Fans of Dan Brown & National Treasure! Check this out!                 February 24, 2014

                    Reggie Alexander is just another man trying to get by. His daily activities including his work at the patent office, dinner with his wonderful wife and son, coaching his son’s basketball team, and planning his path to becoming a patent attorney. But when his godfather, and savior, is found dead, Reggie’s world spins out of control once again as he becomes the prime suspect and begins to discover that Walter’s death may have been part of something much bigger. The Vintage Club by Darin Gibby was a great read from the very start. It begins not in the present, but far in the past, in the days where living a long life meant centuries. Since I was expecting a story taking place in the present time, I was automatically draw into the story to figure out how this would relate back to the story I thought I was reading. What I discovered is that this introduction was just one example of how author Gibby delves deep into the past to tell us about the characters, the events of the story, and even the settings of the story. I was amazed at how much detail we were given, especially about the few main characters. At every turn we were learning how these people became who they are and ended up doing what they were doing. He used multiple points of view to tell the story, which only increased my interest and made it easier to learn more and more about each character’s backstory. While this book was classified as “Fiction – General” on the cover, I would rather describe it with words like mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense. As a fan of Dan Brown, I was excited to see how Gibby seemed to follow a similar model in the Vintage Club. In fact, it fits in well with works by Dan Brown, Brad Meltzer, and even the National Treasure movies: all of them include religion, knowledge lost over centuries, the quest for an item or truth, and plenty of secret societies and conspiracy theories.  However, Gibby’s focus on wine and wine-making added another level that wasn’t present in similar stories I’ve read. With any book this action- and adventure-packed, you know that the climax will completely blow your mind. And I will gladly admit it did, though I was a bit confused. While the story had plenty of plot twists and sudden changes, it seemed like they were too concentrated at the end of the book. I was fine reading up to the most intense part, but the moment I turned the page I was completely lost as to how certain things had happened. I continually felt like I had missed something, but couldn’t ever find it. Luckily, the confusion was over some minute details, but this brings me to another point about the story: the reader needs to read deeper and use what Gibby’s told us previously in order to fully understand the dialogue and events. I felt like this book was highly intellectual, and appreciated that a lot of the focus was on science and religion. As a religious person who also has a passion for science, I understand that there must be a balance between the two. Gibby has mastered the art of mixing science and religion into a story that will not offend those who are religious and will still make it believable for those whose faith lies in the sciences. I was very impressed. This book is definitely worthy of five stars, 10 out of 10, or two thumbs up. It kept me hooked from beginning to end. Gibby was even able to conclude the story in a way that both wraps up the story but also leaves you guessing if more could come. I would recommend this to anyone who likes adventure/action/mystery/crime novels, especially fans of Dan Brown. Truthfully, this is a story that I believe anyone would like.