Carl Vonderau

Saving Myles by Carl Vonderau is a highly recommended family drama.

Wade and his estranged wife, Fiona, are forced to send their teenage son Myles away to a treatment center after finding bags of OxyContin in his bedroom. After a year, he returns home, seemingly rehabilitated, but soon slips back into trouble. Myles and his girlfriend go to Tijuana to buy drugs, which results in Myles being kidnapped by a cartel and the cartel demanding a ransom for his return. The treatment center wiped out all their extra funds, so they are desperate to find a way to save Myles. With no help from the FBI, dealing with the cartel leads them down a dangerous path searching for another course of action.

This is a compelling well-written drama. The narrative is told in the third person, but each chapter concentrates on one of the three characters - Wade, Fiona, or Myles. Readers will feel great compassion and care about what happens to this fractured couple and their son. There are some descriptive sections to provide more information, but they just work as a way to explain events and serve to move the tension in the plot forward. This is a very tension filled novel and the suspense increases with each chapter. The plot is somewhat predictable, but is still a very satisfying family drama.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Oceanview Publishing via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/08/saving-myles.html… (mehr)

Soon after coming home from a treatment center Myles sneaks off to Tijuana to buy drugs and is kidnapped. When the ransom call comes and the FBI can’t help, Fiona accepts help from Andre, a shady character she works for at the charity. Wade is leery of Andre but he swallows is doubts to get his son home. But now the family is enmeshed with the drug lords and money laundering enterprises... indebted to a Mexican cartel can have deadly consequences....

From the opening word I knew I would love this story. What a treat it turned out to be. This well- drawn drama is vivid, realistic and most of all tense. It explores the feelings of parents and how far they are willing to go to safe their children. Myles parents are Fiona and Wade, they beautifully express their fear and anxiety while dealing with hit men, suspicious deaths, informants and the inability of the FBI to help them. The pacing is fast and furious and so intense it is hard to put this book aside for another time. It wouldn’t be a good family drama without a boyfriend and a girlfriend to spice the experience, we also have that. In the mix add multiple murders and the result is one of those riveting and compelling novels.

“Saving Myles” gives you one of those emotional journeys hard to put down. Well-said and well-done.

Thank you Ocean Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC… (mehr)

Murderabilia: "also known as murderbilia, is a term identifying collectibles related to murders and murderers or other violent crimes."

"I manage secrets. Sometimes" starts Murderabilia by Carl Vonderau. I have watched numerous movies and read quite a few books where the serial killer keeps items of the victims as "keepsakes". Definitely creepy and wrong. The cover of this book intrigued me to want to review a book about a serial killer and how he can destroy his family from a jail cell that he has been in for 30+ years.

This book is a story of a family and the father, Harvey Dean Kogan, who seemed like a normal person, the son and daughter had a normal father, or so they thought. This book is about living with a person who you later find out was a serial killer and the aftermath of that.

William Mcnary, a banker with a good job at a bank, has a wife and children. He also has a close relationship with his sister Polly. He thought he had kept his previous life hidden but someone is bound and determined to shatter that. With a phone call, William's safety and the safety of his family comes into question. When a co-worker of his wife is murdered and dismembered and posed in the same way as "The Preying Hands" Harvey Dean Kogan, his father William becomes suspect and because of this, Williams life is on a course that threatens to destroy his secrets and his family.

What follows is a tense, suspenseful thriller. I read this book in two sittings, written in the point of view of William, the reader learns about his job, his family, his mother, and his past. A taut realistic story that kept me turning the pages. Characters that are believable and the storyline. I found William to be a very strong, vulnerable man who has successfully put his past, in the past.

Love a good suspenseful story? Then you really need to read this one.
4 stars!… (mehr)

I liked this book. For the subject matter that the concept of this story is focused on; there is not a lot of gore featured in it. This is great for those readers who like a good murder mystery story but not all the gore. Although, I would classify this book in between a cozy mystery and a gorier murder mystery.

William is relatable. I could imagine someone who grew up with a father like he did would want to bury the past way down deep. He has lived a "normal" life for quite some time as a banker. He has a wife and child. However, when William receives a phone call and a photo that appears to be a new set of "murderabilia"; William will have to face his past if he wants a future.

The pacing of the story is a bit slow. Which was fine but I did crave the intensity levels to be cranked up several notches. Yet, the last third of the story did help make up some for this. It is where the story all came together with a twist. One that I didn't see coming. Well done Mr. Vonderau. I do look forward to checking out more books by this author.… (mehr)