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Vendetta
Lieutenant Jack Raines of the Los Angeles Police Tactical Division finds his investigation into a series of murders of leading porn stars complicated by a war between a Mafia don and a Colombian gang lord
351 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
2 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Steve Shagan
27 books3 followersStephen H. "Steve" Shagan (October 25, 1927 – November 30, 2015) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and television and film producer.
Shagan was born in Brooklyn, New York to Rachel (nee Rosenzweig) and Barnard H. "Barney" Shagan. Barney ran a pharmacy, Shagan's Pharmacy, at 49 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, with his brother, Samuel. After Barney's death the pharmacy went bankrupt and Samuel liquidated the assets at public auction in 1949. Steve dropped out of high school and joined the United States Coast Guard when World War II broke out. While in the Coast Guard he started writing to pass the time.
Shagan came to Hollywood in 1958 with his wife, Elizabeth Florance "Betty" Ricker, whom he married on November 18, 1956 in New York City. At first he did odd jobs, like as a stagehand at a little theater and pulling cables at MGM Studios in the middle of the night. Eventually he started working on scripts and then produced the Tarzan television show on location in Mexico. Betty talked him into to quitting and just concentrate on writing. Betty, a former fashion model, was the daughter of Philomena (nee Pisano) and Al Ricker. Her mother, a dancer, later remarried, to Mayo J. Duca, a Boston jazz trumpet player. Philomena Pisano was the daughter of Katherine "Kitty" Bingham and Fred Anthony Pisano, of the musical-comedy vaudeville team of Pisano and Bingham.
Shagan wrote the screenplay for and co-produced the 1973 film Save the Tiger, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won a Writers Guild of America Award. His novelization of Save the Tiger, which was his first novel, was actually published a year prior to the film's release. He had written the script first, and while he was shopping it around Hollywood, he wrote the novel to help him deal with the stress of trying to sell the script, which took two years to get produced. As he was finishing the book his typewriter broke and author Harold Robbins loaned him his.
Shagan went on to write the novel City of Angels and its film adaptation, Hustle, both released in 1975. He then wrote the screenplay for and co-produced Voyage of the Damned, for which he received another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay. This was followed by Nightwing, which he adapted from the novel of same name by Martin Cruz Smith. He then adapted his 1979 novel The Formula into a 1980 film of the same name, which he also co-produced and which reunited him with Save the Tiger director John G. Avildsen. Of the performances by Brando and Scott in The Formula, Steve Shagan reportedly stated: "I sensed a loss of purpose, a feeling that they didn't want to work any more and had come to think of acting as playing with choo-choo trains."
Subsequent films written by Shagan include The Sicilian, which he adapted from the novel by Mario Puzo, and Primal Fear, based on the novel by William Diehl. Shagan also wrote the teleplay for the made-for-television movie Gotti, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Special.
Shagan died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on November 30, 2015.
Shagan was born in Brooklyn, New York to Rachel (nee Rosenzweig) and Barnard H. "Barney" Shagan. Barney ran a pharmacy, Shagan's Pharmacy, at 49 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, with his brother, Samuel. After Barney's death the pharmacy went bankrupt and Samuel liquidated the assets at public auction in 1949. Steve dropped out of high school and joined the United States Coast Guard when World War II broke out. While in the Coast Guard he started writing to pass the time.
Shagan came to Hollywood in 1958 with his wife, Elizabeth Florance "Betty" Ricker, whom he married on November 18, 1956 in New York City. At first he did odd jobs, like as a stagehand at a little theater and pulling cables at MGM Studios in the middle of the night. Eventually he started working on scripts and then produced the Tarzan television show on location in Mexico. Betty talked him into to quitting and just concentrate on writing. Betty, a former fashion model, was the daughter of Philomena (nee Pisano) and Al Ricker. Her mother, a dancer, later remarried, to Mayo J. Duca, a Boston jazz trumpet player. Philomena Pisano was the daughter of Katherine "Kitty" Bingham and Fred Anthony Pisano, of the musical-comedy vaudeville team of Pisano and Bingham.
