Rating: 
Summary: entertaining
Review: While 'The Godfather' continues to reign supreme over the other works of Mario Puzo, this novel definitely holds it's own as an exciting and gripping story of deceit, honour, and retribution. Those who are familiar with Puzo's earlier mafia works will most likely find this story to be a bit closer tied to corruption in the government and the dark side of the political system. This may be because a good portion of the novel takes place in America as opposed to Italy, or simply because not as many characters are involved in Mafia families. Either way, it's a step in a different direction which may turn off fans of novels like 'The Sicilian' or 'The Last Don'. Most readers, however, will most likely welcome this change, as it doesn't really detract in any way from enjoyment of the book. The characters are still memorable, the plot has just the right level of complexity, and a man who betrays his friends will still be dead by the following morning. One drawback I found was the massive number of characters. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but Mario Puzo's style of writing is such that the reader has to remember the name of every single character they read about because the name will most likely come up again in the novel. If you don't remember who the person is it may detract from your understanding of the plot as a whole, and that's not a good thing. If your even an occasional reader, however, you probably wont have a problem with this. Overall, this is quite an interesting story, and definitely worth the time it takes to read.
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