Fools Die

By: Mario Puzo

Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori

From the blockbuster author of The Godfather comes this bold international best-seller about the feverish world of a big-time gambler.

Merlyn and his brother, Artie, obey their own code of honor in the ferment of contemporary America, where law and organized crime are one and the same.

Set within America's golden triangle of corruption and excess—New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas—the novel plunges into the glittering and ruthless worlds of gambling, publishing, and the film industry, where greed, lust, and violence hold sway. As high rollers, hustlers, and scheming manipulators use power, sex, and betrayal to win, the strongest survive—but fools die.

©1978 Mario Puzo (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

some good, some tedious

Parts of this are interesting and move right along, and other parts, particularly the parts where the narrator is perseverating about women, get extremely tedious. The reader is wonderful. The best reader I've ever heard. I actually chose this book partially because he was the reader.

Give the narrator time; great, surprising story

I'm a huge Godfather fan, but was thrown off of by The Sicilian, as much by the narrator as the story. But I took a chance on this one and I'm very glad I did. At first, the narrator REALLY bugged me, and I thought, not again! But I kept listening, and as the story evolves, and goes into a first person narrative, the narrator became the perfect voice for the story. I urge anyone listening to this audio book to give it time, and I think you will find the same thing. By the end, i could not imagine a "standard" narrator reading this book.

The story starts with what turns out to be the background for the rest of the book. There are quite a few twists and turns, and quite a few surprises. The story develops, you learn more about the characters, particularly the main character, and, for me, I found myself fully invested in the main character, even with his many flaws. As you get towards the last of the book, it becomes more of a touching story than you could have ever imagined.

At no point did this ever remind me of Puzo's Godfather "voice." This is purely a book that stands on its own. It raised my opinion of Puzo's writing ability; he's not just a "Mafia" writer,

Highly recommended.

No way to live life.

Well the opening chapter definitely fooled me into the kind of book this is. It’s a cautionary tale of degeneracy and life.. don’t be fooled and listen to Spider-Man’s uncle Ben. “ with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Great story, lousy audio

This story is really fun. The audio is perhaps the poorest effort from audible.com.

fantastic book ... amazing narrator..

I have read everything written by Puzo multiple times...Fools Die is one of his best and I have read it 4 or 5 times over the past 25 years.. Listening to the Audible version was an absolute joy. The narrator was beyond exceptional. He brings the characters to life and delivers the dialogue exactly as you would expect it to be.

How this book was never made into a movie is incredible.