave it around the real-life historical drama of the Missile Crisis. Nobody has ever done this before.”

Harrigan added that although these events of 1962 may have happened long ago, they did a lot to shape the long half-century of distrust between the two societies.

“We can’t remove that distrust unless we understand why it happened. ‘Crosshairs on Castro’ uses historical fiction to address that issue,” stated Harrigan.

Addicted to historical fiction

This is Harrigan’s third historical novel. “I’m addicted to historical fiction,” admitted the Falcon Heights resident.

Harrigan earned a Ph.D. from Georgetown University. He spent 30 years at Hamline University where he taught political science, chaired the department, served as assistant dean of Liberal Arts, and authored several textbooks.

“When the chance for early retirement appeared, I grabbed it to learn the craft of writing historical thrillers,” said Harrigan.

His debut thriller, “Patron Saint of Desperate Situations,” was praised as “excellent” by the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2007. “The Patron Saint of Desperate Situations” is built around the plane crash that killed iconic U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone.

His second novel, “The Jeeptown Sock Hop” is an exploration of home life during the Korean War of the early 1950s, seen from the eyes of a white boy who falls for a black girl in a town deeply split by racial and class divisions.

“One thread links these stories,” remarked Harrigan. “I want to help people feel what it was like to live through these critical moments. Histories can tell us what happened in the past, but only novels and movies can get us to feel what it was like.”

Experience enhances novels

Earlier in his career, Harrigan spent three years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a U.S. Foreign Service cultural affairs officer. “I loved Brazil and would go back in a heartbeat if I had a good reason to go,” said Harrigan. He still speaks Portuguese fluently, has close Brazilian friends, reads the literature, and listens to the music. Harrigan also taught courses on Brazilian movies for Hamline’s senior OLLI program.

Photo left: John Harrigan (Photo submitted)

The heroine of his first novel is a Brazilian immigrant single mom living in Minnesota who is devastated by Wellstone’s death. A somewhat minor character in his second novel “Jeeptown Sock Hop” is a nun from Cape Verde with a Portuguese accent who has a large impact on the novel’s 15-year-old protagonist. The heroine of “Crosshairs on Castro” is a young Cuban mother.

“Without my experience in Latin America, I never could have created these characters,” noted Harrigan.

Advice for aspiring novelists

Harrigan advises aspiring novelists to keep writing and submitting their pieces to appropriate venues.

But most of all, he encourages them to seek feedback.

“I’ve found an invaluable source of critiques in the Minneapolis Writers’ Guild,” said Harrigan. “Local authors can submit pieces to us. If we have openings, and the work holdssome promise, we will critique it.”

In exchange, the authors also have to critique other peoples’ writings.

“It’s amazing how much one can learn in the process of critiquing somebody else,” remarked Harrigan. “Having a first-rate group like this examine your work is infinitely more useful than paying several hundred dollars to some ‘expert’ to review it.”

He recommends using the Meetup website as a starting place for finding local critique groups.

“Whether it’s an epic poem or an article on a local sport’s team, you simply have to strive to write the most compelling piece that you can,” said Harrigan.

He is polishing off his next book, “Spiderwoman,” a thriller-caper built around a woman’s reaction to her soldier son’s death in the Iraqi War.

For more, browse www.harriganbooks.com or http://www.cubahopes.blogspot.com.