The Godfather's Revenge Book Review

Although I still prefer the first novel, this was the first Godfather novel which I read the whole book. In my reading process of The Godfather, I skipped a few pages to avoid the painfully boring subplots involving Johnny Fontane and Lucy Mancini.

The Godfather's Revenge will be rated as the 2nd best novel in the Godfather novels. Despite the fact that Nick Geraci remains the main character, there is more action in this novel compared to The Godfather: The Lost Years in which it was all dialogue. We get to see Michael Corleone showing signs of diabetes as in the third film. In this novel, Michael tries to cope with his children and ex-wife Kay while finding romance in his brother Fredo's ex mistress, Rita Duvall. In The Godfather Part II, Michael teases consigliere Tom Hagen about his mistress. This novel goes in deeper, with Tom being a suspect of his mistress' murder. At the very end, Tom is killed by Nick Geraci. However, Nick is betrayed by Don Stracchi and left alone for Michael Corleone to finish off. Interestingly, this novel shows that the Corleone family had a hand if President Kennedy's assassination.

For people who preferred the first Godfather movie, The Godfather and The Sicilian suits you best. For the fans of the Part II and Part III films, Winegardner's expansion of Mario Puzo's story will be your type. As for me, I prefer the Sicilian drama of Puzo and the first film but also crave for the complexity and Americanized violence of Part II and Part III which is what you'll find in Winegardner.

As until now, only four Godfather novels have been published. I really hope either Mark Winegardner or someone else will pen another novel. Who knows, in 10 years time I might be the author of a new Godfather novel... HAHA... Dream on... However, I would enjoy a storyline which involves either Vito Corleone or Michael Corleone fight a war with the Chinese Tongs, Chinese Triads or the Japanese Yakuza. That'll be epic. Russian Red Mafiosi and Irish Mobsters will also fit the bill... But I would root for the Oriental mobs. They also deserve some recognition. Example, as with Al Capone's Valentine's Day Massacre, the Chinese Triads staged the Golden Dragon Massacre in San Fransisco where two Chinese gangs clash in a restaurant.