They've spent their whole lives....and every penny they have....to give their son, Myles, a good life. Even divorced, they worked together to secure his future. After a year in a very expensive rehab program, it looks as if Myles is finally on the right track. Then, a call. Myles and friends travelled to Tijuana to score drugs. Instead Myles has been kidnapped and his parents must pay dearly to get him back. With no where else to turn, Wade, Myles' hard working father, makes a deal to get the money. Wade is a banker with access to resources that make him valuable to many criminal activities. As the story progresses and the tension grows, Wade will have to make decisions to save his son and keep on the right side of the law.

Carl Vonderau has written an excellent thriller. The characters quickly came to life and you could feel their frustration, desperation and guilt. How could their son turn out like this? The tension amps up as their desperation grows and we can feel that moment when Wade makes his decision, knowing exactly what it will mean. As the story races to conclusion, you won't be able to pause, you'll keep reading to the end.

SAVING MYLES is such a twisted tale. Wade and his estranged wife, Fiona are parents to Myles. Myles is a kid with a drug addiction. They decide the best thing to do for him is to send him to Hidden Road, an exclusive rehabilitation home. They use all their money to pay for his stay. After one year, he returns home. Soon after he arrives, he sneaks out to Tijuana to buy, what else, drugs, and is kidnapped! Wade and Fiona are pretty much broke and can’t pay the ransom, so they must come up with a different plan to save their son. Fiona turns to her boss, Andre, who runs their non profit organization to help children.

SAVING MYLES is about the length parents will go to protect their child from harm. It was hard for me to connect with Wade and Fiona. Fiona is very bitter about having to send Myles to rehab. She is what I would call an enabler. Anyway, it was really hard for me to care about these two when you never really learn too much about them.

The first half of SAVING MYLES is fast paced and when I got to the second half it slowed down too much and I found myself bored. I will say, I loved Carl Vonderau’s style of writing as well as the plot. If only the pace could have kept up, like in the first half, I wouldn’t have struggled to finish.

I received a compliment copy of this book from Swell Media through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What if your son started spiralling out of control, missing school taking drugs and going down a path that would certainly lead him jail.
You would do anything in your power to prevent this right?
So parents Fiona and Wade have their son Myles taken into the Hidden Road an exclusive and expensive rehab centre they hope for the best.
While Myles is in rehab his parents separate and Fiona has a new live in partner, so when Myles comes out of rehab everything has changed.
But things have started to look up for Myles, he mo longer does drugs and is getting straight A's in school.
So when he mentions to his mum that he is going camping for the night with some friends she trusts him.
Little did she know that Myles and his girlfriend were going over the Mexican border to buy drugs but it went terribly wrong and Myles was kidnapped.
Having maxed out all their savings and remortgaged the family home, when the call comes from the kidnappers they dont have the money to pay the ransom.
They spiral out of control and the family is pulled into dealings with the mob.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the characters involved.

How far would a parent go to save their child? For Fiona Bosworth it is never a question. She would do anything. When she finds drugs in her son Myles’ room, she reluctantly agrees with her husband Wade to send him to a facility for an intervention. It is a decision that leads to their estrangement. When Myles returns he has changed. He is more respectful and his grades improved. It did not take long, however, to revert to old habits. On a trip to Tijuana to buy drugs, Myles is kidnapped. After taking out loans and a second mortgage to pay for the previous treatment, there is no money left for the ransom. Fiona appeals to Andre, her boss at the charity where she works. Andre runs a bank and has wanted Wade to work for him, but Wade has always felt the source of Andre’s funds was questionable. Andre arranges the money through his charity, to be repaid from a loan from his bank. It is an illegal transaction, but Fiona is desperate. One of the conditions is that Wade comes to work for him. His associates demand it and Wade is in no position to refuse if he is to save Myles. Wade finds himself trapped between a Mexican cartel and agents of the DEA and FBI who want his help to bring down the cartel. Carl Vonderau’s writing easily allows the reader to visualize scenes from bank offices to the streets of Tijuana and feel the anxiety and tension as Wade tries to regain control of their lives and save his family, making Saving Myles an excellent entry in domestic suspense. I would like to thank NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing or providing this book for my review.

I found this story to be really interesting. It was a quick read with a wonderful pace. I wondered where the story would go after the inital conflict was resolved and I almost enjoyed the second half a little better. I thought the author did a great job pulling on the heart strings of what a parent would do to save their child. I do feel that some of the technical bank/property deals I glossed over while reading as I had trouble being invested in those parts. However, I do think this is a story that I would recommend to others.

