And that's where I feel that Winegardner dropped the ball. It was fine that he wove Johnny back into the storyline of his novels, but in my opinion he wasted too much time and energy in the Fonataine / Francesca relationship, instead of using that energy to have one of his own creations like Paradise develop into a much more interesting and important character in the storyline.

The guy is not a terrible writer. At various times in those books he shows that he actually has a talent for writing. But what bothers me is that he had such a fantastic foundation, in The Godfather, to work with and he didn't take full advantage of the foundation that he was handed.

And with all this back and forth, you and I both know, that when he comes out with his next GF novel, we'll be right there paying for it at the counter of our local bookstore.