1973 sci-fi novel by
Roger Zelazny. Mafioso
assassin Angelo di Negri (aka "Angie the Angel") is awakened from
cryogenic suspension an unspecified number of years (centuries?) after he is "hit". COSA Inc. is a (mostly) legitimate,
World Exchange-traded corporation now. The human race has achieved interstellar
diaspora, and Angelo's cold, professional assassination skills are a lost art. While he's out fulfilling a contract on a distant cyborg
genius loci (Herbert Styler), Earth is devastated by war. Angelo neutralizes Styler, but he's marooned on the world of Alvo. He uses Styler's systems (in combination with the fledgling technology of
hyperspace teleportation) to develop an 18-world artificial habitat, in which he hopes to engineer the anti-social out of human society. To maintain his personal control over the project, he utilizes
cloning and a related psychic effect to enjoy a sort of
serial immortality (akin to the ancient Egyptians' notion of
the immortality of Pharaoh).
That's the sci-fi premise; the rest is conflict and resolution. This is one of Zelazny's less popular works, compared with the
Amber novels, or the liberally mythic works like
Lord of Light. It's kind of too bad, because it stands quite well as an exploration of
human nature and
social progress - equal to
Asimov's
The End of Eternity.