Carl Vonderau has a great writing style for the thriller genre, it had a strong concept overall and it had what I was looking for. The characters worked in this universe and I was never bored when reading this. I was on the edge of my seat when reading this and left me wanting more from this author.

Wow! I can't say enough about this one, but this author paints an agonizing picture that parents endure over an addicted child. Willing to sacrifice their soul to get him straight, Wade and Fiona, send their son, Myles, to a treatment center. Sinking all of their money into it, they find themselves searching for answers when he sneaks off to Tijuana to buy drugs. He is kidnapped by the cartel and they pursue ransom money for an exchange.

Fiona summons her boss, Andre, to help, but little did they know that he also works for the cartel and now Wade is indebted to them. The suspense is draining and fast-paced. With little options for the sake of their child, they have no answers but to adhere to each request. It is hard to forget this one and the agony these parents suffer. A stunning display of tense words and nauseating scenes.
Thank you NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

The story begins begins with Wade and Fiona wondering if they are doing the right thing for their son, Myles. They have made arrangements to send Myles away to a recovery camp and the people are arriving soon. Myles, after a year away, has returned and they think they notice a change in him. This is only a facade and things then get worse. Myles has gone to Mexico along with a girl to buy drugs. When he goes with the men to where he is to get the drugs, he is kidnapped. Wade asks the FBI for help, but there is anything they can do. Fiona who is the CEO of a non-profit tells Andre, her boss, of the situation and he agrees to help. With his help they negotiate an amout that must be paid for Myles to be released. Unfortunately, Wade and Fiona paid so much for Myles's camp, they don't have the funds. Andre then helps arrange the money, but there is a catch that Wade and Fioan learn later on.

The funds are paid, Myles is then released. It is only later that Wade and Fiona learn how they have been tricked. To discover what the reason for Myles's kidnapping was, who was behind the plot, what steps in the end needed to be taken to survive, then you need to read this book.

Fabulous!! This was a great story which I could not put down. Would recommend this to everyone who loves this genre.

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.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

What would you do to save your child? Wade and Fiona have unfortunately found the answer to that the hard way, absolutely anything. Myles has been in trouble, done drugs, acted out and his parents never give up on him and try to make the right decision to help him. When Myles is kidnapped in Tijuana, their life is turned upside down to get him back.

Drug cartels, hitmen, the FBI and the DEA all become a part of Wade and Fiona's lives. The tension and suspense is very well done, I couldn't put the book down. I related to most of the characters and really felt for their situations. I would have liked a little more of Myles and Sophia's relationship since he was willing to do all for a girl he just met. I probably would have given this book 5 stars if I could have bought in to that relationship more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I did not finish at the 30% mark. This book was just not for me. I could not get into the characters or the plot. The writing was good and I’m sure there will be an audience for this book, unfortunately it was just not for me.

Carl Vonderau's second novel some four years after his debut, Saving Myles (2023) is another banker-based mystery thriller. When Wade’s son is kidnapped in Tijuana, Mexico whilst purchasing drugs, he and his ex-wife Fiona agree to pay the ransom. Yet to free their son, Wade must go and work in a bank that is a front for money laundering for a Mexican cartel. A fractured family has to deal with this untenable situation, amidst pressure from the FBI and DEA or risk being jailed themselves. With its slowly rising tension, the family must somehow navigate their broken relationships and the need to extricate themselves from the looming threat of a grizzly outcome, if they fail to comply. An enjoyable domestic suspenseful tale with a three and a half stars read stars rating. With many thanks to Oceanview Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

Carl Vonderau tells an intriguing story in Saving Myles. Lisa from Swell Media gave me access to an Advacnced Reader’s copy through NetGalley, which I appreciated. The title pretty much says it all—the book is about parents saving Myles. After their son starts getting into trouble with drugs and hanging out with the wrong people, his parents contract with a group out of Utah to take him away for rehabilitation. When Myles returns home to Southern California, he gradually starts falling back into some bad habits, including a trip to Tijuana with a girl to score some drugs. Myles finds himself kidnapped by people from a Mexican cartel who want leverage to blackmail his father into helping them diversify their holdings based on his skills as a real estate banker. The father works with the cartel to achieve their goals, but he also works with the FBI to bring them down with some interesting twists along the way that will provide meat for discussion by book clubs who choose to take on this topic.

Wade, a banker and his estranged wife Fiona, have a big problem. Their son, Myles, has become addict. In desperation, they send him to Hidden Road, an ultra expensive, rehabilitation home for a year to recover, incurring a sizeable loan with strings attached.

