The Godfather Returns
Mark Winegardner
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2004 Random House
ISBN: 1400061016

The long awaited sequel to the cult classic The Godfather.

It is 1955, & Michael Corleone has won a bloody victory in the war among New York's crime families. Now he wants to consolidate his power, save his marriage, & take his family into legitimate businesses.

Sweeping from New York & Washington to Las Vegas & Cuba, The Godfather Returns is the spellbinding story of America's criminal underworld at mid-century & its intersection with the political, legal, & entertainment empires. Mark Winegardner brings an original voice & vision to Mario Puzo's mythic characters, while creating several equally unforgettable characters of his own.

Senior Associate Reviewer Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

I have read The Godfather at least a dozen times. I immediately became a Mario Puzo fan and also gobbled up the author's other Mafia thrillers including The Sicilian, Fool's Die, The Fortunate Pilgrim, The Last Don & his posthumously published The Family.

But The Godfather remains unique -- it was, & still is the quintessential work on the Mafia. A while ago I had been duped into buying a book titled Godfather II, from a flea market in India. True it was a Mafia story, but with false attribution to Mario Puzo. So it was with a little trepidation that I began reading The Godfather Returns, the official sequel.

I was not disappointed! In true regal style, the author takes us through the life of the Corleone Family, particularly Michael Corleone -- & the legacy of The Godfather lives on in this book.

It is a natural sequel -- covering the decade between 1955 & 1965 (The Godfather ended in 1955). I can't reveal more, without being a spoilsport, but let me tell you two things: Firstly, the book is a sequel of the novel & not of the movies (The Godfather DVD Collection) & secondly, there are enough questions left unanswered for a second sequel.

Mark Winegardner, is a little known author -- & therein lies an interesting story of how he started work on the book. During his lifetime Puzo stubbornly refused to do a sequel, & it was only near his end, he gave permission to any other author to do so. Random House searched far & wide for an author who could capture the spirit of Puzo's creation, & has the commitment for the same. They finally zeroed in on Winegardner, who is roughly the same age as was Puzo when he wrote The Godfather, & has already got some critically acclaimed tales to his credit.

I would advise readers to read the original before The Godfather Returns. This will surely boost your pleasure. Winegardner has done a good job -- like Alexandra Ripley did with Scarlet for Gone With The Wind, & Frederick Forsyth with The Phantom Of Manhattan for Gaston Leroux's The Phantom Of The Opera.

The Godfather Returns is a good work ... no, a tremendously good work! Winegardner is destined for bestseller status in the near future. Highly recommended.

More from Mark Winegardner:
Crooked River Burning
That's True of Everybody & more.
(11/07/04)

Narayan
2004©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org