Not Puzo's best. It lacks subtlety, and its story line meanders kind of pointlessly, scenes that should be exciting often fizzle out and the characters lack dimension. I have heard critics assert that, since this was released posthumously, that it was finished off by unskilled editors and/or publishers in an effort to cash in one last time.... I don't know if that is the case but in any event it does feel kind of unfinished. Perhaps it was a draft that never got polished because of Puzo's death.
In any event, Puzo was a genius, so even his worst book is still pretty entertaining, all things considered. I consider this a 'porch' book; that is to say, a good read on a summer afternoon on the porch, like an Elmore Leonard or a James Patterson novel.
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