Stiletto

Publisher Marketing: Cesare Cardinale is an amoral, aristocratic Italian playboy an entrepreneur and race car driver who wants for nothing whether it's fast cars, beautiful women, or orgies of debauchery. Cesare, however, has two dirty secrets: First, he has a penchant for violence that borders on the sadistic and sociopathic; second, he owes his extravagant life to a Sicilian Mafia don, creating a seemingly perfect relationship as he leads a double life as a Mafia assassin. But when Cesare is ordered to murder four U. S. government witnesses in protective custody, he attracts the attention of a mysterious special agent who will stop at nothing to bring the crime syndicate down. Soon Cesare is engaged in a lethal game of cat-and-mouse against both an adversary who is more than his match, as he understands what makes Cesare tick, and the Mafia, who fears he might talk. From the author of "The New York Times" number one bestselling novel "The Carpetbaggers" comes a story about the Mafia, written when American leaders like J. Edgar Hoover were still skeptical about the existence of an Italian-American organized crime network or the Cosa Nostra. Published a decade earlier, this novel inspired books like Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" and helped ignite American pop culture's insatiable fascination with the Mafia that continues today." Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/01/1997 pg. 74 (EAN 9781556115165, Hardcover) Library Journal 04/01/1997 (EAN 9781556115165, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Robbins, Harold Born in New York City, HAROLD ROBBINS is one of the world's bestselling authors, writing novels that often mirrored his own experiences and that were peopled by characters he had met. He is the author of "The Carpetbaggers".