Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book was a great read. I struggled to put it down and do life whilst reading it. The son of a convicted serial killer starts receiving disturbing messages from someone claiming to be his brother. Then murders start happening which mirror his father's murders and he is the suspect. With his own family in danger of falling victim to this mysterious brother, he decides to visit his estranged father in jail for the very first time to see if he can shed some light on who this brother may be. Chillingly written with sinister undercurrents that left me dying to see how it all ends. #carlvonderau #netgalley #goodreads #litsy #kindle #tea_sipping_bookworm #bookstagram

A fascinating story which combines a dark side of serial killing and a light side of family life and a son of a serial killer trying to make the best of his life. This book asks questions of the reader we don't often consider I.e. what must it be like to be punished by society for the sins of our fathers? How do these people live normal lives. The author handles this subject with honesty, care and compassion and develops the characters in perfect chronology with the plot of the book. An excellent book.

This is an excellently written serial killer with a twist.

The main character, William, is the son of a famous serial killer. After his father was arrested 30 years ago, he’s had to build himself a life with the shattered pieces of everything he thought he knew. This isn’t something I’ve really considered in any detail before – what is life like for the innocent family members of a murderer? Especially in the age of the internet when nothing really dies and nobody gets to hide.
William is wrongfully arrested when suspicion falls on him following the death of a young woman, everyone assumes it’s a case of like-father-like-son. Now he has to deal with the psychological scars of his past while trying to prove his innocence and find a murderer.

There’s a definite Hannibal Lecter influence in this book, which works for me because I’m a huge fan of the series, but this book is cleverly written in its own right. It’s a tense and suspenseful whodunnit novel, secrets from William’s past are gradually revealed as the story progresses and finally culminate in a strong ending that surpassed all my expectations.
One extra note from me is that it was quite thought provoking, not something I usually expect from a book about murder! It made me question whether or not it’s possible to sympathise with a murderer, if there’s ever a justification for murder and the role of death in art.
If you enjoy crime thrillers and serial killer stories, you’re going to love this one. It’s the right amount of gory and disturbing!

What do you do when someone in your life has committed atrocious crimes? You try to hide it, goal set of leading a normal life all the while wondering if this evil is also in your blood. Do you step forward and try to help others, all the while trying not to expose the skeletons in your closet?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

The premise of this novel was very promising, William and Polly's father was a serial killer who targeted women who abused children. They have been in hiding and trying to move on with their lives until William was framed for a copycat murder that had all the signatures of his father's. He had no choice but to confront the person that he has been trying to forget his whole life to save his family and himself.
The story line is quite similar to one of the plot lines of Dexter. The writing was a bit chaotic at times and a lot of the back story bites felt more like they were there to fill up space rather than provide important clues or insights into the characters. Most of the characters are stereotypical to these types of murder mysteries/thrillers, no one character really stands out, not even the villains. There were obvious clues giving early on that wasn't followed until the end so the ending was quite predictable. It was an entertaining enough, quick read if you have time on your hands like I did.

Thanks to Midnight Ink and NetGalley for the ARC.

A brilliant debut from an author who surely has a huge publishing future ahead of him.

What happens when a copycat killer starts murdering woman like your father did 30 years ago?
What happens when he manages to frame you for it?

William MacNary is a private banker to the rich. Discretion is his middle name.
When a murderer starts copying his father heinous crimes from Williams childhood he is jailed as a suspect.This is only the start of his troubles.

He has to try and manoeuvre his way through a minefield while trying to prove his innocence and protect his family who are in the killers sights.

Dark and twisted in all the right ways, this gripping debut keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Highly recommended.

Murderabilia
The book opens on a banker, William McNary , who specializes in keeping secrets- hidden trusts for mistresses, wills etc. His value is not in his expertise but his discretion. His biggest secret is that he is the son of a notorious serial killer who he has not seen since he was 8 years old.
Harvey Dean Kogan was dubbed “ The Preying Hands Killer” and someone claiming to be William’s brother who is committing murders in the same manner.

William falls immediately under suspicion and is forced to turn to his father who he has not spoken to in 35 years to clear his name and try to prevent more deaths.
I liked the story and there were enough clues to figure out the killer but it is a story we have read before.
I will be interested in reading the authors next book and watching as his talent matures.
Thank you #netgalley and #midnightink for the advance copy in exchange for my thoughts.
This will be released July 8, 2019.
3.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Murderabilia.

I thought this was okay; not great. I can't even say I liked it, and I think its because the plot sounds familiar.

William MacNary is the son of a serial killer. He and his sister, Polly, have spent their whole lives in hiding from this shameful secret. But when a local teacher is brutally murdered in a copycat fashion, William will have to turn to the person he fears the most for help in locating this new killer.

I didn't dislike William and I didn't hate him. But, there was something...contrived about him, as if the author was trying too hard to describe a man who didn't want to be like his father but who couldn't stop thinking about him, giving into some of his impulses like his talent for photography.

We get plenty of exposition about Will, his brief time as a photojournalist, the atrocities he witnessed, how he met his wife, but I never warmed up to Will.

William's father is an unusual predator in that he preys on women who hurt children, sort of like Dexter, but only targeting abusive, cruel women. This is so obviously Freudian you don't need to have studied psychology to know why Will's father does this. Very cliche, very typical as to why the father kills. Nothing new here.

The story is more family drama than I liked, somewhat focused on Will's mother's faith to Christian Science, and I can't help but wonder if the author is making his own personal beliefs about religion or Christian Science known in a not so subtle way.

Either way, I got a strange vibe and I didn't like it.

The plot was too focused on the father/son, son/mother Freudian drama in order for me to sympathize with anyone. I just like a cut to the chase serial killer plot with a twist or two.

I didn't care for any of the characters, not even Will's family, though I did like Polly. But, I like novels with loyal siblings that feature strongly in the plot. I don't see those as often as I like.

Also, I had a hard time believing in the identity of the killer.

I don't know. Something just didn't feel right to me and how Will and the murderer eventually came to figure it out felt forced, not to mention, it took too long for the revelations to be revealed, as if the author was purposely trying to draw it out.

This wasn't a terrible book, just okay for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a well written, original, creepy and dark suspenseful murder mystery.
I would definitely read another book by this author.

This was really good, so well written. The primary characters are so layered and believable. The flashbacks give the story extra heft.

There are rich descriptions that allow you to clearly picture the settings and photos that detailed throughout. It does stretch the story out at times more than necessary (for me anyway) as no further development is made.

Things do pick up again and the mystery is solved, almost too conveniently. The villain?? Supposedly always odd and aloof - I can’t imagine the leap to the person they are today... it’s fiction, right?!?

Overall, quite fascinating and entertaining, would highly recommend and read more by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Midnight Ink for a copy in exchange for a review.

Murderabilia: collectibles related to murders, murderers, or other violent crimes.

For thirty-one years, William MacNary has been running from his past. Building a carefully constructed life that does not include his father. His father, Harvey Dean Kogan, known to most as the serial killer, “Preying Hands”. But one afternoon it all comes crashing down and soon William is in a fight to prove his own innocence in copycat murders. Is it true what they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? Or is William being framed?

This is a brilliantly descript, dark, and twisted novel that bends the psychological boundaries between a father and son. It has a strong cast of well-developed, interesting characters that help intensify an already commanding story line. Vonderau’s writing is beautifully pronounced, allowing the reader to feel the emotion behind each character. The anguish, betrayal, and rage is bursting off the pages. Fantastic read. 5 stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #MidnighInk for this ARC of #Murderabilia

Wow! If I didn’t have to go to bed I would have read this in one sitting! This book was absolutely remarkable in every way. Great writing, great story, great character development. It was hard to read at times because of the serial killer information but it was told well. . I can see it being on investigation discovery or made into a movie. Highly recommend. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

Murderabilia is a chilling novel that has earned a solid 5/5 rating! Can a serial killer's son find his father's protege in time to save his family? This book reminded me of too many true crime books I have read. The Preying Hands could easily have been a real serial killer with a copycat. I read this book with locked doors and an eerie feeling I was being watched. If you enjoy mystery and thriller, this is the book for you!

Murderabilia gripped me and didn't let me go until the end. There is such a creepiness to the story that I actually looked over my shoulder a couple of times. Scary, suspenseful and twisty; Murderabilia is a thriller that will sit with you even when you're done reading (and you check the windows and doors to make sure they're locked).

William is a husband, dad, banker and seems to have a quiet life until he gets a call that will shatter everything. Someone knows his darkest secret; he is the son of one of the most depraved serial killers around. Suddenly, William and his family are thrust into a world of nightmares and nobody is safe. New murders are happening and they point to him...but he maintains his innocence. He must figure out who the murderer is and how he can stop them before it's too late.

Thank you to Netgalley and Midnight Ink for this ARC.

Overall: The story follows William McNary, son of the country’s most famous serial killer, as he is forced to relive a past he thought he had put far behind him,
as he tries to prove his innocence in a copy cat murder, featuring the MO of ‘The Praying Hands’ serial killer - his father. This is literally the book of your nightmares, from the descriptions of The Praying Hands previous murder set ups - his victims killed, dismembered and artistically positioned in black and white photographs for the world to admire, to the darkest tales from a past no child should have to suffer. 
If you want a page turner that will keep you up at night, look no further - Carl Vonderau did a truly awesome job with this gritty, dark and haunting novel!

A very intense story about how the past forms and influences our future. The son of serial killer, William was very young when his father went to prison for a series of murders. William has built a successful and stable life for himself and his family and no one knows who he really is, Then another series of murders are committed and William finds himself the main suspect. After years of no contact, he must now rely on his imprisoned father for help in solving these murders before he ends up in prison himself. Suspenseful and dark, this book delivers on every level for a successful mystery story. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy for review.

Murderabilia
Thank you to Netgalley, Midnight Ink and Author Carl Vonderau for the digital ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Here comes the blurb as they say it better than I ever could!

The son of a serial killer must reconcile with his own dark past and stop a new string of murders
William MacNary was eight years old when his father went to prison. Since then, he's carefully built a life as a family man and a private banker for the wealthy. He tries to forget that his father dismembered and photographed thirteen women. And he tries to forget those exquisitely composed photos of severed hands, heads, and feet that launched the "murderabilia" art market.

William has not spoken to his father for thirty-one years. No one at his tony bank knows whose son he is. Not until his wife's colleague is murdered and carved up in the same way his father would have done it.
All the evidence points to William. And only one person can understand the copycat killer—the monster William hasn't seen since he was a child.


I love a good serial killer book And Murderabilia, lived up to its premise. A very cleverly written story focusing on a serial killers family a real twist on the genre.

Murderabilia is a tense and sophisticated mystery that gives insights into the world of private banking. Intriguing read!

Don’t you just love a good serial killer thriller. And Murderabilia was a very good one, indeed. Not just dark and twisted as it ought to be, but also one offering an original premise and a clever dramatic narrative. The author chose the high road, putting guts and gore aside (though don’t worry genre fans, not avoiding it all together), to craft a story about a serial killer’s family, the people that formed him and the people left in the wake of his crimes. For me that makes for an infinitely more interesting and compelling story that a straight forward procedural or something like that. Vonderau really delves into the dark side of the mind, even his depiction of the murderers themselves is nuanced, although the bulk of the novel belong to Will, the son of the notorious serial killer, who finds himself haunted and hunted by his father’s horrific past 31 years later. Will was merely 8 years old when his father was arrested, which creates for a complex dual perspective wherein he still recalls affectionately his dad, while having had to live consciously as an adult under the dark shadow his father’s cast over his life. And now there’s someone claiming to be his brother, someone who follows in the bloody footsteps his father left, someone who threatens Will’s life, family and sanity. Let the games begin. A thriller that’s actually thrilling, finally. Suspense maintained throughout. An ending you won’t be able to predict. Complex, well developed, engaging characters. This book checks all the right boxes, it genuinely excites. I enjoyed it very much, it was a lovely (read dark and demented) vacation from all the female driven the killer is your friend/spouse/neighbor sort of thrillers dominating the genre currently. A delight for genre fans. You’ll be thoroughly entertained, but give yourself some time, this one is tough to put down. Very dynamic, fun read. Thanks Netgalley.