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Brut Force
Felix Hart is back, in the thrilling, wine-soaked sequel to Corkscrew.
Hart, a wine buyer at the top of his game, finds himself compromised by a ruthless, multi-national drinks corporation. Forced to participate in a high-profile, corrupt wine tasting, Hart is drawn into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse, pursued by blackmailers, assassins and organic wine fanatics.
The action moves from the Byzantine intrigue of the Minstrels of Wine to France’s most glamorous chateaux, Hart relying on his quick wits, fine palate and a touch of muscle to stay ahead of his enemies. But he meets his match in Lily Tremaine, a beautiful and passionate sommelier, who disrupts his easy, pleasure-seeking life and turns his world upside down.
Brut Force is the second Felix Hart novel and the sequel to Corkscrew, the 2018 People's Book Prize finalist.
Hart, a wine buyer at the top of his game, finds himself compromised by a ruthless, multi-national drinks corporation. Forced to participate in a high-profile, corrupt wine tasting, Hart is drawn into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse, pursued by blackmailers, assassins and organic wine fanatics.
The action moves from the Byzantine intrigue of the Minstrels of Wine to France’s most glamorous chateaux, Hart relying on his quick wits, fine palate and a touch of muscle to stay ahead of his enemies. But he meets his match in Lily Tremaine, a beautiful and passionate sommelier, who disrupts his easy, pleasure-seeking life and turns his world upside down.
Brut Force is the second Felix Hart novel and the sequel to Corkscrew, the 2018 People's Book Prize finalist.
278 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2018
6 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Peter Stafford-Bow
4 books20 followersPeter Stafford-Bow is a novelist and wine consultant, based in London. He is best known for his series of award-winning satires set in the world of wine and big business, featuring Felix Hart, a cheerfully amoral drinks executive. Stafford-Bow is a noted public speaker, wine educator and a regular on the literary festival circuit.
A self-taught imbiber, Stafford-Bow dropped out of university to pursue a career in alcohol. After several years working for a chain of wine merchants, he became a supermarket buyer, a role which sent him to every major wine-producing country in the world. After periods working in Asia and Africa, Stafford-Bow returned to the UK to pursue a literary career.
Stafford-Bow's debut novel, Corkscrew: the highly improbable, but occasionally true, tale of a professional wine buyer, is a picaresque, satirical tale drawing on the author's early years working as an international wine buyer for some of the world’s largest retailers. Corkscrew is a People's Book Prize finalist.
The sequel, Brut Force, released in 2018, is a thriller that finds Felix Hart caught between a blackmailing luxury goods corporation and a gang of organic wine fanatics. The third novel, Firing Blancs, was released in 2020, while his latest, Eastern Promise, was published in 2023.
Stafford-Bow's favourite authors include John le Carré, Hilary Mantel and George MacDonald Fraser. He lives in London with a wealthy heiress, a large wine collection and his pet ferrets, Brett and Corky.
A self-taught imbiber, Stafford-Bow dropped out of university to pursue a career in alcohol. After several years working for a chain of wine merchants, he became a supermarket buyer, a role which sent him to every major wine-producing country in the world. After periods working in Asia and Africa, Stafford-Bow returned to the UK to pursue a literary career.
Stafford-Bow's debut novel, Corkscrew: the highly improbable, but occasionally true, tale of a professional wine buyer, is a picaresque, satirical tale drawing on the author's early years working as an international wine buyer for some of the world’s largest retailers. Corkscrew is a People's Book Prize finalist.
The sequel, Brut Force, released in 2018, is a thriller that finds Felix Hart caught between a blackmailing luxury goods corporation and a gang of organic wine fanatics. The third novel, Firing Blancs, was released in 2020, while his latest, Eastern Promise, was published in 2023.
Stafford-Bow's favourite authors include John le Carré, Hilary Mantel and George MacDonald Fraser. He lives in London with a wealthy heiress, a large wine collection and his pet ferrets, Brett and Corky.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 7, 2021
Intemperance
Felix Hart returns with his swagger and sarcastic humour in Brut Force as he takes us on another adventure steeped in wine know-how. He is now lead wine buyer for the largest retail chain in the UK and member of the haloed Wine Minstrels.
Once again Felix has an egotistical, dispassionate and senseless boss. ‘The Doc’/‘The Dick’ (Steve Pendle) has just informed Felix that he needs to double an already extensive stock of Champagne as they head into the Millennium New Year. Felix knows how the demand will perform and this is foolish, but he is left with the choice: don’t buy and get sacked immediately, do buy and get sacked on 2nd January. Not only that but he needs to buy them from Paris-Blois and we learn from the first book they are a powerful global organisation that has some incriminating information held on Felix. As a consequence, they can manipulate and task him with projects they require doing – and not always legal. In this case, they want to ensure their wine is selected as the number one wine in a high-profile tasting event. The tasting event is double-blind and run by someone determined to keep the decision honest and above board. Paris-Blois can’t take the risk of losing and assign Felix, who is elected to the panel to influence the other panel members.
Felix also encounters the beautiful Lily Tremaine as she is undertaking the membership assessments and examinations to join the Wine Minstrels. She seems to have a different impact on Felix than his normal fast and loose approach. At a time when he needs his wits about him, his interests and attention are being drawn in many different directions and for many different reasons. There is a great balance in the writing to manage these plot threads and I felt all the elements are carefully and regularly developed.
The novel is a very enjoyable romp with lots of witty dialogue and crazy encounters. It’s not a book to be taken seriously, as many of the events are far-fetched but the entertainment value is super. It wasn’t as dynamic or funny as Corkscrew, and some of the exploits seemed toned down.
I would recommend this book and I would like to thank Peter Stafford-Bow for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.
Felix Hart returns with his swagger and sarcastic humour in Brut Force as he takes us on another adventure steeped in wine know-how. He is now lead wine buyer for the largest retail chain in the UK and member of the haloed Wine Minstrels.
Once again Felix has an egotistical, dispassionate and senseless boss. ‘The Doc’/‘The Dick’ (Steve Pendle) has just informed Felix that he needs to double an already extensive stock of Champagne as they head into the Millennium New Year. Felix knows how the demand will perform and this is foolish, but he is left with the choice: don’t buy and get sacked immediately, do buy and get sacked on 2nd January. Not only that but he needs to buy them from Paris-Blois and we learn from the first book they are a powerful global organisation that has some incriminating information held on Felix. As a consequence, they can manipulate and task him with projects they require doing – and not always legal. In this case, they want to ensure their wine is selected as the number one wine in a high-profile tasting event. The tasting event is double-blind and run by someone determined to keep the decision honest and above board. Paris-Blois can’t take the risk of losing and assign Felix, who is elected to the panel to influence the other panel members.
Felix also encounters the beautiful Lily Tremaine as she is undertaking the membership assessments and examinations to join the Wine Minstrels. She seems to have a different impact on Felix than his normal fast and loose approach. At a time when he needs his wits about him, his interests and attention are being drawn in many different directions and for many different reasons. There is a great balance in the writing to manage these plot threads and I felt all the elements are carefully and regularly developed.
The novel is a very enjoyable romp with lots of witty dialogue and crazy encounters. It’s not a book to be taken seriously, as many of the events are far-fetched but the entertainment value is super. It wasn’t as dynamic or funny as Corkscrew, and some of the exploits seemed toned down.
I would recommend this book and I would like to thank Peter Stafford-Bow for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.
May 6, 2020
I'm extremely pleased with this one! Even better than the first novel, I reckon. x
July 20, 2019
Excellent second instalment of our "heroes" exploits in the world of wine. Can't wait to see where he goes next.
November 25, 2018
I never thought I'd use the words 'hilarious hijinks' in a review, and at least in the original blog post, I still have not, but they do sum up this novel rather nicely. That's the thing in a nutshell. This is what I wrote on the blog:
One new title that has given me absolutely no reason at all for complaint is Peter Stafford-Bow’s latest novel, “Brut Force,” the sequel to Felix Hart’s adventures first set forth in “Corkscrew”. Young Felix Hart is now a few years older, but still living with an assortment of colorful characters in his Little Chalfont flat, still going strong at Gatesave as Head of Wine, and unfortunately for him, still entangled with wine & spirits leviathan, Paris-Blois. When two local wine aficionados decide to pit Old World and New World Pinot Noirs against each other in a double blind tasting, the reputation of Paris-Blois’ own market-dominating wine is at stake. Never a company to deal fairly when trickery can be employed, Felix’s old acquaintances, Pierre and Sandra resort to blackmail to get Felix into the contest as a judge whose job it is to ensure that Paris-Blois comes out on top. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan, whatever the plan of the moment may be, and Felix ends up being quite entangled in not one, but several conspiracies, working hard to escape unscathed while desperately trying to sort out who’s friend or foe.
I liked the first book. It was different and amusing, even though Felix, being a typical young man in many respects, occasionally made me want to slap him upside the head. Older Felix still loves his life, his job, and the ladies, but I find him far less irritating and far more entertaining. From page 1, I couldn’t help but break out into chuckles, which some of the people passing the breakroom at work may have found odd. Mr Stafford-Bow has found a wonderful balance of humor, pacing, and plot twists to make “Brut Force” even more engaging than “Corkscrew.” The very end of the book plants a suggestion that the novelist may not be done with Felix Hart just yet, and that is a promise I’m very much looking forward to seeing fulfilled! Another point I find refreshing is the loving care given to wine descriptions, as one would expect from an author who is intimately familiar with the industry. It’s fairly commonplace these days to find a writer indulging in lengthy descriptions of fine meals (see Donna Leon or Andrea Camilleri), so why not wine? Finally, this is really more of a technical issue, but one I found quite wonderful on a personal level: the editing is superb. Normally, I find misspellings, lost words, or grammar errors, even when I’m not looking for them (believe me, I don’t look, really!); “Brut Force” was fabulously free of any of those.
