Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage

Conway Sax #4

by Steve Ulfelder

Conway Sax is back in a thrilling and heartrending new novel from critically acclaimed, Edgar-nominated author Steve Ulfelder


Conway Sax is a man on a mission—this time in Los Angeles, where he uses his race-driving experience in a desperate bid to rescue Kenny Spoon, a washed-up TV star who’s been kidnapped. It’s a favor for Kenny’s mother Eudora, Conway’s dear friend and a fellow member of the Barnburners, his tight-knit maverick AA group.


After hauling Kenny back to Massachusetts, Conway finds himself caught between Eudora and her two Kenny, and Harmon, a cop who resents his talented, troubled half-brother. Each member of the Spoon family distrusts and even despises the others, it seems… and each has a past full of dark secrets that may explain why.


While Conway tries to learn why Kenny was kidnapped and protect him from further harm, a shocking murder devastates this complex, all-too-human family. Conway vows to find the killer and avenge the death, but each clue only points to more suspects.


Things get even more complicated when Conway, separated from his girlfriend Charlene, begins a passionate affair that can’t help but cloud his judgment. The more secrets he uncovers, the more danger he’s in as this masterfully written page-turner builds to a wrenching confrontation.
"Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage is tough and full of heart, just like its hero, Conway Sax. It’s fast-paced, hard-edged, and so authentic that you can almost feel the grit beneath your fingernails." —Meg Gardiner, New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow Tracer

Genres: Mystery

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

A former journalist, Steve Ulfelder is now co-owner of Flatout Motorsports, a company that builds and services race cars, and an amateur race driver. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and lives in Massachusetts with his family.

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Reviews

[Max Everhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fourth book in the Conway Sax series, Wolverine Bros. starts off with Sax going to L.A. to track down Kenny Spoon, the has-been TV star son of Eudora Spoon, a wealthy ex-alcoholic and close friend of Sax. Dying of cancer, Eudora wants to reconnect with her youngest son, and Sax, a part-time mechanic and full-time problem-solver, agrees, no questions asked. Only this time, he probably should have asked some questions. Once in Los Angeles, Sax, with the help of an ex-cop friend named McCord, discovers that Kenny Spoon is being held hostage by a tough-as-nails Brazilian gang. Resourceful as ever, Sax manages to extract Kenny from the situation and fly him back to Massachusetts to see Eudora. . .but then the very next day she is shot and killed. Questions abound as to the motivation for the killing. Was she murdered by the Brazilian gang as payback for taking Kenny Spoon? Or was it someone after her considerable land holdings, land where a casino could be built someday? Whoever is responsible, Sax makes a solemn vow:

“No gray. . .Not this time. Everybody pays.”

Like the other installments of this series, the plot in Wolverine Bros. is engaging, fast-paced, and action-packed. I was particularly impressed with the monologue-type feel to Sax’s narration, the way you can actually hear the narrator’s distinct voice as you read, almost as if Conway was sitting in your living room, iced tea in hand, telling you a wild story. Another impressive aspect: the clipped prose and short paragraphs, both of which keep the story move, move, moving, and give the narration a sense of immediacy and urgency. But what I really think is genius about these books is the well-rounded (and constantly-evolving) protagonist Conway Sax. As a reader, I can easily identify with Sax, for he is practically everything good fathers attempt to teach their sons: he is tough, honest, reliable, capable, and persistent. And those qualities are sorely missing in people in general and men in particular these days. In my book, that makes Conway Sax a bonafide hero, a flawed yet honorable man who knows the difference between legal and moral, between right and wrong, AND has the guts to do more than just talk. But if you require more evidence that this is a truly dynamic character, here’s a quick quote from page 77 of Wolverine Bros.

“It struck me once while watching the National Geographic Channel. . .that I was a certain kind of pilot fish. . .They’re parasites–they swim alongside sharks, waiting for a kill, surviving on fallen morsels. . .I don’t wait for a kill and snap up morsels. I ease the need. . . I find need. I attach myself, swim alongside. . .It’s the attaching that bothers me. What would I be, I sometimes wonder, what would I do if I was purely on my own?”

This is but a small sample of what makes Conway Sax the most realistic and most compelling of PIs out there today, what makes him the natural successor to tough-but-moral private eyes like Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer. Any serious fan of the PI/hard-boiled genre should be reading Ulfelder’s books. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you haven't read anything by Steve Ulfelder , think Dennis Lehane and Tim Dorsey. Conway Sax belongs to a tough group version of Alcoholic Anonymous called the Barnburners....and he has successfully kicked his habits. But he is loyal to the group....enough so that he will almost do any favor for the group's members.
Eudora Spoon a wealthy resident of Bryar , Massachusetts where Conway lives asks him to do a big favor..She wants him to go to Hollywood and retrieve her son, Kenny Spoon. Spoon is a one shot movie star that has lost it all , including his senses. Conway must find a way to get to Kenny and rescue him from a bunch of lowlifes who are holding him captive in not such a good section of L.A.
Conway successfully accomplishes rescuing Kenny with the assistance of a long time buddy named McCord but this is not the end. It appears Endora is mixed in something far worse because the lowlifes from the West Coast are now in Massachusetts and they aim to get even for Conways's rescue of Kenny and something more that probably involves Endora. Someone is shooting at them. Conway can't save Endora but he is determined to get even.
Ulfeldrer's offbeat adventures make for a fast and interesting read

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Conway Sax novels are picture perfect taut mysteries with nothing wasted. Sax is a tough ex race car driver, who is not afraid to get his hands dirty or to go against the criminal element to help friends. Sax is a member of the Barnstormers, a group of AA extremists who helped Sax over a rough patch. Eudora Spoon, his sponsor, has asked Sax to rescue her youngest son, Kenny Spoon, her drug addict ex actor son who has been kidnapped by a California gang.

Sax rescues Kenny, with some skillful driving and brute force and brings him home to Eudora, where he is re-united with his mother and half brother, a former college football star, turned cop in the local department. But before Sax can even find out why Kenny was kidnapped, Sax witnesses a brutal murder on Spoon land. Sax chases the killers from the scene and realizes that the California gang provided the killer. Sax vows vengeance, but first has to figure out why Kenny was kidnapped and why is a California gang involved back east. Its a tangled tale of money and greed.

The investigation leads to the vengeful wife of dead mafioso kingpin - who now controls the gang, a rail thin bookie and a land play aimed at building a casino. But who stood to gain the most from this murder?

Ulfelder keeps the tempo high, the action intense and hits all the high notes. One killer is expected, but the other is not. He reveals one adversary early on, but the other planner and killer will take some hard hitting investigating to discover and Sax will have to outwit and escape some nasty situations in order to catch the hidden assailant.

Its a fine mystery.

[Hallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans of hunky protagonists and testosterone-driven action, Steve Ulfelder’s Conway Sax novels are just the ticket. The fourth in the series, “Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage,” finds the former NASCAR driver and recovering alcoholic charging into danger, so heedless of his own safety that, as one of the villains points out to him, he seems “braver than . . . smart.”

But it turns out he’s both brave and smart, even if he is driven by a blind compulsion to help people who’ve helped him. When an elderly woman who was his sponsor in AA asks him to find her missing son, Sax springs into action. After she’s murdered, he becomes her avenging angel. His mantra: “Everybody pays.”

Violence and action-packed car chases (readers learn the fine art of “bump-drafting,’’ a “fancy term in NASCAR for nailing a guy’s rear bumper with your front”) are leavened by snappy dialogue and tongue-in-cheek humor delivered by a thoroughly likable, if somewhat out-of-control guy. In the final pages, Conway swings back and forth from victory to defeat and back again. When the smoke finally clears, readers will see parallels to “The Maltese Falcon’’ in this story of a macho guy who must choose between love and loyalty.

Review first published in The Boston Globe

[T.D. Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conway Sax is a complex character, and this book shows him at his brutal best.

When his friend and fellow barnburner, Eudora Spoon, asks Conway Sax to go to California and rescue her son, he can't say no. The book opens with a scene worthy of Richard Stark's Parker series--and includes Sax hefting a buck-naked Kenny over his shoulder and walking out of a gang hideout.

This is the fourth book in the series, and in my opinion, the most straightforward, enjoyable read. The first, Purgatory Chasm, was a heartbreaker. But I like Sax better now that he's come to terms with his core failures as a human. He sucks at relationships, but he's great at breaking heads.

As with his previous books, this author's writing has a throwback feel reminiscent of the best Noir writers of the fifties and sixties. This character is old school; a retired race car driver and recovering alcoholic with a destructive streak.

I dare you to read the first page and stop. If you're like me, you'll look up four hours later and wonder what happened to your afternoon.

Cheers...and Happy Reading!

T.D. Hart

[Pamela Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Ulfelder continues to write a fabulous mystery with his very different (and complex) character Conway Sax. This book is just as good (or perhaps even better) than the previous Conway Sax books.

Don't miss this fabulous mystery series!

Read the whole review at: Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage: A Conway Sax Mystery

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conway Sax is on another mission for a Barnburners AA Group and friend Eudora Spoon to find her son Kenny in LA and bring him back to reconcile differences before she dies..What Conway finds is a conspiracy by her other son Harmon and a gang member form LA to take her land to build a casino..Fantastic read with lots of action,and a great finish and good characters..

