The Wine Broker (The Richard O'Brien Series Book 3) by Ian Rodney Lazarus; Vintage Third Volume Has a Dry But Crisp Taste of Suspense, High Stakes, and Murder

 The Wine Broker (The Richard O'Brien Series Book 3) by Ian Rodney Lazarus; Vintage Third Volume Has a Dry But Crisp Taste of Suspense, High Stakes, and Murder

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Richard O’Brien Series has a talent for beginning as one thing and turning into something else. Con and Consequence begins with an internet scam that eventually involves international terrorism. In Cease to Exist a lab theft leads FBI Special Agent Richard O’Brien to a mystery that includes genetic engineering and government conspiracies. Now in this third go round, The Wine Broker, Ian Rodney Lazarus begins this case with a bottle of stolen wine.

O’Brien investigates a burglary in the home of Alexander Sisky, a Russian diplomat. While observing the place, O’Brien notices that Sisky’s wine collection had been tampered with like someone took a bottle or left one behind. That and a threatening note regarding one of the bottles leads O’Brien to study the wine smuggling market. This seemingly innocuous crime spirals into larger ones involving organized crime particularly the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Jack Tanaka, the Yakuza’s latest recruit ascends higher into the criminal organization going from deliveries and smuggling to mutilation and murder.

The setup for The Wine Broker is nowhere near as compelling as the previous books in the series and falters a bit here and there. Because of that it is the weakest one in the series. How many people would be interested in reading about wine theft after all?

However, there is a lot of interesting information about the wine industry and the illegal activity that is involved. Much of the insider information includes ocean fermentation, intentional mislabeling and vintaging, sneaking contraband into cases and bottles, and using the seemingly victimless crime of wine smuggling to hide greater crimes. The greater crimes are where the Yakuza come in.

Volume 3 has a lot to offer in terms of plot and character to make it a worthwhile entry. O’Brien is up to his usual tricks particularly in his relationships with women. He has an affair with a wine connoisseur who offers more perspectives than just vino expertise. He reunites with his former colleague and lover, Sarah Goodman and it becomes clear that even though Goodman is married to someone else, she and O’Brien aren't quite over one another.

As with previous volumes in the series, we get another fascinating antagonist. This book's answer to Con and Consequence’s Jelani and The Professor and Cease to Exist’s Emma Lee and Dennis Spence is Jack “Tobacco” Tanaka. He has one of the most unique introductions. He does a stand up act at a comedy club and bombs tremendously.  

This shows him as a man with a lot of nerve and plenty of bravado but not a lot of sense. Tanaka is someone who wants to be noticed, wants to be wealthy, and wants to be the center of the room but is uncertain and naive about how to pursue it. He jumps into situations without any forethought over how it should go. He holds for the applause but doesn't bother with fine tuning the material to make it worth paying attention to.

Because Tanaka is in over his head with the Yakuza, many of the suspenseful and graphic scenes are seen by him. One of the early chapters shows Tanaka going through a painful induction ceremony that involves mutilation. It is a moment that makes the Reader cringe with empathetic while also yelling, “Get out while you still can, Idiot!”

Crime becomes an addiction for Tanaka. As he ascends higher, he becomes enamored with the money, glamor, fear from victims, and the reckless daring of committing crimes and getting away with it. It's quite easy to become hooked and Tanaka sacrifices everything about his former life, including his personal identity, to get his fix.

The Wine Broker has a dry, crisp taste of a psychological thriller and a hard boiled detective noir. Readers can feel the distinct aroma of suspense, high stakes, and violence in a dangerous world of criminal organizations hiding under a veneer of sophistication, wealth, glamor, and status. Overall, it has a long clean but not always pleasant finish.