Stiletto

by Harold Robbins

Product Condition: No Defects.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Romance, Mystery, Crime, Novels, Mystery Thriller

235 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1981

About the author

Born as Harold Rubin in New York City, he later claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys home. In reality he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist father and stepmother in Brooklyn.

His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality. Publisher Pat Knopf reportedly bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on".

His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.

He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamour of Hollywood.

Reviews

[Alex Cord]

I might be biased because I was in the movie... BUT I really thought this was one of Harold Robbins best books. "A Stone For Danny Fisher" and "Stiletto" are probably his best works.

[Anuja]

I happened to find a rather old copy of this book in our bookshelf back home and picked it up because I wanted something rather small and light to read on a flight. After I finished it (it did not take too long) I think I'm going to categorise it as an in-flight book. It is small and light, as mentioned before, it is fast paced enough to not bore you and it is not complex enough to make you want to reach for dictionaries or make you drift off mentally or fall asleep.

It's been a long time since I read a book that was just a story without complexity (of words or theme). It was like picking up a Sidney Sheldon book again. It has crime, it has revenge, promiscuous relationships etc. It revolves around the mafia and the life of a man who kills three witnesses for them before being hunted down himself. It is no Godfather of course, but it is an enjoyable enough read.

[Jean Darroch]

it was a typical light romantic read, but it did have a story. I did learn that a stiletto was a knife and not shoes.

[Nikolaus Buenconsejo]

Wow! Very interesting

[Lisa Roper]

The master of sexy novels in the 70's! His books are full of lively characters, strong women and lots of filthy details!

[Rupesh Goenka]

A typical Harold Robbins novel of Power & Sex...

[Elaine Nickolan]

Really enjoyed this read. What happens when you make a deal with the devil and you are already a nasty piece of work? To get out from under the thumb of his uncle, Cesare makes a deal with Don Emilio. What he finds out though is that you can never repay your debt to the "family" and hope to live. Lots of double crosses and interesting payback. Trust no one would be a good moral for this story.

[Sreedhar Pothukuchi]

One of the greatest story-tellers of all times. A mafia thriller set in New York and a drama played out by 1st generation European settlers in the post 2nd world war era. Richly garnished with style and sleaze, the plot is quite delicious even half a century later. The world must has become a very uninteresting place these days, it is not provoking writers to pen such unputdownable novels.

[Andy Davis]

Probably a generous 3. It is trash I suppose. The dialogue not infrequently lspses into cheesy cliche and most of the sex is slightly distastefully sadomasochistic though not very explicit. The plot unwinds like a pretty obvious TV movie. As a plus it is easy reading, the pacing is quick and scene changes on point, the flashbacks often fun, and I may read another!

[Marco Cerbo]

Storia di un assassino che uccide con uno stiletto. Mafia, donne, auto da corsa. Gli ingredienti ci sono, ma l'amalgama è troppo semplice e un po' datato. Va però tenuto conto che Robbins ha inventato il genere.

[Smiley]

This was my first encounter with Harold Robbins; surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this novel depicting a cold-blooded protagonist subsequently doomed to reach his tragic fate.

[Fernanda Martins]

Not so good as I thought. Quite superficial.

[Antonella Imperiali]

Chiaramente letto in edizione italiana!

[Alita]

Le falto más centrarse en la historia

[Nick]

One of the better Harold Robbins novels. Extremely good read.

[Scott]

The plot was a bit choppy and difficult to follow.

[Rebekah]

Read a1975 edition found in my basement. Quick, easy and entertaining! Could have been a bit more detailed, but otherwise interesting plot.

[Le Van]

3,5*
Tựa tiếng Việt: Lưỡi dao găm
NXB Văn Học, in 700 cuốn khổ 13*19, năm 1997
Người dịch: Trịnh Xuân Hoàng - Nguyễn Thảo Ngạn

[Javier]

Normalito sin más...

[Daniel]

2.5 stars. Published in 1960 with a movie adaptation coming out about a decade later, Stiletto is an early precursor of the Mob novel that would soon become commonplace with The Godfather. It's kind of about a hitman, although our antihero--Count Cesare Cardinali, who is naturally descended from the Borgias (!)--is more like a disaffected serial killer who takes on a hitman gig to pay back a favor he owes to the Mob.

Conveniently, he's a WW2 veteran and master fencer in addition to the serial killer thing, so he's well-suited to take out a string of witnesses testifying against the Mafia's leadership. They're all mobsters themselves, but Cesare is hardly sympathetic. He's silly enough to bring a ladyfriend along to all his hits, but when she starts putting together the pieces of him being present at multiple assassinations... gak!

From there, it seems like the novel will be about a honey trap by the Feds to capture Cesare, but the woman they end up sending isn't exactly a match for him. Even at this early stage, Robbins gets the dramatic allure of the "every time I think I'm out, they pull me BACK IN!" conceit--although in typical "wotta guy!" fashion, he makes it that the Mob is pissed that Cesare won't join up as a capo or some such.

The rest of the plot is a string of assassination attempts by the Mafiosos Cesare just worked for; oddly, they all do their own dirty work instead of sending out goombas, which makes it pretty easy for Cesare to eliminate them one by one.

A few side characters get lengthy backstories, allowing for a modest amount of sex, but it comes off too sleazy to be believable and not sleazy enough to be titillating. One of Cesare's beaus was once involved in a mother-daughter threesome (!) and brother, if you're going that far, you might as well go the full Letter To The Penthouse Forum route.

Cesare's characterization is decent--he's sort of a proto-Dexter or an evil James Bond--but his arc ends with a whimper rather than a bang. His women are a tiresome collection of hotties who just need some mild, off-page S&M sex to fall hopelessly in love with him and the policeman chasing him is a cipher.

The assassinations aren't staged particularly cleverly: Cesare's gimmick is that he uses a stiletto on his targets, and it's so sharp that the stab wound closes up after he takes the knife out or something? At one point, he stabs a victim in a pool and no one notices even though you'd think there's immediately be a cloud of blood. Why not just have him inject people with cyanide? I guess "Syringe" doesn't sound as cool...

[Tom]

Another early Robbins effort. Still riding the 20th century love affair with organized crime. The female characters are comically disposable, the male character(s) scarcely take time for self-reflection. The events unfold, and the reader is left little else to amuse themselves with. I would note, though, that this book manages to capture more of the glamorous mood that it promises, which I've been critical of Robbins for in the past.

[John R. Goyer]

an ok read - the storyline was good, but not totally plausible, and the characters seemed shallow and not well developed. Nothing all that surprising or interesting to report although the interactions between the Count and the Inspector were handled well.

[Kevin Michaels]

I knew what I was getting into when I found this book and my expectations were already low…..but still….Remember the scene in “Silver Linings Playbook” when Pat finished “A Farewell to Arms” and threw it through his bedroom window? It’s that kind of book.

[Mary]

Z

[Stasys Rakštys]

Audio

[Anuradha Cherukuri]

My first suspense thriller from Harold Robbins.

[Sweet Poison]

absolutely horrible piece of trash, wattpad has better novels than this

[Lance Swanson]

Of course it’s excellent! It’s freaking Harold Robbins, one of the most-popular authors who ever wrote a book. Page turner about a mafioso assassin.

[Joseph Hilden]

somewhat better than Robbins average pulp

[Reader]

Well Harold Robbins did a quite spectacular job, the book is splendid indeed and i really enjoyed felt like living inside the Mafias world🤩❤️