Road to Paradise [Hardcover]

Max Allan Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2005

Collins chronicled the gripping story of one young boy's travels with his gangster father in the "New York Times" bestseller "Road to Perdition," then led his readers along the unforgettable "Road to Purgatory"--a tale of this same boy, all grown up. Now, in his most powerful work to date, we again meet Michael Satariano and travel with him as he faces the most difficult and heartbreaking struggle of his life.

Lake Tahoe, 1973: Michael Satariano--who as a young man fought the Capone mob in Chicago--has reached a comfortable middle age, with a loving wife at home, a talented teenage daughter in high school, and a son earning medals in Vietnam. Now running a casino for the mob, Michael thinks he's put his killing days behind him--after all, he's made a respectable life for himself and his family . . . and plenty of money for the boys back in Chicago. So when godfather Sam Giancana orders him to hit a notoriously violent and vulnerable gangster, Michael refuses. But when the hit goes down anyway, Michael is framed for murder; to save his family, he must turn state's witness under the fledgling Witness Protection Program.

Relocated to the supposed safety of Paradise, a tract-housing development in Arizona, Michael soon finds himself facing a wrath so cruel that even the boy raised by a hitman father is unprepared. And with his teenage daughter in tow, Michael must return to the road and a violent way of life he thought he had long left behind.

In this stunning third installment of a trilogy so gripping and masterfully written that it could only come from "[among] the finest crime writers working today" ("Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"), we once again have a spellbinding windowinto a time of heroes and villains--and, above all, a journey along a road on which a man's greatest crimes are all a part of his lifelong struggle for redemption.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shamus Award–winner Collins concludes his Road series (after Road to Purgatory) with a gripping, blood-soaked journey down memory lane. It's 1973, and 50-year-old Michael O'Sullivan Jr., the young boy orphaned in Road to Perdition, has Italianized his name to Michael Satariano and is boss and squeaky-clean mob frontman of the Cal-Neva Lodge and Casino at Lake Tahoe. Though a "made man" and official member of Chicago's Cosa Nostra family, he plans to work a few more years at Cal-Neva before retiring with his beautiful wife and teenage daughter to a life of legitimacy. But simple plans like Michael's fare poorly when thrust against the gritty realities of the mob. When Sam Giancana decides to end his exile in Mexico and reclaim his former position as Godfather, hits are ordered, mistakes are made and many people die, some of them quite close to Michael. He's now on the run, forced to relive his father's vengeance-fueled crime spree of 40 years earlier. While a slightly less profligate killer than Michael Sr., he's just as efficient and just as deadly. Collins's compelling mix of history, bloodshed and retribution is as irresistible as Sam Giancana's last meal of fried sausage, spinach and ceci beans. Readers will eat it up and beg for more. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Michael Satariano was once known as the Angel of Death, but for the last 20 years, he's managed a Reno casino. Two events change his world: his son turns up missing in action in Vietnam, and Michael is approached by Sam Giancana to kill a rival. He refuses, but Sam won't take no for an answer, prompting Michael to realize that he'll never escape the never-ending cycle of violence he chose as his life three decades earlier. This is (probably) the final installment of the Satariano series that began with the 1998 graphic novel Road to Perdition and its successor, Road to Purgatory (2004). Unfortunately, Collins is slightly off his game here. The family elements of the plot--the MIA son, a sedative-gobbling Mrs. Satariano, and a gratingly selfish daughter--are a bit overwrought. Michael himself is a fully realized, fascinating character, and readers will be pleased to know how his life turned out, at least through 1973. Collins leaves some loose ends, so we may see more of Michael; but if we do, let's hope it's without the soap-opera backdrop. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (November 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060540281
• ISBN-13: 978-0060540289
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Max Allan Collins is a New York Times bestselling author of original mysteries, a Shamus award winner and an experienced author of movie adaptions and tie-in novels. His graphic novel ROAD TO PERDITION was made into a major motion picture by Tom Hank's production company, Playtone.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy capstone to a fabulous trilogy, January 10, 2006

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road to Paradise (Hardcover)

Shall we raise a glass to Max Allan Collins? A few years ago Collins received some long overdue mainstream praise for authoring THE ROAD TO PERDITION, a gritty graphic novel that was transformed into a film almost worthy of the subject matter. While Collins was worthy of Grandmaster status well before its publication --- we're talking about the guy who took over the reins of Dick Tracy from Chester Gould, mind you --- THE ROAD TO PERDITION was, for many, his breakthrough novel, despite having written and/or edited a veritable library of novels theretofore. This led to the equally good, if lesser known, sequel titled THE ROAD TO PURGATORY, which, in turn, leads to THE ROAD TO PARADISE, a tome that is appropriately named for several reasons.

THE ROAD TO PARADISE finds Michael Satariano comfortably middle-aged in 1973, ensconced in his position as Entertainment Director of the Cal-Neva Resort in Lake Tahoe with his wife of 30 years, a son in the Army serving in Vietnam, and a daughter who is a beauty queen high school senior. His idyllic life (at least compared to his life on the run in THE ROAD TO PERDITION) is abruptly terminated by the unexpected arrival of Sam Giancana, who orders Satariano to perform a hit on Sam DeStefano, a notorious mobster who is about to stand trial. Satariano refuses. But the hit occurs anyway, and Satariano finds himself inexplicably charged with the murder.

Sought by DeStefano's associates and law enforcement personnel alike, Satariano, in the interest of protecting his family, agrees to enter a witness protection program in exchange for his testimony against the mob. The family quietly and anonymously relocates, at first successfully. But when things go suddenly and terribly awry, Satariano, in an eerie reprise of his past, finds himself on the road and on the run again, seeking swift and terrible revenge against those who have wronged him. Collins's narrative here is unequivocally first-rate, flawlessly merging the past and (the novel's) present, bringing history and fiction together to produce a believable, might-have-been story with a surprising and satisfying denouement.

Collins, a prodigious craftsman, has provided not only a worthy capstone to a fabulous trilogy but also what is arguably the summit (to date) of a marvelous career. Anyone familiar with the quality of Collins's previous work will find their expectations exceeded. Those, on the other hand, who are encountering Collins for the first time will be adding another name to their list of authors who must be read. Highly recommended.


--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a Look, September 20, 2007

By 

Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Road to Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the third novel in Collins' 'Road' Trilogy, the first of which was the superb graphic novel, The Road to Perdition. The latter was also an excellent film, though some changes were made in the ending, the original ending being more consistent with the ending of Road to Paradise. Hint: it has to do with the importance of religion in each protagonist's life.

Road to Paradise's characters are engaging and the plot is riveting. It is Collins' intention to catch the flavor of 70's Chicago and the 70's mob. The conclusion of the novel involves a mob hit which remains unsolved but is neatly 'solved' in Collins' fictional construct. This is a fine novel, well worth a look.

5.0 out of 5 stars A wow finish!, February 16, 2007

By 

Craig Clarke "Living After Midnight: Hard and... (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Road to Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)

"He'd been Michael O'Sullivan, Jr., a kid in Rock Island, Illinois. He'd been the Angel of Death's getaway driver, written up in newspapers all over. He'd been Michael Satariano, a teenager in DeKalb. He'd been Michael Satariano the war hero. He'd been Michael Satariano the mob enforcer. And he'd been Michael Satariano the casino boss.

"Being Michael Smith, the restaurant manager, was no strain." -- from Road to Paradise

His career comes full circle as Max Allan Collins's latest novel mirrors the plot of his first. Bait Money, published in 1973 (currently available along with its sequel as Two for the Money), featured a "fifty-year-old bank robber on the run from his former mob bosses" (writes Collins in his bibliographic afterword), and so does Road to Paradise, which is set in that same year. About this coincidence, Collins writes, "so much for progress" and "had I known I'd be writing about the mid-'70s, I'd have paid more attention."

Michael Satariano -- formerly Michael O'Sullivan, Jr., who followed his father down the Road to Perdition, taking revenge on John Looney and other Chicago mobsters; later the adopted the son of Italian immigrants and the Congressional Medal of Honor-winning World War II hero who infiltrated the Outfit from within to seek further revenge on Al Capone's role in Michael, Sr.'s murder (read Road to Purgatory for this chapter of the trilogy) -- is living comfortably as the nearly retired "entertainment manager" for the Cal-Neva casino resort when he is asked to perform a task, one that he refuses. Only you don't say no when the mob requests your services.

Road to Paradise is the story of the making of that fateful decision and its aftermath, and it closes the trilogy of Road to... stories (each named for a volume in Dante's Divine Comedy) with a level of satisfaction I was not expecting from a second sequel. Along the way, Collins paints a portrait of a loving family put yet again into the path of danger and what they have to do to escape. Collins's only real concession to the time period are a vocally feminist (though not heavyhanded) daughter and the inclusion of the Satarianos (now the Smiths) in the newly burgeoning Witness Protection Program (WITSEC), as well as the appearance of Las Vegas Outfit leader Sam "Mooney" Giancana.

Readers unfamiliar with the previous entries need not read them first (though I highly recommend them as terrifically involving historical crime novels) -- Collins fills the reader in on all the information necessary to understand the significance of the events that occur in Road to Paradise (a tactic which is also useful to those of us with poor memories). When WITSEC fails, Michael must go back on the road with what is left of his family, and, for the last time, take revenge on those who double-crossed him. It is an emotionally complex journey, and one that I look forward to retaking.