Myles returns home, and seems fine for awhile, but once again mixes with the wrong crowd, where he and his girlfriend wind up in Tijuana, trying to buy drugs. Wade is caught but not by the police by by a Mexican cartel who kidnaps him and demands ransom.

Having used all their money to send Myles to Hidden Road, their hands are tied so they decide to use another route that leads them into a deadly journey with the cartel, the DEA, and the FBI. n desperation, Fiona turns to her boss, Andre, who runs their non profit organization to help children. The deal that is made entails Wade going to work for Andre at his bank, which turns into a most devious ploy.

The question is will Wade do this job or will Myles die at the hands of the ruthless cartel?

There are some fine moments in the story, but I thought it dragged on a bit and was anxious to see the end in sight. Thank you to Carl Vonderau, Oceanview Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out August 15, of this year.

Wade and Fiona knew their son Myles has a problem with drugs but they thought his trip to rehab helped. Not so much. He heads to Tijuana and promptly gets kidnapped for a ransom they can not pay. Wade, a legit banker, finds himself making a deal with the devil for the money and then beholden to a cartel. While it's a somewhat implausible situation, this thriller has snappy writing and good characters. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A fast read.

The ARC I received for this novel opened with a letter from Oceanview Publishing’s CEO, Bob Gussin, which piqued my curiosity. Their website revealed them as a newer small independent press (2006) focusing exclusively on mysteries and thrillers. That letter impressed me more than any cover blurb. Not only did it make the publisher distinct, its contents made Vandereau’s characters real - and I hadn't even started the book!

I finished the book in four days, a feat I very rarely accomplish. But the novel was so easy to read and so well-paced I had trouble putting it down. I was reading at night until the words blurred.

The characters form, in my mind, an equilateral triangle. Myles may be the focus, but it is his familial relationship that is tested, and at times breaks. His parents, Wade and Fiona, are also integral to the plot. They are so essential that even though the novel is in third person, each chapter focuses on a different member of the trio.

The novel has a cinematic feel. I could envision the locations. The descriptions of the characters are so vivid I could see the tears and determination on their faces as they face their inner and outer demons. If you want a page turner that’s a bit deeper than your average thriller, look no further.

The only hiccup within the structure is the detailing of all the financial institutions and legalities. I’ve worked around banking myself, but I still found those subplots distracting and dry (even though I concede they are necessary in order to further the plot). It’s really the only flaw I can find with the novel.

The CEO letter grabbed my attention. But the novel itself kept it so strongly I’ve now favorited and followed the publisher on social media. Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for this ARC. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

When Wade and Fiona decided to send their son, Myles, to an intensive drug treatment center, they never imagined that it would totally change their lives. After one year in treatment, Myles returns home to parents who are separated and a contract for his behaviors while finishing high school and living at home. When Myles breaks the contract by going to Tijuana with a girl, he ends up being kidnapped. the kidnappers demand a huge ransom and the FBI does not seem to be able to help, Wade and Fiona turn to Fiona's boss who offers to loan them the ransom. This sets into motion a series of events that totally change the lives of Wade, Fiona, and Myles forever. I liked this, I didn't love it.

Every parents nightmare, and that’s just the beginning.

As a father I would do anything to ensure my daughters safety, and that’s where things start to go wrong for Banker Wade.

His son Myles is really troubled, failing school, heavily into drugs, slowly ruining his own life.

Wade arranges an intervention. He has Myles forcibly taken from his home and placed into rehab, for a year.

When Myles comes home he runs off to Mexico with his “Girlfriend” and is kidnapped by the cartel.

To raise the ransom Wade agrees to work for another Bank, but what he is actually doing is working for the Cartel.

This is a story of love and sacrifice that leads to a parents downward spiral.

Moralistically I emphasised with Wade, and wanted to slap Myles.

But ultimately I wanted to shout at Wade to wake up and see what he was getting himself into.

And all of this is only the begining

4 stars-Myles is a high schooler with a drug and defiance problem. His parents remortgage the house and put all of their savings into a rehabilitation reform school type of program and he goes away for a year. Upon return, he’s back to being the straight A, teetotaling kid. Or so his parents think…Myles and a friend go to Tijuana to buy drugs and he is kidnapped. What will his parents risk to save him? Just what any parent would, everything it takes….and so the story begins. This one is especially a good read if you are a fan of the Netflix show Ozark. The moral of this story: be careful who you trust…