The Wayside Readers is a small support group of friends who act as my betas. One of my friends, Jerry, leads the group and offered to read my manuscript and provide feedback. Not long after, some of them came together to discuss my first book. Here is the condensed version of what they had to say:

Jerry: I had the honor of working with Jon when he first wrote The Samogon Affair, which I find falling somewhere between a Stuart Woods novel and Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves.

Kelly: It’s definitely not a cozy. But it does touch on several categories, one of them being thriller-romantic, which is similar to romance suspense. Instead of a romance style plotline, it follows the crime-thriller plotline where the heroine is always in peril and must be rescued by her lovers at much risk to themselves.

Amy: You could even lump it under new adult since Rochelle is a coed at Ohio State.

Jerry: Yeah, maybe. The story reveals how someone can involve themselves in crime with the best intentions to … what? … champion a noble cause. And if you’re not careful, greed will corrupt you.

Kelly: Works for me. The setting takes place in two locales: Ashland, Kentucky on the Donovan family farm, and in Columbus, Ohio while Rochelle attends OSU.

Chad: You’re forgetting Mexico.

Kelly: And yes, Mexico. But Mexico is part of the subplot and other characters.

Lynn: I like how Jon shifts the story from the farm in Kentucky to the campus of OSU and out onto the streets of Columbus, then into a courthouse, while other characters bounce around in Mexico, and not disrupt the flow of the story.

Jerry: The four main characters are Rochelle Donovan, your protagonist who has just graduated high school; Chris Porter, who works for Rochelle’s father; and Mikel Rimsky, an antagonist and Russian exchange student who went to high school with Rochelle and whose family is Russian mob. Both Chris and Mikel are Rochelle’s lovers. The fourth character is Damon Ochoa, another antagonist and son of a cartel boss, who is attending Ohio State under the protection of the Rimsky crime family.

Chad: Let me jump in for a second. There are three more vital characters to this story who keep our main characters in conflict and who keep the suspense building. FBI Special Agent Kyle Sommers, who is investigating the Russian mob; DEA Special Agent Kelly Reed, who is warring against the Ochoa cartel; and ATF Special Agent Laurent Daniels, who has been trying to catch Rochelle’s father for several years.

Jerry: Okay, so who’s your favorite character?

Chad: You already know. I’m digging Kelly Reed. She’s more what I typically read. She’s a tough gal you don’t want to mess with. [spoiler omission…]

Amy: I like Rochelle. She’s a romantic tease with Chris, and down and dirty with Mikel. She is smart and successful, and just when I think I know her, she pulls something I didn’t see coming.

Jerry: The storyline is inspired by an actual FBI samogon caper. I remember Jon having me google it, and I was surprised to see McCormick’s Distillery was a part of it. That made me want to read Samogon even more.

Rochelle’s dad is a bootlegger and he dies early in the story. His death is what sets everything in motion for Rochelle. She wants to save her family from the financial hardships her father’s death left them in, and that leads her to making the life-altering decision to take up her father’s criminal operation with Chris. And that leads to Rochelle’s further involvement with Mikel and his family.

Kelly: And that is what pits Chris against Mikel, giving us a lovers triangle. More conflict.

Jerry: Rochelle quickly finds out what a life of crime really means when she witnesses a couple of murders, and is targeted by Hispanic street gangs, all while trying to dodge the law.

Kelly: Falling in love with easy money is Rochelle’s biggest problem, and it plays a major part in which boyfriend she is going to choose.

Jerry: Jon wrote The Samogon Affair with a third-person, omniscient narrative and several points of views. With all the subplots and characters, I feel this was his only way to go.

So, what did you guys think of the story?

Amy: I was hooked. I had no choice but to finish the book because I had to know what happened to Rochelle. I thought it was a quick read. The courtroom scenes were cool. Real-TV like. I give it four stars.

Chad: He tells a fascinating story that combines Kentucky bootlegging with Mexican drug smuggling, the Russian mob, street gangs, police procedure, new adult interracial romance, and sends it all off to college. Fantastic. A unique story. The middle of the book had a lot of fast action that kept me glued to the pages. Five stars. Your boy may be writing fiction, but he tells it straight. The epilogue was a nice way to end it.

Kelly: Even though I typically read cozies, I thought Jonathon had an interesting style of writing, which kept me locked in and the book rolling fast. All the characters are lifelike, and the scenes are descriptive enough without over doing it. I have no problem giving it four stars.

Lynn: The prologue drew me in and left me dangling for more. The characters and dialog were witty, and the suspense was good. As the story went along, the characters became all action. Everybody wanted a piece of somebody. I’d give it a four.

Jerry: For those reading this post, I’m going to recap what my friends and I have been talking about.

The Samogon Affair is an engaging debut novel by Kansas City author, Jonathon Marcel. It’s inspired by the actual federal investigation that snagged a Missouri distillery and several others. The main story is Rochelle Donovan trying to save her family from being put in the poor house while still going to college. But there are two or three other stories being told to help create conflict and keep the story going. Midway through the book, everything starts coming together as the action boils over to keep Rochelle in constant conflict. The story then makes a nice transition into a courtroom drama that is as good as a John Grisham novel or episode of Law and Order. All the characters are sketched out nicely and they play well with one another. I strongly recommend this book. You won’t forget it. Five Stars.

Chris, James, Ryan and Tricia: Four stars.

Mary: Three stars. Sorry. I did like his cover design.