''Rage of Angels'' is a novel by

Sidney Sheldon Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer. He was prominent in the 1930s, first working on Broadway plays, and then in motion pictures, notably writing the successful comedy '' The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxe ...

published in 1980. The novel revolves around young attorney Jennifer Parker; as she rises as a successful lawyer, she gets into a series of ongoings that lead to intrigue with the mob and a rival attorney that promises to break her life's dreams. As the story progresses, the protagonist is romantically torn between a famous politician, who helps her rise again, and the Mafia boss who framed her. The boss swears to destroy her after he finds out about her affair with the politician and the child resulting from the affair.

Plot summary

Jennifer Parker, a beautiful, inexperienced, newly sworn in

Assistant District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a lo ...

for the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

, inadvertently participates in a plot by Michael Moretti, the rising star of one of the most powerful

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

families in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, to escape a trial.

Manhattan District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ( ...

Robert Di Silva, believing that Jennifer is truly responsible, fires her and vows to destroy her for her part in the fiasco with Moretti. Di Silva initiates disbarment procedures against Jennifer, and young lawyer Adam Warner is assigned to investigate Jennifer. Adam immediately realizes that she is not guilty at all, and falls for her. With Adam's help Jennifer begins to rise again; meanwhile Moretti, inspired by her determination to succeed, follows her career from a distance. Adam, despite being married and groomed for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

, cannot help falling in love with Jennifer. When he tells her that his wife Mary Beth has asked for a divorce, Jennifer meets with her. Being so close to the Senate election, the two women decide it is best for Adam to wait until after the election. But Mary Beth sleeps with Adam one last time, in the process tricking him into impregnating her. Adam learns that his wife is pregnant, wins the election and Jennifer ends their affair. Jennifer, having previously discovered that she too is pregnant and not wanting to be hurt by Adam, accepts but does not reveal to him that she is carrying his child. Jennifer gives birth and names her son Joshua Adam Parker. Only her assistant Ken Bailey knows of Joshua's existence. Jennifer returns to her practice and soon makes headlines as a successful lawyer. Meanwhile, Moretti constantly tries to spark friendship with Jennifer, which she rebuffs at every attempt, reminding him of his earlier trick that was devastating to her early career. Nevertheless, when her son is kidnapped by a criminal Jennifer is defending, she, in desperation, turns to Moretti for help. After helping her, he seduces her and Jennifer eventually becomes the Family

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel '' The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a ...

. Joshua dies following a water skiing accident. Jennifer and Moretti are soon being hunted down by the government; he shoots her, wrongly thinking she has betrayed him, and is killed himself in an FBI raid of his house. Adam is able to use his position to save Jennifer. Soon Jennifer watches on television as Adam is sworn in as President of the United States. Jennifer returns to her home town and a small law practice, with everyone she loved taken from her and all joy and happiness gone from her life.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into a

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

in 1983, directed by

Buzz Kulik Seymour "Buzz" Kulik (July 23, 1922 – January 13, 1999) was an American film director and producer. He directed 72 films and television shows, including the landmark CBS television network anthology series ''Playhouse 90'' and several ep ...

and starring

Jaclyn Smith Jacquelyn Ellen "Jaclyn" Smith (born October 26, 1945) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is best known for her role as Kelly Garrett in the television series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), and was the only original female lead ...

Armand Assante Armand Anthony Assante Jr. (; born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He played mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film '' Gotti'', Odysseus in the 1997 mini-series adaptation of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', Nietzsche in ''When ...

and

Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in '' 1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Wh ...

. It was followed by a sequel, ''Rage of Angels: The Story Continues'' in 1986. The 1985 Hindi Movie

Bepanaah ''Bepanaah'' is a 1985 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Jagdish Sidana, starring Shashi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Poonam Dhillon, Rati Agnihotri, Suresh Oberoi, Madan Puri, Kader Khan in pivotal roles. Summary Bajrang, a naive youngs ...

and 1986 Malayalam movie ''

Rajavinte Makan ''Rajavinte Makan'' () is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language gangster film directed and produced by Thampi Kannanthanam and written by Dennis Joseph. It stars Mohanlal as crime boss Vincent Gomes, and also features Suresh Gopi, Ratheesh, Ambika ...

'' was loosely based on this novel. This movie was remade in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

as ''

Makkal En Pakkam ''Makkal En Pakkam'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Karthik Raghunath. The film stars Sathyaraj, Rajesh, and Ambika. It is a remake of the 1986 Malayalam film ''Rajavinte Makan''. The film was blockbuster at box off ...

'', in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''

Athiratha Maharatha ''Athiratha Maharatha'' is a 1987 Indian Kannada-language film, directed by Perala and produced by Bheemavarapu Bhucchi Reddy. The film stars Anant Nag, Tiger Prabhakar, Ambika and Sayad. The film has musical score by K. Chakravarthy. The m ...

'', in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

as ''Ahuthi'' and in Hindi as '' Kanwarlal''.

References

SidneySheldon.com , Bookshelf
{{Sheldon 1980 American novels Novels by Sidney Sheldon American thriller novels Novels set in New York City American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into television shows