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"Everybody pays."
Conway Sachs, one time mechanic and ex-NASCAR driver, was also a recovering alcoholic. He'd been in AA for years, the fiercely protective and radical version, which is where he'd met Eudora, elderly perhaps, but more feisty than most women half her age. She'd eventually become his friend, and then sponsor, defying the convention of male for male and female for female. So, when dying from cancer, she asks Sachs to find and bring back her now disreputable ex-Hollywood star son before she dies, of course he agrees. Even though it means rescuing him from a kidnap situation where Kenny (with the same startling blue purple eyes as his mother) is being held, naked, in an old jack-off parlour by a dangerous low life gang. And, as added bonus for Eudora, Sachs gets Kenny mostly clean for the return to his mother. Hours later she is dead but not by the cancer. And Sachs is determined to find out why.

Steve Ulfelder has written a thrill filled novel with plenty of action. But it is the characterisation which makes this book so good. There is a feeling of real people walking, or more likely runnibg, through these pages albeit it in unconventional circumstances. Told in the first person from Conway Sach's perspective, there are numerous little throw away comments which further enhance the reality, from the coats worn by two greyhounds to keep their almost hairless bodies warm in the snow, to the absent minded mental ramblings to postpone doing something of which he's fearful but knows has to be done. And the many times when he 'said nothing.'
All is further enhanced by the excellent performance of Josh Brogadir, who impeccably follows the text in emotional response, all the while reading clearly with good intonation and voicing the different characters with distinctive differences. Some are really quite funny. And that is another aspect to the book: although at times violent and unremitting, there's humour here, too, to lighten the read.

My deep thanks to the rights holder of Wolverine Brothers who, at my request, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom. Not having read any of this author's works before, I was very pleasantly surprised and will now certainly look out for more by him in the future.
A good pairing of book and narrator, and definitely recommended.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"Everybody pays."
Conway Sachs, one time mechanic and ex-NASCAR driver, was also a recovering alcoholic. He'd been in AA for years, the fiercely protective and radical version, which is where he'd met Eudora, elderly perhaps, but more feisty than most women half her age. She'd eventually become his friend, and then sponsor, defying the convention of male for male and female for female. So, when dying from cancer, she asks Sachs to find and bring back her now disreputable ex-Hollywood star son before she dies, of course he agrees. Even though it means rescuing him from a kidnap situation where Kenny (with the same startling blue purple eyes as his mother) is being held, naked, in an old jack-off parlour by a dangerous low life gang. And, as added bonus for Eudora, Sachs gets Kenny mostly clean for the return to his mother. Hours later she is dead but not by the cancer. And Sachs is determined to find out why.

Steve Ulfelder has written a thrill filled novel with plenty of action. But it is the characterisation which makes this book so good. There is a feeling of real people walking, or more likely runnibg, through these pages albeit it in unconventional circumstances. Told in the first person from Conway Sach's perspective, there are numerous little throw away comments which further enhance the reality, from the coats worn by two greyhounds to keep their almost hairless bodies warm in the snow, to the absent minded mental ramblings to postpone doing something of which he's fearful but knows has to be done. And the many times when he 'said nothing.'
All is further enhanced by the excellent performance of Josh Brogadir, who impeccably follows the text in emotional response, all the while reading clearly with good intonation and voicing the different characters with distinctive differences. Some are really quite funny. And that is another aspect to the book: although at times violent and unremitting, there's humour here, too, to lighten the read.

My deep thanks to the rights holder of Wolverine Brothers who, at my request, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom. Not having read any of this author's works before, I was very pleasantly surprised and will now certainly look out for more by him in the future.
A good pairing of book and narrator, and definitely recommended

[Bikram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer.
I had requested and received audible version of this book for free from the narrator, in exchange for an unbiased review.

What I liked about the book -
At first, I wasn't too keen on requesting this book. The synopsis made it sound more like a family drama, than a thriller / detective story. But all the full five star reviews made me request it anyway. And I'm glad I did. This book turned out to be so much more than what I had expected. The story is very interesting and even heart touching. The characters are extremely well written and "real". The tension between the family members is all too familiar. The author manages to build on that and take us on a journey of yet more complicated human emotions and dark places. I enjoyed listening to it from start to finish.

What I disliked about the book -
Nothing specific that I can think of.

Narration -
Josh Brogadir did a very good job of narrating this book, bringing everything to life. It was an immersive experience.

[Charlie Newfell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is consistent with the other Conway Sax mysteries. A detective (who never admits to being a detective) on a mission to solve a murder of someone close to him (no spoilers).

