"Woods, Stuart - L. A. Times" - читать интересную книгу автора (Woods Stuart)

L.A. TIMES [142-2.0]

By: Stuart Woods

Synopsis:

Woods--an off-again (Santa Fe Rules, etc.), on-again (New York Dead,
etc.) writer--is very much on here, turning his big weakness-stagnant
characters--into a strength. In this enjoyably high- sleaze potboiler
about a mafioso who conquers Hollywood, there's no need for character
growth: Every member of the cast is a black hearted villain, and the
great fun is watching them claw each other as the author spins out one
unexpected twist, loop, and climax after another. "You have the single
most important quality that a successful producer can possess ... you
are a complete sociopath." When his sexy assistant says that to
Michael Vincent, she isn't kidding. Born Vincente Michaele Callabrese
in N.Y.C." Michael is a mob- connected hustler who parlays his passion
for movies into fame and fortune when he bankrolls a superior in die
feature that lands him a producing deal at a top studio--and never mind
that he has to kill two fellow mafiosi to get the funds for the film.
In L.A." the comer wallows in the lavish life, investing his money
with a loan- shark. When the rights-holder on the novel he plans to
film next refuses to sell, Michael calls on his old mob-pal Tommy Pro
for help, leading to the release of the rights--but only through a
murder that leaves Michael's fingerprints at the scene. A nosy cop
realizes that Michael's guilt, so the producer simply buys him out-and
kills him after a second blackmail attempt. And so Michael leaps up
the ladder--conning actors and writers, ruining lives, cuckolding and
then killing his boss--but always making good films (and winning a Best
Picture Oscar for one), until his greed gets him in trouble with Tommy
Pro, who's now a Mafia don--and who arranges the harsh yet poetically
just fate that closes the book on Michael. With a villain as
charismatic ally coldblooded as this one, who needs a hero? Not
Woods--and not readers of this devilishly entertaining thriller.


Harper Paperbacks

$8.50

[ EAN

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR

STUART WOODS AND

DEAD IN THE WATER

filled with enough humor, sex, and clever surprises to last all the way
to the last page to make it thoroughly entertaining amusement."