WAYWARD SON

 

Wayward Son by Steve Goble [Oceanview; $27.95] is the second novel in the author’s Ed Runyon series. Runyon is a former NYC detective who moved to rural Ohio after a case involving a missing teenager ended horribly. In the first book, working as a sheriff’s deputy in a Trump-loving county, Runyon was involved in another missing teen case that ended horribly. His uncovering of the killer didn’t sit well with many of the locals.

This new mystery find Ed reinventing himself as a private eye who specializes in missing children cases. He’s dealing with his often severe PTSD over the cases mentioned above plus his uncertain love life plus the scarce need for his services in his rural community.He’s getting by on background checks and divorce work.

Here’s the dust jacket come-on:

A PI goes hunting for a missing boy—and ends up being prey

Ed Runyon, a former sheriff's deputy haunted by past missing child cases that went horribly wrong, is struggling to launch a PI agency and still live in the Ohio farm country he loves. His love life is in shambles, too, as his partner turns to someone else. His best friend got roughed up by a rogue cop, so Ed is in a fighting mood.

Ed finds a new focus when he is hired to find a runaway chess aficionado who is keeping secrets from his homophobic, religious parents. Finding kids is the reason he became a PI, so Ed is determined to succeed and put the demons and other problems behind him. But Jimmy Zachman made a bad move and ran into far more trouble than he was already in, and the hunt for him leads Ed to a deadly and desperate confrontation. Everything comes down to determination and one very risky move. Ed must find Jimmy at all costs.

Ed Runyon is a troubled hero, though his dwelling on his failures keeps him from seeing himself as a good man who’s very good at his job. Most of his former sheriff’s colleagues dislike him, but he’s got some good friends who help and support him.

The missing boy’s father is a piece of work, but, though his views rankle Ed, the only important thing for the detective is that there is a missing kid in probable jeopardy. The procedural parts of his investigation are solid and presented in a clear and entertaining fashion. What’s even more entertaining and exciting is watching Ed switch gears to handle the obstacles and twists that make his job more difficult and much more dangerous.

I enjoyed City Problems, the first Runyon novel. This second one is considerably better. As soon as I finished reading, I went online to see if a third was in the works. In the author’s own words from his Facebook page:

I just turned in my last-chance proofreading notes for my upcoming detective novel GO FIND DADDY, the third novel in my Ed Runyon series. I think this is my best book yet, which is good, because you always want to keep getting better.

In this book, a woman hires Ed to find her husband, who has gone on the run and off the grid after being accused of killing a cop. Everyone wants to find this guy — cops, bounty hunters, reward seekers. Why does Amy Blackmon hire Ed? Because her little girl is dying, and her husband doesn’t know.
 
Of course, Ed finds a whole lot of trouble as he tries to track down Donny Blackmon, because that is just how Ed’s luck runs.

I can’t wait for this one to hit the shelves. Look for it in July!

Goble is an interesting fellow. According to the Oceanview website, he’s a lifelong Ohio resident and a former journalist. He works for a digital investigations firm. At present, he lives in rural Ohio with his family and their two dogs.

He also has a blog, of which he writes:

Other things you might see me write about here include: beer, Godzilla, politics, James Bond, comic books, movies, music, zen, science, pop culture and just plain weird stuff. Most of the time, I’ll try to relate these topics to the writer’s craft — but every once in while I’m just going to go off on a rant of some kind.

Getting back to my review...

Wayward Son is a page-turner with a satisfying ending that could’ve unfolded in several different ways. I can usually see these coming.I couldn’t this time.

For all the reasons given above, I recommend Wayward Son to those of you who love this kind of mystery. There are several excellent mystery series set in my native Ohio. Goble and this book does them all honor.

ISBN 978-1-60809-445-5

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

 
© 2023 Tony Isabella