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The Last Don

Mario Puzo

First published 1996 · 774 pages

A sprawling, cinematic saga where the glittering worlds of Hollywood and Las Vegas mask the ruthless, blood-soaked reality of family business.

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What it feels like

Reading this novel feels like stepping into a sun-drenched but deeply cynical world where the glamour of Hollywood and the neon pulse of Las Vegas are underwritten by cold-blooded violence. The narrative moves with a propulsive, cinematic energy, sweeping the reader through a sprawling web of backroom deals, movie sets, and casino floors. It is an operatic experience, steeped in a mood of dangerous luxury and inevitable tragedy. The prose is muscular and authoritative, delivering a story that is less about the mechanics of crime and more about the inescapable gravity of family sins. It will thoroughly delight readers who love sweeping, multi-generational sagas where loyalty is currency, betrayal is fatal, and the pursuit of the American Dream is a ruthless, blood-soaked game.

Mood
  • glamorous
  • dangerous
  • shadowy
  • tense
Tone
  • cynical
  • operatic
  • authoritative
  • dramatic
Pace
propulsive
Themes
illusion of legitimacy · generational sins · corrupting power · family loyalty and betrayal · the business of entertainment
The writing
Muscular, unfussy, and highly cinematic, the prose prioritizes sweeping narrative momentum and sharp, worldly observations over literary flourish.
The arc
The journey begins with a hopeful, calculated pivot toward legitimacy, only to spiral into an inevitable, blood-soaked reckoning with buried family secrets.
Who it's for
Readers who crave sprawling, multi-generational crime sagas filled with backroom deals, glamorous settings, and ruthless family politics.
Content notes
  • graphic violence
  • sexual content
  • organized crime
  • murder
  • betrayal

About the book

"PUZO IS IN TOP FORM." TimeThe Last Don is Mario Puzo at his finest, thrilling us with his greatest Mafia novel since The Godfather a masterful saga of the last great American crime family and its powerful reach into Hollywood and Las Vegas."THE MOST ENTERTAINING READ SINCE THE GODFATHER." The New York Times Book ReviewThe Last Don is Domenico Clericuzio, a wise and ruthless old man who is determined to see his heirs established in legitimate society but whose vision is threatened when secrets from the family's past spark a vicious war between two blood cousins."SKILLFULLY CRAFTED... IT GIVES US HOLLYWOOD, LAS VEGAS, AND THE MOB IN ONE SWEET DISH." Los Angeles Times Book ReviewThe Last Don is a mesmerizing tale that takes us inside the equally corrupt worlds of the mob, the movie industry, and the casinos where beautiful actresses and ruthless hitmen are ruled by lust and violence, where sleazy producers and greedy studio heads are drunk on power, where crooked cops and desperate gamblers play dangerous games of betrayal, and where one man controls them all...."Head-long entertainment, bubbling over with corruption, betrayal, assassinations, Richter-scale romance, and, of course, family values." Time"Puzo returns after a quarter century to the terrain of his greatest success, The Godfather, to tell a second masterful tale of Mafia life." Variety"A compelling tale peopled by memorable characters.... Puzo is a master storyteller with an uncanny facility for details that force the reader to keep the pages turning." USA TodayFrom the Paperback edition.

Description from Open Library.

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