PL - that is the critical point - the dude changed pieces of baseline story! He did not create a 'literary derivative', he changed some of the core tenets of what we have embraced as 'truth' (as much as a fiction can be true).

Perhaps he had contractual freedom to do so. Perhaps his ego told him that he could revise the GF series now that Puzo is dead. I am leaning toward the latter. In the first place, it would require someone of great skill or insanity to even think about writing a follow up novel - especially when so many people know the novel, the movie dialogue and the story logic intimately.

The more that I think about this, the more I see that the author decided to modify 'history' to make it 'his story'. Again, I respect his right to write books, but I do not recall a survey reporting that we thought that the GF series needed a makeover. Sure, fill in the gaps, write a tale that logically fits into the existing framework, but don't change what was there just to create your personal version of the truth.

The GFR is like Tara Reid's breast augmentation (revealed during a recent wardrobe malfunction) - it looked great until the cover came off. When the cover came off, the true skills and intentions of the surgeon were revealed.