Do I have a niggle? Yes, a very tiny one. I would have preferred it had they left the subtitle “The further, staggering adventures of a professional wine buyer” off the cover. Sure, it’s punny, but it seems entirely unnecessary. Would that keep me from wholeheartedly recommending this book to you? Not at all! If you love wine, mad capers, or simply a fun read, get yourself a copy. It will lift your mood and erase frown lines from your face. I’ll drink to that!
“Brut Force” is published by Acorn Publishing. I received a free copy from the author in exchange for a review. All opinions are, as always, my own.
One new title that has given me absolutely no reason at all for complaint is Peter Stafford-Bow’s latest novel, “Brut Force,” the sequel to Felix Hart’s adventures first set forth in “Corkscrew”. Young Felix Hart is now a few years older, but still living with an assortment of colorful characters in his Little Chalfont flat, still going strong at Gatesave as Head of Wine, and unfortunately for him, still entangled with wine & spirits leviathan, Paris-Blois. When two local wine aficionados decide to pit Old World and New World Pinot Noirs against each other in a double blind tasting, the reputation of Paris-Blois’ own market-dominating wine is at stake. Never a company to deal fairly when trickery can be employed, Felix’s old acquaintances, Pierre and Sandra resort to blackmail to get Felix into the contest as a judge whose job it is to ensure that Paris-Blois comes out on top. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan, whatever the plan of the moment may be, and Felix ends up being quite entangled in not one, but several conspiracies, working hard to escape unscathed while desperately trying to sort out who’s friend or foe.
I liked the first book. It was different and amusing, even though Felix, being a typical young man in many respects, occasionally made me want to slap him upside the head. Older Felix still loves his life, his job, and the ladies, but I find him far less irritating and far more entertaining. From page 1, I couldn’t help but break out into chuckles, which some of the people passing the breakroom at work may have found odd. Mr Stafford-Bow has found a wonderful balance of humor, pacing, and plot twists to make “Brut Force” even more engaging than “Corkscrew.” The very end of the book plants a suggestion that the novelist may not be done with Felix Hart just yet, and that is a promise I’m very much looking forward to seeing fulfilled! Another point I find refreshing is the loving care given to wine descriptions, as one would expect from an author who is intimately familiar with the industry. It’s fairly commonplace these days to find a writer indulging in lengthy descriptions of fine meals (see Donna Leon or Andrea Camilleri), so why not wine? Finally, this is really more of a technical issue, but one I found quite wonderful on a personal level: the editing is superb. Normally, I find misspellings, lost words, or grammar errors, even when I’m not looking for them (believe me, I don’t look, really!); “Brut Force” was fabulously free of any of those.
Do I have a niggle? Yes, a very tiny one. I would have preferred it had they left the subtitle “The further, staggering adventures of a professional wine buyer” off the cover. Sure, it’s punny, but it seems entirely unnecessary. Would that keep me from wholeheartedly recommending this book to you? Not at all! If you love wine, mad capers, or simply a fun read, get yourself a copy. It will lift your mood and erase frown lines from your face. I’ll drink to that!
“Brut Force” is published by Acorn Publishing. I received a free copy from the author in exchange for a review. All opinions are, as always, my own.
December 25, 2018
“Brute Force” is a funny, well written book, that suffers from having a lot to live up to.
There’s a lot to be said for this book; mainly, that it does leave you wanting more - both in terms of wine and of the book itself. Felix, built on the foundations of “Corkscrew”, comes off a lot more down to earth in this book, and the plot is a little easier to follow.
That being said, this book did lack some of what made “Corkscrew” so fantastic - there were a lot less “Oh let’s just open a bottle and hope for the best” scenes, and it didn’t manage to make me laugh quite as much - but, these are just natural problems of any sequel. The genre is, by nature, a set up for comparison.
There’s a lot to be said for this book; mainly, that it does leave you wanting more - both in terms of wine and of the book itself. Felix, built on the foundations of “Corkscrew”, comes off a lot more down to earth in this book, and the plot is a little easier to follow.
That being said, this book did lack some of what made “Corkscrew” so fantastic - there were a lot less “Oh let’s just open a bottle and hope for the best” scenes, and it didn’t manage to make me laugh quite as much - but, these are just natural problems of any sequel. The genre is, by nature, a set up for comparison.
February 26, 2019
A funny albeit straightforward follow up to “Corkscrew” by the same author. If you’re seriously into wine and want a not at all serious, funny read this is a quick and recommended read.
June 20, 2019
more adventures featuring Felix. once again I laughed out loud ...and found more wines I'll need to try!
February 4, 2021
Another ridiculous romp! I have now read all three books and thoroughly enjoyed them. The storylines are bonkers, the characters extreme and the wine education superb. This has perhaps the weakest plot of the three but is still worth the read. By the time you have fought your way with Felix through murderous mafia, edgy eco-warriors, fearsome French wine makers and stolid supermarkets your own worries will seem mere trifles !
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews