Blood of the Vine by Hunter Spicer

Reviewed by Jaylynn Korrell

A heart-wrenching story of betrayal, survival, and how far humans are willing to go to achieve success

The tech world has arrived in new and exciting ways, but that’s not how the main characters in Blood of the Vine see things. 

A tech billionaire is the one behind a manhunt for Maria Garcia, and he is playing an active role in the demise of Bel McMaster’s beloved vineyard. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In this action-packed debut, Spicer delivers romance, suspense, crime, immigration, and so much more.

Blood of the Vine has one of the most captivating opening chapters I’ve read in a long time. It starts with a Guatemalan man named Carlos—who was recently captured by ICE trying to cross the border—as he makes his way to a new job opportunity. With a very important message to tell his wife, he enters the Kavali building with hopes of working and seeing his wife for the first time in three years. But things don’t go as planned. I honestly don’t want to spoil this part for you but just know that what happens here is so mysterious and surprising that it you’ll have no choice but be compelled to continue. 

The book picks up with Bel, a vineyard owner and wine maker in northern California, as he’s faced with the potential closing of his business. Marital problems are lurking, his son was just killed, and the climate is not on his side when it comes to his vineyard. Not much is going his way, until he meets a maid from an inn nearby. Maria, an immigrant woman fighting hard to keep her young son safe and her identity under wraps, is also Carlos’s wife. Their paths cross at random, but they end up having a lot more in common than they thought.

It’s quite a feat that Spicer can make a romance between two people who are married to other people seem so romantic, but that’s exactly what he’s accomplished here. There is an obvious magnetic pull between them, and I found myself uncharacteristically rooting for them to get together. Both of their lives seem so hard. We’re cheering for them to find a soft spot in life, if not with each other than at least in another way.

Newfound romance isn’t the only big thing happening though. Diablo winds are ruining the crops, Bel and his daughter Nadine are trying to uncover a few sketchy details about his son’s murder, and a Guatemalan gangster could be after Maria. Spicer weaves a masterful web of curious happenings that leave readers begging for more. 

Despite so much going on, there aren’t any portions of the book that are lagging. The smaller plot points are just as interesting as the big ones. Nadine, for example, plays a minor role, but she ends up being one of the best characters in the book. While her father is hyper-focused on saving his vineyard and his family’s name, Nadine is all in on trying to figure out why her brother was shot and what role Micheal Mohan Mallick played in it all. Her tech expertise and bravery make her stand out in a book filled with standouts. 

Spicer’s most gripping plot-line in Blood of the Vine is that of the mysterious Kavali tower, a building owned by one of the richest men in the world. When we’re introduced to the building, Carlos is entering it with a bunch of other immigrants, and intrigue drips from the seams as a stranger pulls him aside.  

As more of this story unfolds, we find out that Micheal Mohan Mallick, the billionaire and owner of the Kavali building, is up to some pretty shady stuff. But he is also growing the most amazing, humongous vertical gardens that might be able to end world hunger. Bel and his daughter know that something fishy is going on in there, but what it ultimately ends up being is something I never would have guessed. My only gripe with this book is that it didn’t give us more of a look inside. Spicer paints such an emotional picture of the lives of immigrants in his book, and knowing that so many are being sent there and not leaving made me want to read a lot more about it.

Blood of the Vine is an inventive debut that’ll mesmerize anyone who picks it up. 

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