The Paradise of the Devilbook portfolio · synopsis, characters & themes

PORTFOLIO COLLECTION

Stephen Francis Montagna

THE PARADISE OF THE DEVIL

STEPHEN FRANCIS MONTAGNA

BOOK OVERVIEW

What happens when the man who removes a dictator discovers that taking power is far easier than controlling a nation?

THE

CENTRAL

STORY

A REVOLUTION WITHIN A REVOLUTION

Alvarez wants the presidency for himself.

THE ASSASSINATION OF

CASTRO

Castro is dead, and Alvarez becomes the new leader of Cuba.

THE GREAT MISJUDGMENT

Alvarez assumes the Cuban people will support him because Castro is gone.

He is wrong.

Instead of accepting Alvarez as their liberator, civilians begin organizing against the new military government.

The resistance rapidly grows.

Hundreds become thousands. Civilian leaders begin taking control of organized resistance forces, and sections of eastern Cuba fall into civilian hands. Government soldiers begin abandoning positions, refusing orders, and in some cases joining the civilian movement.

The revolution Alvarez expected to end becomes another revolution.

Only this time, Alvarez is the government being overthrown.

THE

CIVILIAN

ARMY

Alvarez killed Castro believing Castro was Cuba's greatest problem. Then he discovered that Cuba itself might be his greatest opponent.

ALVAREZ'S TRANSFORMATION

It becomes personal.

MARIA IBARRA

He wanted to destroy Castro's dictatorship, but he is becoming another dictator.

THE SECRET CASTRO LEFT BEHIND

The novel's second major plot engine emerges from the history surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The manuscript establishes that the world believed the Soviet nuclear weapons had been removed from Cuba after the 1962 crisis.

But Castro had kept a secret.

The manuscript explicitly states that Castro concealed information from the United States, a secret that would eventually return to threaten America.

Decades later, Alvarez discovers that the secret is far more dangerous than anyone realizes.

Hidden facilities contain nuclear weapons and missile systems.

This discovery changes Alvarez's strategy completely.

The Cuban civilian rebellion is no longer his only problem.

He now possesses something capable of forcing the United States to pay attention.

ALVAREZ'S DEADLIEST DECISION

Instead of surrendering or negotiating, Alvarez decides to use the hidden missiles as his ultimate weapon.

He believes the United States will be forced to respond to the threat.

The missiles become his final bargaining chip—and eventually

something much darker.

The discovery of documents inside the hidden bunker reveals that Castro had planned military actions in the Middle East as diversions while missiles were moved into launch positions. The plans include operations involving Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

The revelation expands the novel from a Cuban civil conflict into

an international crisis.

Cuba's internal revolution now threatens to become a global catastrophe.

THE INTERNATIONAL THREAT

The novel moves beyond Cuba as Cuban-trained operatives begin appearing in international operations.

Evidence connects Cuban personnel to attacks in the Middle East. American intelligence begins assembling information suggesting that the new Cuban government is responsible for operations designed to inflame regional tensions.

The stakes become enormous.

Alvarez is no longer simply fighting Cuban civilians.

He is now provoking:

the United States

Russia

Middle Eastern governments

international intelligence agencies

military forces

and ultimately the possibility of nuclear war.

THE UNITED STATES ENTERS THE CONFLICT

Stop the missiles before they can be launched.

CORPORAL ROBERT WALKER

Get to the missiles before Alvarez launches them.

THE NUCLEAR COUNTDOWN

The technological race

The physical race

THE FINAL CONFRONTATION

He is willing to destroy Cuba because Cuba rejected him.

MARIA'S

FINAL

CHOICE

Inside the bunker, Alvarez's behavior reaches its most extreme point.

He kills technicians who can no longer help him launch the missiles.

The soldiers around him become increasingly frightened of their own President.

Maria finally acts.

She takes a field knife from one of the soldiers and attacks Alvarez from behind.

After he attempts to shoot her but discovers that his pistol is empty, Maria attacks him again, stabbing him repeatedly. Alvarez dies looking at the woman who once loved him.

The significance of this moment is enormous.

The revolution that Alvarez began ends with the woman closest to him killing him.

THE FALL

OF THE

"DEVIL OF PARADISE"

The man who killed Castro to free Cuba ultimately becomes the very kind of ruler he claimed to oppose—and is destroyed by someone who refuses to let him destroy the country.

MAJOR CHARACTERS

COLONEL CARLOS RAFAEL HERNANDEZ ALVAREZ

MARIA IBARRA

VICE PRESIDENT CABRISAS

CAPTAIN CARLOS CALVO

CORPORAL ROBERT WALKER

CAPTAIN HAVERLIN

STORY STRUCTURE

ACT I — THE SEED OF REVOLUTION

ACT II — THE CONSPIRACY

ACT III — THE COUP

ACT IV — THE PEOPLE REBEL

ACT V — CIVIL WAR

ACT VI — THE SECRET

ACT VII — INTERNATIONAL CRISIS

ACT VIII — THE NUCLEAR THREAT

ACT IX — THE AMERICAN ASSAULT

ACT X — THE FALL OF ALVAREZ

MAJOR THEMES

POWER AND CORRUPTION

REVOLUTION DOES NOT GUARANTEE FREEDOM

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIBERATION AND CONTROL

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

THE CYCLE OF REVOLUTION

NUCLEAR POWER AND POLITICAL DESPERATION

WHY THE TITLE WORKS

COMMERCIAL POSITIONING

UNIQUE STORY HOOK

A Cuban colonel assassinates Fidel Castro believing he can save his country—only to discover that the people he intended to liberate would rather fight him than accept another military ruler. When he uncovers a secret nuclear arsenal hidden in Cuba since the Cuban Missile Crisis, his failed revolution transforms into a race against the United States to prevent him from taking the entire world to the brink of nuclear war.

PUBLISHER-FOCUSED LOGLINE

SHORT PITCH

He killed Castro to save Cuba.

Now Cuba wants him dead.

SUBMISSION SYNOPSIS

The Paradise of the Devil follows Colonel Carlos Rafael Hernandez Alvarez, a Cuban military officer who has grown increasingly convinced that Fidel Castro's leadership has destroyed Cuba.

Alvarez secretly gathers military officers and political allies who agree that Castro must be removed. Their plan culminates in Alvarez confronting Castro personally. When Castro attempts to recruit Alvarez into his personal staff, Alvarez instead draws a pistol and takes control of the confrontation.

Castro is killed.

Alvarez becomes President.

Initially, his supporters believe Cuba has finally been liberated. But Alvarez has underestimated the Cuban population. Civilian resistance rapidly develops into an organized army, capturing territory and attacking government military installations. Soldiers begin abandoning their posts and, in some cases, joining the civilian resistance.

The situation deteriorates into a nationwide civil war.

Alvarez responds with military force, increasingly behaving like the dictator he claimed to overthrow. Maria Ibarra, his lover and former supporter, becomes increasingly horrified by his transformation. She warns him that he is becoming like Castro.

Then Alvarez discovers a secret that changes the entire conflict.

Hidden in Cuba are nuclear weapons connected to the secret military infrastructure left over from the Cold War. Castro had concealed the existence of this capability from the United States.

Alvarez decides to use the missiles as leverage against America.

As intelligence concerning the weapons reaches Washington, the United States begins preparing a military intervention. American forces converge on Cuba while Corporal Robert Walker leads a dangerous ground assault toward the hidden missile installation.

Inside the bunker, Alvarez initiates the missile launch sequence.

The man who believed he had to kill a dictator to save Cuba ultimately became the dictator Cuba had to save itself from.

AUTHOR'S STORY VISION

This is not simply a story about killing Castro.

EDITORIAL POSITIONING STATEMENT

Question One:

Can a military officer remove a dictator without becoming another dictator?

Question Two:

What happens when the people reject the man who claims he has liberated them?

Question Three:

What happens when that failed revolutionary gains access to nuclear weapons?

THE NOVEL'S STRONGEST STORY ELEMENT

The man who wants to save Cuba.

The man Cuba rises against.

The weapon that can make the United States fear him.

The man willing to destroy Cuba because he cannot control it.

The dictator killed by the woman who once believed in him.

PORTFOLIO CLOSING STATEMENT

THE PARADISE OF THE DEVIL

A revolution begins with the belief that one man can save a nation.