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Rampage
Chris Taggart is a ruthless, driven, real estate entrepreneur, whose buildings have changed the skyline of New York, and who, despite his hard-won wealth and power, can still pour concrete and carry a hod as well as cut a billion-dollar deal with the sharks of Wall Street and the big banks.
Young, handsome, irresistible to women, Taggart has won it all with his bare hands and fierce ambition. But his dazzling success can never erase the bitter memory of his father's death at the hands of the Mob--and Taggart sets out to use his wealth and power to destroy the men whom he holds responsible.
It is a secret vendetta--a war, in fact--that Taggart launches single-handedly against the Five Families of New York. It pits him against some of the toughest men in organized crime--as well as his own brother, a crusading assistant U.S. attorney, one of the Strikeforce prosecutors. Taggart risks his fortune, his reputation, finally his life, to get revenge--only to find that he has merely become one of them , that his triumph over criminals has turned him into a bigger and more dangerous criminal than any Godfather.
Young, handsome, irresistible to women, Taggart has won it all with his bare hands and fierce ambition. But his dazzling success can never erase the bitter memory of his father's death at the hands of the Mob--and Taggart sets out to use his wealth and power to destroy the men whom he holds responsible.
It is a secret vendetta--a war, in fact--that Taggart launches single-handedly against the Five Families of New York. It pits him against some of the toughest men in organized crime--as well as his own brother, a crusading assistant U.S. attorney, one of the Strikeforce prosecutors. Taggart risks his fortune, his reputation, finally his life, to get revenge--only to find that he has merely become one of them , that his triumph over criminals has turned him into a bigger and more dangerous criminal than any Godfather.
408 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
3 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Justin Scott
105 books90 followersAlso writes as Justin Scott, Paul Garrison, J.S. Blazer, and Alexander Cole.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 27, 2013
First Justin Scott stand alone book I have read. I have enjoyed his colabration with Clive Cussler on the Issac Bell series. Liked this Mafia page turner a lot! Looking forward to reading more Justin Scott.
September 2, 2017
Revenge is a dish of individual taste…
My thanks go out to all my contacts at Pegasus Books for my copy of this novel! Thank you so much!
Brothers Chris and Tony Taglione saw their father, Mike Taglione crushed under a cement truck when he refused to knuckle under to the demands of the Mafia. Mafia representative Joey Rendini was a racketeer, demanding payment to keep the trucks that supplied building materials to the site of Tagione Concrete and Construction’s latest building site running. Mike Taglione said no, and was killed.
Now his sons want revenge, but they have different paths to walk. Chris now uses the last name Taggart. He still runs the company and is looking for ways to bypass the Mafia controlled rackets and banks. He becomes a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on Organized Crime. Meanwhile he pays the Mafia their blood money.
Tony Taglione is against paying the Mafia at all. He points out that payment didn’t prevent the Mafia from killing their father. He also tells Chris the more you pay the Mafia the more they will demand. He wants to go to war…
The book starts out with a cliché. The protection racket scenario is about as old as it gets. And I know, I know; it is still a big part of organized crime. But something a bit more original, even to shake up the threat to say, getting the company’s business license revoked would have worked quite well. It is still a “pay up or else” deal.
The battle being fought on two fronts is not bad. The brothers obviously are going to butt heads and perhaps even work against each other. But Scott deals with those details with a grace I would have doubted from the way the book started out. Not that there aren’t more clichés in the book, but they are handled in a way to make better use of the art.
I am on the fence with this book. I did not find it breathtaking and hard to put down. I also did not find it boring and difficult to finish. It is neither a good read nor a bad read.
But I think I am probably in the minority. People are either going to love this book with its insight into the world of Organized Crime or hate it for being painfully predictable at times. Being on the fence, I give the book three stars.
Quoth the Raven…
My thanks go out to all my contacts at Pegasus Books for my copy of this novel! Thank you so much!
