Blond Cargo by John Lansing

Jack Bertolino returns redeemed in his own eyes and in the eyes of his LA peers.  Jackis a retired NY City police detective with a bad back.   Jack's behavior in Devil's Necktie has cemented his bonafides with the LA law enforcement community.  Comfortable in his new relationship with ADA Leslie, Jack's only concern seems to be his son's PTSD based on his near death experience in Devil's Necktie.  His idyllic interlude is torpedoed by gangster, Vincent Cardona calling in a favor.

Lansing pulls his story right out of today's headlines with the concern for human trafficking and immigrant crime.   Iraq is still in the daily news and Lansing takes recent historic aspects and envelopes them in a seedy criminal plot.   The amoral aspects of many of the characters are practically unbelievable unless you have happened to have had contact with a true sociopath and then the characters are sadly believable.  

Interspersed with human trafficking, drug dealing, marital and girl friend relational problems, Jack finds out that the Mexican cartel from the previous book has put out a contract on his life.

Loyalty is a two way street and Bertolino both demonstrates it to his people and regrets his indebtedness to Cardona.   An interesting side bar to the story is the portrayal of redemption by Mateo and the appreciation of the American way of life by Kayla.   Bertolino again demonstrates he is not to be trifled with, bad back or not, and is a firm believer in retribution.

Lansing has a good plot, plenty of action and keeps your interest from beginning to end, I really enjoyed the book.

web site: http://www.johnlansing.net/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.