THE PIRATE

by Harold Robbins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1974

Fee fi ho hum -- Mr. Robbins' Pirate belongs with his later splashier, trashier enterprises and the first half of it -- coming up, going down -- (""I don't give a damn as long as there's a hole to stick it in"") is tastelessly engorged. The last half at least deals with another kind of action. Anyway, this is all about Baydr Al Fay, potential heir to an Arab sheikdom full of oil. Actually Baydr is a Jew even if we can't go into the transactions of the nativity in the desert -- the son of the man who will become Israel's famous General. A first marriage to Maryam produced only girls; but now he has fathered boys by Jordania who took the faith which has nothing to do with fidelity -- both of them are heavily into drugs of all kinds and other partners. Here -- Cannes, Beirut -- there -- Los Angeles, Paris -- Baydr and Jordania are only sporadically together until the end which involves blackmail, an arranged murder, the heist of Jordania and her boys, the betrayal by his daughter, and the well-anticipated confrontation between Baydr and his natural father. . . . Think no more about it -- the book's commercial success is that other fact of life along with storks and sea gulls.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1974

ISBN: 1452045313

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION