The provided text is an extended excerpt from a novel, "Moondogs," by Alexander Yates, as evidenced by the chapter titles and the "About the Author" section. It primarily focuses on multiple interwoven storylines concerning characters in the Philippines, with a significant plot thread involving the kidnapping and subsequent death of Howard Bridgewater, whose estranged son, Benicio, arrives in Manila to find him. Another key narrative follows Monique Thomas, an American expat with a troubled marriage to Joseph, who has an affair with Reynato Ocampo, a local political figure and head of an "elite task force" investigating the kidnapping. The text also details the lives of a younger man named Efrem who possesses unusual observational and potentially mystical abilities, and the criminal exploits of the hapless kidnappers, Ignacio and Littleboy, which are intertwined with the political machinations of figures like Reynato, Charlie Fuentes, and their associate Bobby Dancer. The narrative explores themes of family
