Struggling with his illegitimate son for control of the vast family fortune, Jonas Cord, Jr., teams up with his father's sidekick, Nevada Smith, and moves his enterprise to Las Vegas and Cuba, where he incurs Mafia wrath. Reprint.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Thirty-four years after penning one of the bestselling novels of all time, Robbins has written a sequel-and while he hasn't matched the potboiling heat of The Carpetbaggers here, this is still his most entertaining novel in years. It's now 1951, and Jonas Cord (read: Howard Hughes) has turned his father's company into an empire. He has remarried his ex-wife, recognized the daughter he once rejected and only regrets not having a son to whom he can leave his legacy. While visiting Las Vegas, Jonas buys a casino and incurs the wrath of the mob by shutting down the casino's money-laundering operation. To avoid appearing at a Senate hearing on his business practices, the tycoon flees to Mexico, where he looks up an old girlfriend-and learns that he has a son by her, 25-year-old Jonas Enrique Raul Cord y Batista (aka Bart), who has inherited his father's looks, brains and thirst for power. Father and son team up to streamline the Cord empire, launch casinos in Las Vegas and Cuba (where they rely on Bart's family connection to the Cuban dictator) and vanquish greedy senators and a vengeful mafia. But sparks fly between them as they compete in the bedroom-and in the boardroom. Robbins can still make readers turn the pages through cliff-hanging chapters and a gallery of eccentric characters, but frequent interruptions with unnecessary background material and an extravagance of graphic sex scenes (many more than in the mother novel) make the narrative hard to follow. Readers will welcome historical cameos (from the likes of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, to Jimmy Hoffa and Jack Benny) and the reappearance of Cord's sidekick, Nevada Smith, in this lively follow-up to a commercial fiction classic. Simon & Schuster audio.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
More than 30 years after publishing The Carpetbaggers, Robbins returns with a sequel. In the original, Jonas Cord never had time to show his son any love, and, despite his best efforts, his son is about to make the same mistake.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Usual Trash from Robbins, but Still Trash,
By
This review is from: The Raiders (Paperback)
A sequel to "The Carpetbaggers," "The Raiders" is not as good as its predecessor. However, it is one of Harold Robbins' better novels, especially in comparison to the dreck he had been cranking out since 1980. "The Raiders" kicks off in 1951, with Jonas Cord dodging a subpoena to a Senate hearing (and driving his wife Monica to divorce him -- again). With the help of his longtime friend/father figure Nevada Smith (now in his seventies), he finds a safe haven in, of all places, Las Vegas. Jonas, ever on the lookout to make still more money, becomes intrigued by the casino gambling biz, not only buying the casino and hotel in which he's holed up, but building one of his own. It's while exploring the viability of a casino in Cuba that he learns of an illegitimate son he sired with Sonja Batista, one of the many women he's bedded. (Given Jonas' hyperactive sex life, it's surprising that he has only *one* illegitimate child.) It's the relationship between this newly discovered son, nicknamed Bat -- from Batista -- and his domineering father that make up the bulk of the book, Bat struggling to prove himself yet retain his independence while his father generously appoints his son to high positions in his empire only to second guess -- often overrule -- Bat's decisions. The relationship between father and son becomes more contentious as they pursue ventures in TV production and casino gambling, but it's their tangle with the Mafia that could prove deadly.
There are side trips along the way into various characters' back stories, some of which are interesting, some not so much. As is to be expected from Robbins, there's lots of sex. However, given that from the mid-1970s forward many of Robbins' books read like letters in Penthouse Forum, he shows relative restraint here. Unapologetic male chauvinism is another Robbins staple, but even Larry Flynt would bristle at the hostile portrayal of women in "The Raiders." In Robbins' world, women are either vindictive harpies or compliant sex goddesses, and all are slaves to the male member. This includes Jonas Cord's legitimate daughter Jo-Ann, who is pretty much dismissed as a spoiled drunk, by her parents and by Robbins. Father and son frequently end up sharing the same woman, though not at the same time (like I said, Robbins is relatively restrained this time out). Jo-Ann does seduce her half-brother, however. Only a few of Robbins' novels -- "A Stone for Danny Fisher," "The Carpetbaggers" -- have come within spitting distance of possessing literary merit. "The Raiders" isn't one of them. But while the book is trash, it's better than most of the trash Robbins wrote during the latter half of his career.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
With Robbins, you gotta be prepared for sex, but........,
By A Customer
This review is from: The RAIDERS (Mass Market Paperback)
Over the past several books, what you get is an increasing level of raunch, pure and simple. It's really wierd to say that, because I'm no prude. I was a line soldier in the Sexual Revolution. Okay, the story line in a Robbins book is usually strong--I only know of a couple which are really weak in this way. But Jonas and his part-Latino son both enjoy the favors of two different actresses who work for them, plus the son is successfully seduced by his half-sister. You could excuse that from a couple of guys who go by the Casanova credo "why should I make one woman miserable when I can make several women happy?", but both of these guys have real girlfriends who they respect and who respect them. It was a given in "The Carpetbaggers" that the Cord family aren't exactly poster children for maturity--this book makes them seem positively adolescent. The celebrated decadence of Hollywood is almost a cliche--this book goes a long way to reinforce that image.
2.0 out of 5 stars
No.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The RAIDERS (Mass Market Paperback)
Dissapointing, especially since I thought you couldn't go wrong with Robbins writing about Hollywood. I really didn't like any of the characters, except for a couple of the women. Most of the females were evil sluts and the men were pigs who treated the women like dirt. Also, I was hoping it would have more Hollywood dish. I thought there was supposed to be a part of the book based on the real life murder of Johnny Stompanato (Lana Turner's lover) by her duaghter Cheryl. Guess I had it confused with another book. Also, there is a character, a young dancer named Margit that I have a horrible feeling is supposed to be based on Ann-Margret. If so, Robbins should be ashamed of himself. If you're going to read a Robbins novel, don't start with this one or it will probably be the last one you read...that is if you are able to force yourself to finish it.
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