Customer Reviews

Grand Cru

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is surely the be-all and end-all of wine thrillers. A clown-and-demon bunch of international plotters try to take over a fine, small American vineyard. Their efforts explode with murder, mayhem, sea and highway chase scenes, and yes, there's also high and low comedy and a quality cabernet romance. Tucked in are fascinating and obscure goblets of information on wine-selling, wine-tasting and wine-adulterating. I'd sooner put aside a glass of some grand cru than "Grand Cru." If this isn't a bestseller, there's no literary justice left.

Barney Leason knows his California wine country as well as Elmore Leonard knows the underside of Florida. "Grand Cru" is as smooth as a fine California Pinot Noir, a fast-paced comic thriller that occasionally erupts into outrageous farce, a Leason specialty. Laugh-out-loud funny in places, warm-hearted, consistently readable, just the book to have handy in your carry-on bag for a long flight to the West Coast.

The descriptions of Wine Country were interesting, and I did WANT to like the book........but frankly, it was less-than-riveting and the characters were more like the Three Stooges, especially the WAY over-the-top Nurse Astrid. I much prefer the tongue-in-cheek, subtle humor of Robert B. Parker or Lawrence Sanders' Archie McNally character. Had it not been for Wine Country descriptions, I don't think I would have finished the book!