THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130058
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book review
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY
LENGTH: 71 lines
DON DOMENICO CLERICUZIO, the most powerful Mafia family head in America, calls the family together to divide up his power, or at least to make it look that way. His hope is that the two infant cousins being christened that day will grow up part of legitimate society - not dependent on the Mafia family. The year is 1965, and he envisions a world of legalized gambling and ample investment opportunities in the movie business.
``Certainly he had made monstrous decisions to achieve power and wealth, but he felt little regret. And it had all been necessary and proved correct. Let other men groan over their sins, Don Clericuzio accepted them and placed his faith in the God he knew would forgive him,'' writes Mario Puzo in his latest novel, ``The Last Don.''
This Mafia thriller comes 27 years after Puzo's best-selling ``The Godfather.'' Puzo, the author of ``The Dark Arena,'' ``The Fortunate Pilgrim,'' ``Fools Die,'' ``The Sicilian'' and ``The Fourth K,'' has also written several screenplays, including those for ``Earthquake,'' ``Superman'' and all three Godfather movies, for which he received two Academy Awards.
``The Last Don'' is a masterful tour of the underworld, with sizzling love scenes and tangled family relationships that continue across generations.
Here, the tentacles of the Mafia work their corruption into the private rooms of the hottest casinos in Vegas and the dressing rooms of Hollywood picture sets.
Unfortunately, the characters are not as compelling as the Corleones of ``The Godfather.'' In places, love comes too fast; secrets are contrived.
Always keeping the plot moving, however, is Puzo's knack for juxtaposing unlikely pairs - beauty with acid, christenings with business, assassins with Easter egg hunts.
On a sunny Easter morning 25 years later, the babies have reached manhood. It is then that one of the book's central characters, the Don's grandnephew Croccifixio ``Cross'' De Lena, realizes his father's role in the family. Cross learns from his cousin, Dante, that Pippi De Lena is the ``hammer'' - the killer.
``It was a day Cross always remembered for its innocence, the young children chastely clad in white to announce the Resurrection, and because he finally understood who his father was.''
Before long, Cross joins his father's world as ``the little hammer.''
Soon, he finds himself pitted against Dante, staring down retribution for secret past injustices.
Presiding over all is the Don - a man revered for his sense of justice. Even loved. But love is an emotion the Don does not trust.
Always in the back of his head, Cross hears the Don's voice. Despite warnings against the dangers of women, Cross falls for movie star Athena Aquitane. He helps rid her of the problem of a threatening estranged husband. And things get mushy:
``Quite simply, the sight of her, the sound of her voice, the way she moved, her happiness and her sorrow, all made him happy. The world became dazzlingly pleasurable when he was with her. Food became delicious, the sun's heat warmed his bones, and he felt that sweet hunger for her flesh that made life holy.''
In the end, it is she who rescues him.
``The Last Don'' is light, fast-paced reading - perfect to ease out of summer. It could stand as the final Mafia story, but Puzo has promised it won't be. MEMO: June Arney is a staff writer. ILLUSTRATION: BOOK REVIEW
``The Last Don''
Author: Mario Puzo
Publisher: Random House
482 pp.
Price: $25.95 by CNB