Brothers Chris and Tony Taglione saw their father, Mike Taglione crushed under a cement truck when he refused to knuckle under to the demands of the Mafia. Mafia representative Joey Rendini was a racketeer, demanding payment to keep the trucks that supplied building materials to the site of Tagione Concrete and Construction’s latest building site running. Mike Taglione said no, and was killed.
Now his sons want revenge, but they have different paths to walk. Chris now uses the last name Taggart. He still runs the company and is looking for ways to bypass the Mafia controlled rackets and banks. He becomes a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on Organized Crime. Meanwhile he pays the Mafia their blood money.
Tony Taglione is against paying the Mafia at all. He points out that payment didn’t prevent the Mafia from killing their father. He also tells Chris the more you pay the Mafia the more they will demand. He wants to go to war…
The book starts out with a cliché. The protection racket scenario is about as old as it gets. And I know, I know; it is still a big part of organized crime. But something a bit more original, even to shake up the threat to say, getting the company’s business license revoked would have worked quite well. It is still a “pay up or else” deal.
The battle being fought on two fronts is not bad. The brothers obviously are going to butt heads and perhaps even work against each other. But Scott deals with those details with a grace I would have doubted from the way the book started out. Not that there aren’t more clichés in the book, but they are handled in a way to make better use of the art.
I am on the fence with this book. I did not find it breathtaking and hard to put down. I also did not find it boring and difficult to finish. It is neither a good read nor a bad read.
But I think I am probably in the minority. People are either going to love this book with its insight into the world of Organized Crime or hate it for being painfully predictable at times. Being on the fence, I give the book three stars.
Quoth the Raven…
July 21, 2018
My top three thoughts on 'Rampage':
1. It's been a while since I read about mobsters. The dialogues and particularly the slang felt very accurate. Whether it came from the mafia, the cops or New Yorkers. I almost felt like I was sent back in the Al Capone era.
2. I didn't enjoy this done to death plot of revenge and warfare. I've seen too many movies that follow this theme and they all end the same way.
3. Speaking of endings, even that felt clichéd - The drama between the two brothers on opposite sides of the law, the drive to succeed, the journey to exact revenge, and the mafia takedown. It was all written well but the problem for me was that there was no different take on this 'going against the mafia' storyline. I knew exactly where the book was going and how it would end.
1. It's been a while since I read about mobsters. The dialogues and particularly the slang felt very accurate. Whether it came from the mafia, the cops or New Yorkers. I almost felt like I was sent back in the Al Capone era.
2. I didn't enjoy this done to death plot of revenge and warfare. I've seen too many movies that follow this theme and they all end the same way.
3. Speaking of endings, even that felt clichéd - The drama between the two brothers on opposite sides of the law, the drive to succeed, the journey to exact revenge, and the mafia takedown. It was all written well but the problem for me was that there was no different take on this 'going against the mafia' storyline. I knew exactly where the book was going and how it would end.
June 12, 2020
To say the ending didn't piss me off would be a lie. I did not see that twist happening but maybe I should have with Eddie being an idiot and them saying he was threw out? She just totally betrayed him, and she came out on top? No way. I refuse to believe she gets the whole empire. She just doesn't deserve it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2020
Thriller set in New York City - following the mob hit on their father, two brothers take different paths to revenge. One climbs the ladder to the US Attorney's office, the other becomes a successful builder and uses his money and influence to target the mob in clandestine operations.
January 21, 2014
This novel started slowly, and I felt at the beginning that it was written by a neophyte, but the storyline definitely improved as I got into the story, with the usual result that I had to stay up late to finish it. The ending (both the one in the actual novel and the different one in the epilogue) turned out to be quite different from what I had expected, but that’s one of the things that makes reading worthwhile.
The novel is about two brothers whose father gets killed when he opposes the New York City mob trying to shake down his construction work. Both brother vow revenge, but they go at it differently. The older brother, Tony, goes into law and becomes an Assistant District Attorney, getting himself made the leader of a crime-busting organization dedicated to destroying the Mafia gangs in the city. The younger, Chris, takes a more direct approach, attacking the mobs with mercenaries. There is one problem, however: the beautiful daughter of one of the gang bosses—both Tony and Chris are attracted to her, but she grows up and takes over one of the gangs they are fighting.
