Saving Myles

Vonderau (Crossing Borders) delivers a solid neo noir centered on themes of addiction and parenthood. Wade Bosworth, a banker in La Jolla, Calif., struggles to save his teenage son, Myles, from his worst impulses. After Wade’s estranged wife, Fiona, finds bags of OxyContin in Myles’s bedroom, she reluctantly agrees to enroll him in a Utah treatment center. Myles’s stint there seems to have done the trick, but he’s soon in jeopardy again. Instead of going camping, as he told his mother, Myles drives to Tijuana to buy drugs and is kidnapped. Desperate to get his hands on the hundreds of thousands of dollars demanded in ransom, Wade agrees to a deal with Andre Ouellette, head of the shady charitable foundation Fiona works for: in exchange for cash, Wade will work for the foundation if Myles is returned safely. The only problem? The foundation is a front for a drug cartel. Vonderau’s plot is often predictable, but the aching empathy he generates for Myles’s parents makes up for the deficits in suspense. This works best as a high-stakes family drama. Agent: Michelle Richter, Fuse Literary. (Aug.)