Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

Karen Scioscia has written "Kidnapped by the Cartel" from her own recollections and interviews following the kidnapping of a member of her own family. To write about the Mexican drug cartels and the dangers they create by feeding people's love of oxycodin, crack, heroin and other narcotics is one thing but to write a novel based upon what happened in one's own family is extremely difficult. Diane and Steve's only daughter, beautiful Amanda, is kidnapped and treated brutally by members of the Morales Family Organization, one of the biggest drug cartels in the Baja area of Mexico. For some time now, twenty-one year old Amanda had been addicted to drugs and in and out of rehab centers, and is abducted as she drives to Tijuana in search of a local drug store or farmacia to sell her a narcotic. Steve and Diane are frantic when after trying to reach Amanda's cell phone, the phone rings with an international signal and someone Hispanic answers and says in effect "She's mine, now!" Steve's sister Pam's husband Ben knows whom to contact and Steve gets in touch with Alberto Reyes, a retired detective and former California state trooper, who now works as a private detective whose speciality is finding people who have disappeared in Mexico. Steve's best friend Mike, a former Navy SEAL, is also involved in the search for Amanda. But can they find her before it is too late?

"Kidnapped by the Cartel" is an eye-opener of a story! Karen Scioscia has created a first-rate novel that tells of Amanda Tate's brutal kidnapping. The characters of her parents, Steve and Diane Tate, her aunt and uncle, Pam and Benny, her father's friend Steve, Alfredo Reyes, the members of the Morales Family Organization and all other major and minor characters are well-created and add to the storyline. The plot moves to the story's conclusion as Steve, Mike and Alfredo continue their search believably and predictably. That people crave narcotics so much as to put their lives in danger is a great theme. "Kidnapped by the Cartel" is a story that needs telling and reading everywhere.