Customer Reviews

The Piranhas (Windsor Selections)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After a six year absence due to health problems, Harold Robbins returned in 1991 with this novel about Jed Stevens, the nephew of an aging Mafia chieftain and his bid to separate himself from the family business and become a respectable business man in the world of corporate dog eat dog high finance. As a Robbins fan who had concluded that Robbins was no longer writing, I was very happy to buy the book back when it came out, but I was disappointed when I finished reading it. I've read it a couple of times since, and it's still not a favorite of mine though I'm now aware of the health problems Robbins overcame to write this book and I respect him for persevering to write another book rather than retire.

The Piranhas opens at a Mafia's chief's funeral as a disturbed man enters St. Patrick's Cathedral and shoot up the coffin. We then flashback to the 1970's as Jed and his cousin Angelo navigate the Amazon River to score a major drug deal. The early part of the novel is told in Robbins' trademark terse, hardboiled style. Unfortunately this is one of Robbins' weakest stories. After a strong start, the story begins to meander, with our protagonist Jed Stevens pretty much missing in action for the Middle section of the book. The final part of the book documents Jed's efforts to help his Uncle retire peacefully from the Mafia world without being murdered by his long time associates.

There are some promising plot elements in the book, but the story does not gel. Even the sex scenes lack the classic Robbins raunch. It would be several more years before another Robbins book was published. The last 3 that would come out while he was alive were written by a ghost writer who lacked Robbins' earthy writing style and his ability to write a good sex scene. Fortunately, before he died, Robbins finished work on The Predators, a much more cohesive story and a return to form in terms of writing style, setting, narrative structure, and eroticism. Thank goodness The Piranhas was not Robbins' last completed work.

Another one from Harold Robbins which keeps you glued to the book untill its over.

The Piranhas is a story that only ole' Harold could write. It is explosive with sex, violence, betrayal, and corrupt Wallstreet dealings. The book, as with most of Robbins' work deals with the issues of power and lust, how a man can achieve them, and how a man reacts when it has it all. The characterization is titanic, as well. Robbins illustrates his characters with all the temptations and emotions a man must face. The Piranhas proves again that Harold Robbins is the best American writer of modern time.

One of the more exciting books of fiction from the godfather of pop fiction. harold robbins has written more than 20 novels, all of them best sellers.

That summary reflects this book's displacement of Cussler's Sahara as tops in the "Did Anybody Edit This Book?" category. I don't know what possessed me to complete this novel. The (accidental?) switch from first person to third person narrative voice for a couple of chapters in the middle should have signaled me to stop. For light reading, stick with Nelson DeMille or old Ludlum