SON OF THE MOB: HOLLYWOOD HUSTLE

Fast and funny with a hefty helping of heart, Korman’s cleverly conceived and plotted followup to Son of the Mob (2002) will keep fans in stitches as hero Vince Luca, the son of a Long Island–based mafia boss, again tries unsuccessfully to extricate himself from “The Life.” Determined to leave all things mob behind him, Vince crosses the continent to study film in California but soon finds himself up to his camera lens in dirty doings. Worse, the love of his life, who also happens to be the daughter of the FBI agent investigating his father, is starring in a pretentious classmate’s film project and no longer has time for him. Although the focus is on funny, to his credit Korman doesn’t ignore the harsher realities of the underworld nor the uneasy alliance between powerful fathers and their struggling-to-define-themselves sons. Even within the comic hyperbolic context, there are some credibility problems, but it’s a minor quibble in a performance that’s sure to leave fans begging for more. (Fiction. YA)