I have read enough of the Winegardner novels to come to a conclusion, and that conclusion is simple.

I think that Winegardner's biggest mistake was not his writing style, but to add his own alter ego to an excisting and popular story, which really is an insult to the fans and to Mario Puzo himself.

You don't do such a thing. It's a big fuck you to everyone who loves the original story and films. He had to show some respect, but he ignorantly or arrogantly chose otherwise. And this I think is the main reason why many fans hate his novels.

It's a shame, because I feel that the rest of the story isn't bad at all. I'm convinced that he could have made a decent novel if he chose to only expand upon the story and characters of the original novel and the first two films. Characters such as the Rosato Brothers (the most interesting and popular side characters which we are pretty much kept in the dark about), Don Altobello, and ofcourse Hyman Roth and his cold war with Michael. He could have told alot about the Corleones' dealings in Cuba just like TB has done on this forum.

But to make things even worse, he let's his own character kill Tom Hagen! And then he let's Michael receive a dead baby alligator as a sign of Tom's demise just as the dead fish was for Luca in the film. At this point his story was at its worst.

But I do like the Louise Russo/Chicago story, Michael's earlier years, Tom Hagen's story and him trying to become elected in congress, and Clemenza's story in New York. I think even the story of Tramonti organizing the death of the president wasn't bad. But since sixty percent of the story consists of Nick Geraci and how awesome and ingenieus he (Winegardner) was, I don't like sixty percent of the novels.

I think that Winegardner isn't a bad writer, but he fucked things up by making some really bad decisions. But he probably doesn't give a shit and think's he's better than Puzo ever was.

The late 1950s were the most interesting period for the Mafia and also The Godfather and a novel about those years deserves to be a good one. It's disapointing that this is not the case.