The Dark Arena - by Mario Puzo (Paperback)

About the Book

The first novel by the author of "The Godfather" begins at the end of World War II, as Walter Mosca returns home from war to an uncertain life as a civilian. He returns to Germany to find the woman he once loved, and to build a life there, but succumbs to the corrupting influences of a malevolent time.

Book Synopsis

Mario Puzo won international acclaim for The Godfather and his other Mafia novels. But before creating those masterpieces, Puzo wrote his first acclaimed novel The Dark Arena-an astounding story of a war-scarred young American in a battle against corruption and betrayal. . . .

After coming home at the end of World War II, Walter Mosca finds himself too restless for his civilian role in America. So he returns to Germany to find the woman he had once loved-and to start some kind of life in a vanquished country. But ahead of Walter stretches a dark landscape of defeat and intrigue, as he succumbs to the corrupting influences of a malevolent time. Now he enters a different kind of war, one in which he must make a fateful decision-between love and ambition, passion and greed, life and death. . . .

Review Quotes

"Fierce, intense, compelling."
-The Boston Globe

"ONE OF THE FINEST WORKS OF FICTION TO COME OUT OF THIS COUNTRY'S OCCUPATION OF GERMANY."
-The Nation

"PUZO TELLS HIS STORY BRUTALLY, VIOLENTLY, AND UNDOUBTEDLY VERY MUCH AS IT ALL MIGHT HAVE BEEN."
-San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Mario Puzo was born in New York and, following military service in World War II, attended New York's New School for Social Research and Columbia University. His bestselling novel, The Godfather, was preceded by two critically acclaimed novels, The Dark Arena and The Fortunate Pilgrim. In 1978, he published Fools Die, followed by The Sicilian, The Fourth K, and the second installment in his Mafia trilogy, The Last Don. Mario Puzo also wrote many screenplays, including those for Earthquake, Superman, and all three Godfather movies, for which he received two Academy Awards. He died in July 1999 at his home on Long Island, New York, at the age of seventy-eight.