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Overview
This top-level thriller returns to themes explored by Heffernan in his New York Times bestseller The Corsican. The legendary Corsican Mafia is forced to choose sides in a struggle, spanning not only the shadow of the Cold War, but the violent carnage of the modern-day drug wars, as a rising CIA star must stop a man from committing the ultimate act of terrorism. HC: Dutton.This top-level thriller returns to themes explored by Heffernan in his New York Times bestseller The Corsican. The legendary Corsican Mafia is forced to choose sides in a struggle, spanning not only the shadow of the Cold War, but the violent carnage of the modern-day drug wars, as a rising CIA star must stop a man from committing the ultimate act of terrorism.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
If Mario Puzo and Richard Condon teamed up, they might write a novel much like this colorful, eventful and scathing view of an alliance between mobsters and ``nice'' rich people. In 1980 Alex Moran, American Defense Intelligence Agency station chief in Marseilles, is hot on the trail of terrorist Ludwig when the psychopath kidnaps and butchers Alex's unfaithful wife, Stephanie. The bereaved Alex is forced to resign after he breaks spook rules by launching a personal vendetta against Ludwig, backed by his ``uncles'' Antoine and Meme Pisani, the heads of the top Corsican Mafia faction. A flashback to 1947 shows Alex's father, Piers, using the Pisanis to ``save'' Marseilles from the Communists for the fledgling CIA. Then, in 1990, Alex leaves his boozy life as a Vermont college professor to help his uncles fend off an attack from a Colombian drug lord who is using Ludwig as his chief weapon. The action turns very nasty, with the CIA depicted as up to its neck in illicit drug dealings. Heffernan ( Blood Rose ) provides satisfying color and punch, particularly in terrific descriptions of the Corsican mob milieu. ( Aug. )Library Journal
Using all of his skill as a novelist, Heffernan ( Ritual , Dutton, 1990) has written a sweeping tale of action, revenge, corruption, and espionage. In 1980, the Corsican Mafia based in Marseilles has long had U.S. protection in return for keeping the city and its important docking industry free from Communism. But when a super-terrorist named Ludwig slaughters the wife of Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agent Alex Moran, he sparks a vendetta that eventually involves betrayal of Moran and the Corsicans by the CIA, Colombian drug cartels, large-scale money laundering, and the machinations of government dignitaries mired in illegal activities and massive cover-ups. Marseilles and the village of Cervione, Corsica, provide unusually colorful backdrops for Heffernan's seventh novel, which builds to a powerful and satisfying climax in which all the bad guys get what they deserve.-- Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., OhioBook Details
Published
March 25, 1993
Publisher
New American Library
Pages
448
Format
Paperbound
ISBN
9780451176288