Murderabilia by Carl Vonderau Book Review!

Debut thriller ‘Murderabilia’ reveals long-buried secrets 

of a serial killer and the son hiding from his past

William McNary is a private banker who keeps his clients’ secrets — and some of his own. His father is Harvey Dean Kogan, the infamous serial killer known as “The Preying Hands,” responsible for killing thirteen women who abused children in the Chicago area. He brutally butchered them and then arranged their bodies for his disturbing black and white photos. These pictures started the “murderabilia” market, which William can’t seem to escape. Thirty years later, William has carefully constructed his life to exclude his father’s name and history. But a threatening phone call from a man claiming to be his brother shatters his idyllic life and makes him fear for his family’s safety.

When you're the son of a serial killer, you can never escape your past.

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.

Carl Vonderau grew up in Cleveland in a religious family that believed that God could heal all illness. He left that behind him when he went to college at Stanford and studied economics. Somehow, after dabbling in classical guitar, he ended up in banking. Carl lived and worked in Latin America, Canada, and North Africa, and conducted business in Spanish, French and Portuguese. He also secretly wrote crime novels. Now, a full-time author, he also helps nonprofit organizations. He and his wife reside in San Diego, where their two sons live close by. Check out more at  http://carlvonderau.com/. 

My Review

Murderabilia: "also known as murderbilia, is a term identifying collectibles related to murders and murderers or other violent crimes."

"I manage secrets. Sometimes" starts Murderabilia by Carl Vonderau. I have watched numerous movies and read quite a few books where the serial killer keeps items of the victims as "keepsakes". Definitely creepy and wrong. The cover of this book intrigued me to want to review a book about a serial killer and how he can destroy his family from a jail cell that he has been in for 30+ years.

This book is a story of a family and the father, Harvey Dean Kogan, who seemed like a normal person, the son and daughter had a normal father, or so they thought. This book is about living with a person who you later find out was a serial killer and the aftermath of that.

William Mcnary, a banker with a good job at a bank, has a wife and children. He also has a close relationship with his sister Polly. He thought he had kept his previous life hidden but someone is bound and determined to shatter that. With a phone call, William's safety and the safety of his family comes into question. When a co-worker of his wife is murdered and dismembered and posed in the same way as "The Preying Hands" Harvey Dean Kogan, his father William becomes suspect and because of this, Williams life is on a course that threatens to destroy his secrets and his family.

What follows is a tense, suspenseful thriller. I read this book in two sittings, written in the point of view of William, the reader learns about his job, his family, his mother, and his past. A taut realistic story that kept me turning the pages. Characters that are believable and the storyline. I found William to be a very strong, vulnerable man who has successfully put his past, in the past.

Love a good suspenseful story? Then you really need to read this one.

4 stars!

I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.

Read an Extract
https://www.midnightinkbooks.com/product_excerpt.php?ean=9780738761305&excerpt_id=122068