Shagan wrote the screenplay for and co-produced the 1973 film Save the Tiger, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won a Writers Guild of America Award. His novelization of Save the Tiger, which was his first novel, was actually published a year prior to the film's release. He had written the script first, and while he was shopping it around Hollywood, he wrote the novel to help him deal with the stress of trying to sell the script, which took two years to get produced. As he was finishing the book his typewriter broke and author Harold Robbins loaned him his.
Shagan went on to write the novel City of Angels and its film adaptation, Hustle, both released in 1975. He then wrote the screenplay for and co-produced Voyage of the Damned, for which he received another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay. This was followed by Nightwing, which he adapted from the novel of same name by Martin Cruz Smith. He then adapted his 1979 novel The Formula into a 1980 film of the same name, which he also co-produced and which reunited him with Save the Tiger director John G. Avildsen. Of the performances by Brando and Scott in The Formula, Steve Shagan reportedly stated: "I sensed a loss of purpose, a feeling that they didn't want to work any more and had come to think of acting as playing with choo-choo trains."
Subsequent films written by Shagan include The Sicilian, which he adapted from the novel by Mario Puzo, and Primal Fear, based on the novel by William Diehl. Shagan also wrote the teleplay for the made-for-television movie Gotti, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Special.
Shagan died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on November 30, 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews
October 23, 2020
A gang war is brewing between the Mafia and the Colombians. The Colombians strike by killing various porn stars, all of whom are addicted to cocaine. The police start investigating...
Very 80's. You can almost hear the synthesizers.
Very 80's. You can almost hear the synthesizers.
August 4, 2018
Un thriller tanto inaspettato quanto bello.
Trovato per caso ad una svendita di libri usati, è stato un ottimo acquisto.
Siamo a Los Angeles, anni 80, e un killer misterioso uccide famose star della pornografia in un macabro rituale fatto di sangue e cocaina.
E mentre la polizia indaga, la trama si complica.
Ottimo bilancio fra suspense e ironia, tensione e passione.
Trovato per caso ad una svendita di libri usati, è stato un ottimo acquisto.
Siamo a Los Angeles, anni 80, e un killer misterioso uccide famose star della pornografia in un macabro rituale fatto di sangue e cocaina.
E mentre la polizia indaga, la trama si complica.
Ottimo bilancio fra suspense e ironia, tensione e passione.
January 31, 2020
There is a dead porn star. There is lots of cocain use in the world of porn. In the porn studios. Finding talent to fuck on film. Then the police shoot it out with the porn director that killed the porn star. They kill him.
November 13, 2023
Murdered porn stars, cocaine, Colombian drug lords...This novel's so 80's you can hear the sensual saxophone solo over the establishing shot of L.A. at night. I enjoyed it up until the halfway point where it lost steam and started to bore me.
August 25, 2018
Read in the 80s
October 10, 2020
Read in 1986. Detective crime fiction.
April 23, 2025
Its perfect if you’re looking for a classic intense, mysterious, 80s, coke, porno and USA story.
Read
September 19, 2013A novel about the Mob, Colombian drug dealers and the erotic film industry. Several stars are being murdered. The Mob thinks its the Colombians' attempt to pressure them into laundering more money for them. They return fire and war ensues.
The hero meanwhile gets involved with one of the targets. Yet, soon the Mob and the Colombians reach an agreement. The murders continue, though. It's confirmed as an outsider: the hero's partner.
Turns out that he was sickened by the hold the Mob and the Colombians had over the US and used the murders in order to have the two wage war on each other until there were none left.
The hero meanwhile gets involved with one of the targets. Yet, soon the Mob and the Colombians reach an agreement. The murders continue, though. It's confirmed as an outsider: the hero's partner.
Turns out that he was sickened by the hold the Mob and the Colombians had over the US and used the murders in order to have the two wage war on each other until there were none left.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2012
Interesting - I wonder what else he's written.
June 15, 2014
Akhir yang mengejutkan. Lagi-lagi saya salah tebak siapa pembunuhnya dan apa motifnya. Damn. But this book is good
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews