The publishing event of the decade--Mario Puzo's first work of fiction since the release of The Godfather in 1969 that went on to sell more than fifteen million copies in the U.S. alone and created a body of language and a cast of characters that have become part of America's folklore.
Fools Die focuses dramatically on forty years in the life of an orphaned American boy named Merlyn who, in time, comes to understand how he relates to the magician of Arthurian legend. His haphazard youth is spent outside the law, and only his overwhelming interest in writing and extraordinary success as an author save him from a life behind bars.
Merlyn's books bring fame and fortune and open doors to the literary coteries of New York and the Hollywood world of film moguls, actors, agents and beautiful women. Neither the wife of his youth, his family, nor his beloved brother can compete with the delights of Hollywood or the heady addition of Las Vegas casinos. His friends, a cross-section of the beautiful and the damned, are the dramatis personae of this great story.
Surrounded by dazzling actors in life's most risky game, Merlyn plays out his destiny the role of a man who witnesses treachery and still believes in honor, who loves one woman but constantly betrays her, and who observes—as Fools Die.
Panoramic in scope, peopled with brilliantly realized men and women, Fools Die is a novel of ambition and power, passion and "the poisons of love," friendship and betrayal, the human comedy—and tragedy—that only Mario Puzo could write.
Editorial Reviews
“Convincing and fascinating...Puzo is a skilled craftsman...There is a Balzacian fascination in seeing the inside workings of the casinos.” —Wall Street Journal
“Hypnotic! The narrative boils without let-up, big scene after big scene, with plenty of betting, bedding, and boozing.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Hypnotic! The narrative boils without let-up, big scene after big scene, with plenty of betting, bedding, and boozing.” —San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
The son of Italian immigrants who moved to the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City, Mario Puzo was born on October 15, 1920. After World War II, during which he served as a U.S. Army corporal, he attended City College of New York on the G.I. Bill and worked as a freelance writer. During this period he wrote his first two novels The Dark Arena (1955) and The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965).
When his books made little money despite being critically acclaimed, he vowed to write a bestseller. The Godfather (1969) was an enormous success. He collaborated with director Francis Ford Coppola on the screenplays for all three Godfather movies and won Academy Awards for both The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974). He also collaborated on the scripts for such films as Superman (1978), Superman II (1981), and The Cotton Club (1984). He continued to write phenomenally successful novels, Including Fools Die (1978), The Sicilian (1984), The Fourth K (1991), and The Last Don (1996). Mario Puzo died on July 2, 1999. His final novel, Omerta, was published in 2000.
When his books made little money despite being critically acclaimed, he vowed to write a bestseller. The Godfather (1969) was an enormous success. He collaborated with director Francis Ford Coppola on the screenplays for all three Godfather movies and won Academy Awards for both The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974). He also collaborated on the scripts for such films as Superman (1978), Superman II (1981), and The Cotton Club (1984). He continued to write phenomenally successful novels, Including Fools Die (1978), The Sicilian (1984), The Fourth K (1991), and The Last Don (1996). Mario Puzo died on July 2, 1999. His final novel, Omerta, was published in 2000.
