(Cover picture courtesy of Scholastic Canada.)

When Vince heads out to sunny L.A. to go to film school, he’s sure he’s left his family and their criminal dealings behind him.

But then Vince finds out the hard way that you can take the kid out of the mob, but you can’t take the mob out of the kid.  Soon, his brother Tommy is shacking up in his dorm room, and a steady stream of “uncles” are showing up with his mother’s homemade rigatoni, and a whole lot of trouble, in hand.

Fans of Son of the Mob will enjoy reading more about Vince as he navigates his way through another hilarious adventure, while trying to keep his integrity—not to mention his life—intact.

Most sequels to originally stand alone novels are horrible, but Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle is definitely a great sequel to Son of the Mob.  Gordon Korman fills every page with his usual over-the-top sense of humour that will literally make you laugh out loud in parts.  But it does tackle some serious issues and not every part of the book is hilarious, which is partly why I love it.  Gordon Korman is one of the few authors I know of that can tackle serious issues with a good sense of humour.

Vince Luca is a great protagonist and is very three dimensional.  He is a good guy at heart, but he is definitely not perfect.  With his newfound freedom, Vince gives in to the temptation to be lazy, but what college student doesn’t?  Despite his faults, readers will cheer him on the whole way through the novel, especially during the climax.

Of course the plot of Hollywood Hustle zips right along in the usual Gordon Korman fashion.  It goes along quite quickly, but the pace fits the story without being ridiculous.  For young adults who are sick of all the doom and gloom that seems to be the trend in YA literature, this is the perfect book.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble*

*For some reason, Barnes and Noble does not have this book.  The link will take you to their home page, so maybe you can find it and prove I’m blind.