The Vintage Club
By Darin Gibby
ISBN# 9781938467653
Author’s Website: http://www.DarinGibby.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Synopsis:
Can wine really make you live forever? Yes, if the grapes are an ancient varietal—or so the members of the Vintage Club believe. Made up of some of the world’s wealthiest industrial magnates, the club conducts secret scientific research to discover what has eluded humans throughout history: the elixir of life.
Their quest hits a snag when scientist Walter Trudell is murdered. The prime murder suspect is his godson Reggie Alexander, a patent attorney whom Trudell once saved from a life of poverty in northeast Washington, D.C. As soon as news of the murder spreads, Reggie goes into hiding—soon after his wife and son disappear.
After being chased by mysterious assailants, beaten unconscious, and planted with a bug, Reggie must come to grips with his own private demons while figuring out how to save his family. The Vintage Club is a thriller that both explores the ancient Christian symbolism of wine and imagines ways that modern nanotechnology could be used to discover the fountain of youth.
Review:
It was an interesting book, though difficult to get into in the beginning (probably due to a lot going on in this book and the story vacillating between the vintage club member’s (a club of 12 of the richest men in the world) story and Reggie’s story in the beginning and thus a bit difficult to focus. Once I got past the initial hump….and as a result of the writing being so good and the story/mystery became intriguing, I did not want to put the book down and was swept away.
As stated in the book …
“The goal of the Vintage Club was to find a new wine that would reverse the aging process by chemically transforming a person’s blood into the sort of the blood that ran through Adam before his fall.”
Rather a bold goal for this club. The journey the club members take is thought provoking and bold, as the reader will see.
Similar to other stories (for example: the Da Vince Code) The Vintage Club explores both the literal and figurative meanings of many scripture and historical bits of information related to the life and death of Christ, and in particular the idea of eternal life. With these religious tie-ins included, it can make it difficult for a reader to follow, especially if at least a small base of religious knowledge is not present.
As a mystery/thriller, the author did a delightful job. I enjoyed following Reggie’s journey. The whodunit was not revealed until the end (of course), but I was kept guessing until the end….not the person I thought it was. And is that not what one wants from a mystery?
The story was wrapped up well, though it certainly left little “bits” of unanswered questions so that maybe another book is on the way?