I wound up thinking the writing was uneven. There’s awkwardness in some of the transitions and there is a scene in which I think some overediting must have occurred, because something happens which is not explained at all (or maybe I am just not smart enough to understand?), and I find myself unable to accept some of the characterizations of mob personnel. I cannot accept the love that the brothers have for each other or the way they interact with others; these people all act as if they are in a movie, so that I do not get a feeling of believable character complexity. Still. It’s a good read.
The novel is about two brothers whose father gets killed when he opposes the New York City mob trying to shake down his construction work. Both brother vow revenge, but they go at it differently. The older brother, Tony, goes into law and becomes an Assistant District Attorney, getting himself made the leader of a crime-busting organization dedicated to destroying the Mafia gangs in the city. The younger, Chris, takes a more direct approach, attacking the mobs with mercenaries. There is one problem, however: the beautiful daughter of one of the gang bosses—both Tony and Chris are attracted to her, but she grows up and takes over one of the gangs they are fighting.
I wound up thinking the writing was uneven. There’s awkwardness in some of the transitions and there is a scene in which I think some overediting must have occurred, because something happens which is not explained at all (or maybe I am just not smart enough to understand?), and I find myself unable to accept some of the characterizations of mob personnel. I cannot accept the love that the brothers have for each other or the way they interact with others; these people all act as if they are in a movie, so that I do not get a feeling of believable character complexity. Still. It’s a good read.
May 19, 2014
As far a books about elaborate revenge plans go this one is pretty decent. Not great but good enough that once you finish it you don't have a feeling you've wasted your time.
Two brothers see their father killed by mafia and wow a revenge. One follwos his father into construction, other in prosecution. Former, Chris, goes one step further and creates a shadow mafia. This organisation will be used to take down real one and leave remains to authorities, relying on foreign mercenaries and shady characters for striking power and importation of large ammounts of drugs to get real mafia "hooked up".
And this is where books main weakness lies. While the story is well written, fast apced and nail biting it also requires significant suspension of disbelief. The sheer ammount of money requred for this would be well beyond resources of single cosntruction baron, considering he'd have to rely on money he'd stash away from his legitimate earnings while still maintaining his comapny in business. Then there are mercenaries. While book tries to explain how contacts are established it's still unclear how they are supposed to avoid detection by host of US and foreign intelligence, police and similar forces.
Still, if one is willing to overlook this it's an entertaining book.
Two brothers see their father killed by mafia and wow a revenge. One follwos his father into construction, other in prosecution. Former, Chris, goes one step further and creates a shadow mafia. This organisation will be used to take down real one and leave remains to authorities, relying on foreign mercenaries and shady characters for striking power and importation of large ammounts of drugs to get real mafia "hooked up".
And this is where books main weakness lies. While the story is well written, fast apced and nail biting it also requires significant suspension of disbelief. The sheer ammount of money requred for this would be well beyond resources of single cosntruction baron, considering he'd have to rely on money he'd stash away from his legitimate earnings while still maintaining his comapny in business. Then there are mercenaries. While book tries to explain how contacts are established it's still unclear how they are supposed to avoid detection by host of US and foreign intelligence, police and similar forces.
Still, if one is willing to overlook this it's an entertaining book.
June 29, 2016
Spectacular book. Starts slowly but really picks up. The main character is fascinating and the dynamic contrast with his brother really adds for some good drama throughout the story. The characters are interesting and the plot doesn't disappoint. The ending is absolutely bittersweet in the best possible way.
May 27, 2013
Can you really extract revenge without losing yourself in the process? The story explores this question with astonishing results.
January 21, 2016
A very intriguing & well-written tale of mob warfare. It would make a great movie.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews