Wade Bosworth is a successful banker in La Jolla, CA who spends way too much time and focus on his career, while his often-frustrated wife, Fiona, has her own career working for a non-profit called Comunidad de Niños, helping at risk Latino kids. 16 year old son Myles has become withdrawn, rebellious, and an avid pot smoker, no longer trying to hide the plumes of smoke in his room. When his parents find a bag of Oxy in his closet, they make the difficult decision to send him to a strict treatment facility in a remote area in Utah called Hidden Road, but when the men come to get Myles, he doesn't go easily and is dragged out, cursing his parents. Fast-forward some 16 months and Myles is back home. Wade and Fiona have separated, the strain of Myles' treatment having greatly affected their marriage, and Wade is living in a shabby apartment, while Fiona and Myles are in the house, along with Fiona's new boyfriend, a young painter named Jasper. Myles is doing much better and he seems completely changed, finally getting good grades, being respectful, and towing the line. In secret, though, he is dating a wild girl named Melissa and she's invited him on a clandestine trip to Tijuana to pick up some drugs. Things go horribly wrong when Myles is snatched in an underground parking lot and kidnapped.
Of course, his parents are terrified. The kidnappers contact Wade and demand $400,000 or else they'll receive their son's body parts, one by one. Wade can't get that kind of money, despite being the VP at his bank, and he and Fiona are already double mortgaged to the hilt due to the high cost of Myles' drug treatment. When desperation sets in for the Bosworth's, Fiona's boss at the non-profit, a French Canadian named Andre Ouellette, suggests to her that she could get a loan from his bank, a rinky-dink operation called Unity Coast Bank, and while she waits for approval, "borrow" the money from the non-profit, paying it back as soon as the loan is approved in a matter of days. After all, time is of the essence. Terrified for Myles' life, she does this without telling Wade, unknowingly placing the family in an invisible vise grip.
Ouellette, having been kidnapped himself many years before, knows the ropes and steps in to assist the family in retrieving Myles safely. He knows the best negotiator and this is the key to success. Before Wade and Fiona even know it, the money is procured, Wade makes the dangerous drop in Tijuana, and Myles is back home, a little bruised and damaged, but alive. Then the other shoe drops and Ouellette informs Wade that he must come to work for Unity Coast. It seems this small bank needs Wade's credibility to legitimize them and become a power player in the real estate world. Wade can't exactly turn them down, now that his wife has committed embezzlement against her own non-profit. It seems the "loan" conveniently never went through the actual bank. Sure, she didn't mean to, but she was also desperate. Then there's the fact that Myles was kidnapped while making a serious drug buy. All Wade can do is go along with things if he and his family hope to survive.
Unfortunately, Ouellette can't leave well enough alone and he insists that Wade and Myles come to his sprawling family homestead in, where of all places, Tijuana, so they can meet his wife Carmela and his daughter, Sofia. Talk about a PTSD-infused dinner. It seems the money comes from Carmela and her wealthy family, who also happen to be a big time Mexican drug cartel. And then there's the intelligent, innocent and beautiful Sofia, the same age as Myles, and a girl that has completely smitten him. She's perfect, so unlike the troubled bimbos Myles normally falls for, perfect except for her drug cartel family. Naturally.
While the FBI wasn't much help when Myles' was being held, Special Agent Kris Rodrigues is practically foaming at the mouth at a chance to expose this drug cartel, once Wade reaches out for help. Combine that with DEA Agent Harold Cartuso, who has been hounding Fiona to help him nab the same cartel, and this fractured couple might just have a chance at escape, but only if they work together. As the bodies of other people associated with Unity Coast start dropping, Wade realizes his time is running out and Unity Coast and the angry cartel family behind it expect results. Or else. Will the Bosworth's lives ever be the same again? Definitely not.
Saving Myles is more of a drama than a thriller, so it's not my typical genre, but it's a good story. There are definitely some harrowing and horrible moments in the book and I really didn't know how it would wrap up, so it's always nice to be a bit surprised by a book. While it's not my favorite nail-biter this summer, if you enjoy stories about families going to great lengths for their loved ones, check out Saving Myles.
