This was an unusual story about a family trying to save their son from drug use. It was a bit far fetched for me but it was enjoyable and a fun read.

'When the FBI can' t help, an unassuming banker takes matters into his own hands to bring his son home.'

This is what caught my eye and made me want to read this book. And I wasn't disappointed. Myles is having a problem with drugs, ends up getting kidnapped and now his parents re trying their hardest to get him home again. This is the story, it is a thriller, it is a book that keeps you on edge and doesn't let you put it down!

An action packed, emotional, at times scary, always kept me in suspense and was thrilling to say the least. A great book and one I highly recommend if you want an unputdownable thrilling read.

This my first novel by this author and he DID NOT disappoint. Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of this great novel for my honest opinion.

Where to start!!! Fast pace, edge of your seat family drama, THRILLER! This story tells of a parents unconditional love for there son Myles. Myles is a troubled teen who openly smokes joints at home but hides the hardcore drugs from his parents. Once his parents discover his addictions to pain killers they hash a plan to have their son taken in the wee hours of the morning to a rehab center. Once Myles returns, its only weeks before he dives deeper into the drug world. He gets kidnapped and that's when his parents really show the lengths of their undying love.

This one was read in on afternoon. Do yourself a favor and buy this drama.

(3.5 stars)
"OxyContin. It was a word that didn't admit other words like maturation or experimentation or youthful mistakes." Saving Myles is about the lengths parents will go to protect their children from harm. It begins with the forcible extraction of Myles to a drug rehabilitation program, and ends with entanglement with a Mexican drug and crime cartel. The process rips the family apart, which complicates the fight to save Myles when he is later kidnapped by the cartel when trying to purchase drugs in Tijuana. As someone who lives on an island, so not near a hotly contested border with the bulk of wealth and privilege on one side, I found the Mexican-USA relationships described in this book interesting, particularly relating to the limits of law enforcement.

None of the characters quite gelled for me, I wasn't that fussed on Wade, who is a banker, or his former wife who wallows in self-pity and discards her lover at the first sign of trouble: "All affairs eventually lost their poetry. Then she would be alone again in this house." She retains a lot of anger about the decision to send her son to rehabilitation (one she clearly agreed to at the time) and it makes her a fairly unlikeable character. You can see how Myles came to use drugs, though even he was a bit underdeveloped, with his reasons for using drugs never really explored. While definitely readable and enjoyable, I was left wanting a bit more from this one: it didn't quite make me look forward to going to bed to read.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The storyline was very unique and intriguing. It was a nice change of pace from the “typical” tropes I have been reading. Thank you for this great read!

I really loved the storyline, not just the same old read. Myles is a teenager caught up in drugs with patients who are desperate to save him. He makes some bad choices that put the whole family in a dangerous situation. The book a]can get a little tedious in the middle but stick with it, it is worth the read.

This fast paced read about the lengths a parents will go to save their son and the illegal world of Tijuana will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The story starts off with Myles parents late at night talking over the decision they made to have their son ripped from their home in the middle of the night and sent to a rehab center in the middle of nowhere after he’s been openly using drugs at home and they found a large of OxyContin hidden in his room.

18 months later Myles and his girlfriend (another one of his addictions) are in Tijuana about to make more bad decisions - he meets with a male for a drug deal and then disappears.

Then his Myles father receives a call - he’s kidnapped and they want a LOT of money. His banker father has nothing left as they spent it all on trying to get him help and the mother has moved out and has a new boyfriend - but she’s CEO of a company and someone can help.. but it won’t be legal.

I couldn’t put this down and I stayed up for hours to read it. Thank you net Galley and Ocean Publishing for this ARC!

Saving Myles was such a great read. A young man struggling with drugs whose parents will do anything to save their child. When Myles is kidnapped in Mexico his parents have no limits on what they would do to rescue their beloved son including making a deal with the cartel. The story line to this book is so different than the normal action crime thrillers.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this read!

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing for this early read! The chapters are the perfect length to keep the story going. The vivid details and depth of the characters connected me instantly to the plot. The twists and additions to the story line really make it easy to lose track of time while reading Saving Myles. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the family dynamic of the story, but Vonderau makes you feel apart of it. I suspected a lot of the story line, but seeing it pan out and the involvement of Mexican drug cartels and FBI is thrilling.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5354513736

“Saving Myles” by Carl Vonderau is an action packed novel unlike anything I have ever read! When Myles is found with drugs, his parents become desperate to save him and take extreme measures sending him away to an out of state treatment facility. When he is released, he soon goes back to old habits and sneaks into Mexico. When this bad decision turns into something more, the entire family becomes involved. I love the family dynamics in this book, and how Myles’ parents will stop at nothing to save their son. Thank you so much to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

Myles is a troubled sixteen year old boy from La Jolla, CA who openly smokes marijuana at home and is struggling in school. After his parents, Wade and Fiona, find oxycontin hidden in his room, extreme measures are taken. Two men are hired to come into the family home at four in the morning and involuntarily taken Myles to Hidden Road Academy, a treatment facility in Utah. The hope is that after a year at Hidden Road Academy, Myles can have his life turned around before it is too late.

While Wade and Fiona hope that the year Myles spends at Hidden Road Academy will be the nudge he needs to change his life, Myles quickly finds himself back to his old ways weeks after returning home. He has snuck away to Tijuana, Mexico. A bad decision turns into a crisis as Myles disappears.

This is the setup for Carl Vonderau’s excellent novel, Saving Myles. After Myles disappears we are treated to a dark and sinister story about the length parents will go to protect their children. This story dives deep into the underworld of Tijuana and San Diego and how the tentacles of organized crime can quickly find you sucked in with no way out. In addition, Vonderau also explores family and the complicated dynamics of a trouble teenage child along with two parents who have to juggle their undying love for their child alongside a rocky marriage chalked full of resentment.

This novel is fast paced and an excellent read throughout. I especially enjoyed the structure of each chapter being told from the point of view of either Myles, Wade, or Fiona, which really puts a spotlight on the family dynamic in this story. In addition, I also appreciate that unlike many crime or mystery novels that place the focus of the story on law enforcement investigators, this novel strictly focuses on the victim and his family.

Given that this the first time I’ve read a novel from Carl Vonderau, I look forward to reading his previous novel, Muderabilia, alongside any future releases.

Highly recommended if you enjoy crime thrillers.