Private investigator Jack Bertolino knew one day mafia boss Vincent Cardona would call in the chit for saving Jack’s son, Chris, from certain death. Now Cardona’s daughter is missing, and he contacted Bertolino in an effort to locate Angelica, a mafia princess who is the apple of her father’s eye.

Jack found out Angelica was kidnapped and was being held by a group of powerful men who were discussing her value as a sex slave. Based in Los Angeles, Jack took his boat north along the Malibu coastline and found Lieutenant Gallina working on a case of a young girl who was killed, and thrown onto the rocky outcropping.

The second death of a young woman in a couple of weeks, similar in type of look, age, and blond hair as Angelica, made him wonder if he was too late to save the young lady.

Jack and his girlfriend Leslie, a deputy district attorney, were arguing, especially because Jack was now working for a mob boss. He also unexpectedly found out the Mexican mafia had put a hit on him when he narrowly missed the hit.

Unfortunately, Jack and his son were not in a good place in their relationship, and it seemed no matter what Jack did, he could not get on his son’s good side. With all that going on in his life, Jack continued to press on in order to fulfill his promise to the mob boss, and to keep his goal of saving Angelica’s life – if it wasn’t too late.

Blond Cargo is the sequel to The Devil’s Necktie written by John Lansing. The fast-paced no holds barred thriller is a riveting story of how far a father will go to protect his offspring. Both the mobster and Jack were struggling with their familial relationships, but were willing to do whatever it took to keep their youngster alive when they realized the younger members were fighting for their lives.

The author made good use of detail in every area of the story, both indoors and outdoors, which brought a reality to the story. The use of multiple points of view provides texture and allows readers to experience the depth of depravity at work through the thoughts and behavior of the characters.

Blond Cargo is a worthy second book written as a sequel, and one that will cause readers to long for more stories in this series.

If you are interested in picking up the author’s books, they are available at Amazon.com.

A special thank you goes to Gallery Books for providing us with a complimentary copy of this book for our review.