Son of the Mob

Korman, Gordon. Son of the Mob. 2002. 262p. ISBN 0-7868-2616-9. Available as FIC LIB in the library.

When your father is the head of the local mob, it can be hard to have a normal childhood. Vince Luca’s family supposedly own “Brothers Vending,” but it’s a front for their criminal operations. At seventeen, Vince is the only legit member of his family. They own a large house with a four car garage, but the only vehicle registered is his beat up Mazda. He’s never wanted in this life of crime, but he keeps getting implicated by association, like when he was arrested for driving a stolen Porsche 911 that his father had given him. The family home is thoroughly bugged by the FBI, and they can’t have any meaningful conversations at home.

A serious student in school, Vince cannot wait to graduate and move as far away from his family and from the name Luca. His best friend, Alex, knows of his mob connections, and lives vicariously through Vince. Neither of them can get a date, so they try out for the football team. Vince and Alex warm up the bench until Vince gets put in late one game. Amazingly, he scores a touchdown. The next game, Vince is all over the place, and score multiple times. Then he hears the whispers: “This is the Luca boy.” Suddenly, he realizes that no one wants to touch him. He quits football, but Kendra, who works for the student newspaper, wants to interview him for standing up to the coach.

Thus begins one of the strangest love affairs, for Vince has mob credentials, but Kendra’s father works for the FBI and is the agent in charge of the team investigating the Lucas. And despite his best efforts, Vince gets mixed up in one mob affair after another, while Alex cheers him on. Can he escape the life fate seems to have designed for him?