He gets beaten up, concussed, broken bones and still dives into situations without much forethought. But he is like a timex - he keeps on ticking.

Quick, enjoyable light read.

[Phil Judd · Rating 2 out of 5]

nice writing but just a dull drawn out plot that never really grabbed me.

[Gosia]

DNF. The cover was the thing that interested me the most, so I borrowed it from my library, but I just couldn’t get into the story at all.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a little sad there are not more of these.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This latest mystery novel by Steve Ulfelder proves he's at the top of his game, and just getting better with each book in the Conway Sax series. The book starts on a high, dangerous note, and sustains the tension throughout. The title character Conway is asked to take on a tough job, and he winds up running afoul of a deadly gang. When the action gets personal, Conway shuts off the empathy circuits and goes rampaging for justice. Much good action ensues, to our delight.
This series is dark and full of pain for the characters, who struggle against their inner demons, and a host of outside influences. Not least of all is Conway, who can barely keep it together. We watch him suffer loss and try to cope with his life. No matter what's thrown at him, though, it's hard to get him to stay down.
Fast paced action, great characters, and full of New England lore in a spot that doesn't get as much showcasing as most of our pretty places.

[Chi Dubinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conway Sax is a mechanic, not a detective, but he manages to be the go-to guy whenever one of his AA buddies from the Barnburners needs a favor. This time his friend and sponsor Eudora wants her son, washed up tv star Kenny Spoon, rescued from a kidnapper. Conway heads to Los Angeles, frees Kenny from the clutches of Los Bajamaros, a Mexican gang, and brings him back to Massachusetts. Kenny’s half brother, Harmon, is a local cop whose athletic career ended with an injury, and who resents his brother’s success. While Conway attempts to discover why Kenny was kidnapped, a member of the family is murdered and he promises himself he will find the killer.
This is a dark and gritty book, like Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series or Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder books. One review called it “modern noir.”

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This rather improbable thriller has as its linchpin a dubious conceit: that a hardcore Alcoholics Anonymous group can inspire the hero to barge around the country, breaking laws at will and enforcing a personal code summed up in the phrase "Everybody pays."

I've been in AA for 15 years and been to all kinds of groups in several states, including rural Massachusetts (where much of this story is set). The description of the Barnburners group simply does not ring true. Nor does the idea that a nationwide network of these semi-underground groups exists.

I can handle the improbable, but "Wolverine Bros." is absurd.

[Lance Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setup for this mystery is nicely structured, with several potential suspects and several credible motives proffered for killing an elderly landowner. The plot as it plays out, however, tends to substitute solidly written action sequences to compensate for the relatively weak whodunit element. Still, an enjoyable and entertaining entry in this series. Read our full review, here: http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/myst...

[Don Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conway Sax reminds me a lot of my old favorite, Jack Reacher. Intellect supersedes brawn but there is an unquestionable physical presence to him. It took a while for this story to get rolling, but once it did, this was a hard book to put down. The number of twist and turns in the last quarter of the book are almost overwhelming, and the ending leaves some questions as well, but it was really a most enjoyable read.

[Scilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conway Sax is one of those invincible heroes who is almost dead and without a gun, and then can get up and win over his armed opponent, who is also hale and hearty. He begins by rescuing a man (the son of a friend) kidnapped by bandits, and goes on to overcome several bad guys while trying to give retribution for a murder. The story keeps moving, and ties together other, but has no sense of reality.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sax sets out for LA to find the drug addicted son of a friend from AA who is dying of cancer. The biggest problem, other than that the son had meteoric success early in life only to be cheated out of lots of money, which bodes poorly for his later success in life, especially given his mother's drug hx, but he was also held by Mexican drug gangs, who follow him eastward, and require Sax to do literally unbelievable feats to keep him safe. Some of Sax's side get murdered.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I say I couldn't put this book down, I mean I COULD NOT put this book down. Had me fooled until the last handful of chapters! As always, great action, plot, characters and local references to Central MA. Well done Steve Ulfelder!

[AnonymousReaderPerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting and unique story, but the author's choppy style of story-telling gets in the way of enjoying it. There were enough one-sentence or one-word paragraphs to make me dizzy. And while interesting, the plot definitely had a few "Yeah, right," moments.

[Harolyn Legg]

Conway Sax is hired by his friend (and fellow recovering alcoholic) Eudora to find her druggie son Kenny in Hollywood and bring him home. When he does, the real mystery begins - drugs, alcohol, greyhound dogs, casinos and betrayal are all involved in this murder mystery.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid Conway Sax outing. So happy to know this series!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book, but the ending leaves you hanging, literally. This is the beginning of the next book.

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Brian]

***

[Lynn]

didnt get to finish