Brut Force is the sequel to the wild and zany Corkscrew, which is one of the funniest books I have ever read and a rollicking ride through the international wine world. One of the first questions I asked Peter Stafford-Bow after reading Corkscrew was if he was going to write a sequel, because the world needed more of protagonist Felix Hart’s adventures. Felix was simply an unpredictable, lovable scoundrel with more lives than a room full of cats. You never knew what was coming, and sometimes found it hard to believe after it did happen.
Where Corkscrew was sort of a Pachinko game of life played out by Mr. Hart, Brut Force is more of a suspense novel. There are still the unpredictable turns in Felix’s journey, his many women and the unexpected altercations. There are just fewer of them. Through all of it a complex, well thought out and intriguing plot winds around the new characters and unfolds with some very clever twists. The expanded view into the Minstrels of Wine and their internal machinations is a welcome, central theme here. The Minstrels were one of my favorite constructs in the first book.
Where Corkscrew was simply crazy fun, Brut Force is more planned, but still has quite a bit of that zaniness as well.
This is a very entertaining novel and still full of surprises. If you are a wine aficionado you will appreciate the many references and the way Peter weaves wine into the story throughout.
If you read Corkscrew, don’t expect this to be just more of the same. You get some of that, along with more plot and storyline. Brut Force is still a very enjoyable read.
You can get it on Amazon, along with the first book.
A votre santé!
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