🍷 F R E A K Y F R I D A Y review 🍷 featuring “Blood on the Vine” by JT Falco!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

FBI Agent Lana Burrell must return home to her roots in Napa Valley to investigate the cases of two dead women. But returning to wine country stirs up the nightmares of Lana’s past: her childhood best friend Jess getting murdered and her own father serving a life sentence for it.

BUT blood runs thicker than wine in Napa Valley and Lana is forced to reconnect with the powerful family and the police department who put her father behind bars. Are the cases all connected?? And what other skeletons are hiding among the vineyards??

GO. IN. BLINDLY!! This book’s SHOCK factor is off the charts! I was a ball of nerves one second and then wanting to punch people the next. The twists and turns mixed in with the grit of a police investigation, the discovery of a secret cult and uncovering decades worth of secrets makes this a WILD & THRILLING RIDE! At times my anxiety was through the roof, yet I couldn’t put the book down!

Read this if you enjoy:
🍷 police procedurals
🍷 secret cults
🍷 all things wine
🍷 Napa Valley settings
🍷 shocking twists

Thank you kindly to @joey_t_falco @crookedlanebooks @netgalley for my #gifted advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on April 22, 2025 and needs to be on your radar!

Perfect kind of thriller with all the fun twists and turns. I really like the premise of FBI agent returning to home town and getting caught up in something. Definitely recommend!

My family and I used to vacation in Napa during the summer and so to read a story set there, especially one as juicy and fun filled as this, was a treat. This story had so many surprise twists and turns with an underground secret that I certainly would not expect from the good citizens of Napa! It’s fictional, of course, but the mere thought had me rethinking my every visit. I enjoyed the police procedural aspect of the story too. Overall, a really fun filled, fast paced story!

This is one of the best ARCs I've read in a while...

What I Loved: The mystery aspect was so well done - complex enough to keep me guessing but straightforward enough to turn pages. I usually get bored by the bureaucratic nature of police-led mysteries, but the lead agent's personal connection to the setting and the suspects really helped. So did Essie -- the empty nester who made a late-in-life career move to the police force.

What I Didn't Love: There's a lot more sex than you would expect from this genre. A page or two of explicit details and then a lot of general talk and jokes. It just makes Lana's romance seem more like a booty call than an actual relationship, which makes me not as invested as the author probably wants. I also don't know if you could guess all the missing plot points that would lead you to the culprit, so if you like being actively involved in your mysteries this one might be a little bit of a letdown.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this novel.

This book was very meh for me. The writing was average and the story did not keep my interest. I tried to keep going but in the end I couldn’t finish it. I gave up about three quarters through.

While I think some of my students will like this one, I can't as a educator suggest it. The mystery and the family dynamics were interesting as was the main character. the book had a lot of overt sexual content, that is not appropriate for my students. Women's sexuality at times was presented in a way that seemed off, until at the end I realized the author was a man. The book at times was a bit too wordy with all the info about wine and the historical info on the cult.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for a free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review! This one is out 4/22/25!

Thriller/Crime. It’s been over 20 years since FBI Agent Lana Burrell has been back to her home in Napa Valley, CA. Her father - who once worked at the most prestigious vineyard in Napa, Golden Eagle - was found guilty of murdering Lana’s best friend, Jess, who was also the daughter of the owners. Jess has always believed in her father’s innocence, and when two more women are found murdered on Golden Wagle’s property in the present, Lana can’t help but feel they are somehow connected to Jess. Forced to work with the sherriff’a department responsible for putting her dad behind bars and the wealthy family who provided testimony against him, Lana is determined to get justice for the women who were killed, and possibly her father as well.

This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in awhile! It was very fast paced, I loved the Napa setting and rich people problems. Did not see the twist coming. The author is also a screenwriter, and I can totally see why since this feels like it could be a great miniseries (I could see Michelle Monoghan or Aubrey Plaza playing Lana). I also liked learning about how wine is made/what life is like on Napa Vineyards (in a non pretentious way).

A suspenseful mystery thriller with lots of twists and turns. FBI agent Lana Burrell is strong and intelligent, and I liked her from the start. She couldn't prove her father's innocence in the past, but now, after two more women were murdered near the vineyard, all the clues point towards the owners. Story unravels at a gripping pace, and everyone seems guilty. It's a race to find the killer. The climax is shocking, and I couldn't believe it at first. I love the cover and the book, both. Recommended. Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This was a solid mystery with a great setting in Napa Valley. Almost cultish vibes and enough twists and turns to keep most mystery thriller fans guessing.

Thank you for an advance copy of this thriller set in Napa Valley. When an FBI agent returns to her hometown to investigate some recent missing women/murders, things get complicated. Is this related to her father in prison? Are the cases related to each other? A great thriller but what was the best part was the setting..it became another character in this creepy twisty story.

There are so many things to love about Blood on the Vine — the beautiful setting, the interesting characters, the (potentially) unsolved mystery, and the various media (excerpts, interviews, etc) interspersed between the chapters. For mystery fans looking for a plot with depth and twists, this could be a great fit.

Absolutely great read, I’m not a wine drinker but I just may have to start now!! The pace of this story kept me wanting more, I really loved the main character and all of her issues. I loved her drive to find out who the killer or killers were. It was a thriller for sure and the story had heart as well. I kinda want to know more about the the main character.

I really enjoyed this classic murder mystery thriller with some cult vibes set in Napa Valley, California amongst the grapevines and winemakers of the region. I spent a lot of time in California wine country when I lived in San Francisco, so I enjoyed reading a book in a familiar setting. I liked the main character with her rough edges and the book kept me guessing - I really did not see the identity of the killer coming until the last minute. Would definitely recommend to any mystery-lovers out there!

Woooow. This cured my slump.

FBI Agent Lana Burrell heads back to her roots in Napa Valley to investigate two murders tied to the vineyards she grew up around. Which happens to be the same place her father was convicted of murdering her childhood best friend. Not only does she have to finally face the past, but she has to partner with the Sheriff who put her father behind bars.

The plot was a slow burn and I truly didn’t see the twist and turns coming. The story had so much depth to it with a potential cult, family drama, murder and of course wine.

The character development is really what shined for me. I felt like I really understood Lana. She is a bit chaotic, but so very likable. She lives in her head and is very self aware, strong, determined and funny. Her growth throughout the novel was amazing to watch.

I couldn’t put this one down once I started and I am so very thankful to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book contained several elements that consistently draw me in to a story - the affluent and chic Napa Valley setting, the law enforcement career of the main character, and a decades-long murder mystery still waiting to be solved. I absolutely loved this. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

4.5! Wine country, cult vibes, murder- what's not to love about this book!?! Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book, I really enjoyed it! First off, I love the FMC as well as the dynamics of the rest of the characters. They seemed to be multiple layered and their reltaionships between each other only added to the story. The writing flowed well and Iwas well balanced. I didn't feel strug along with mudane uneccessay details waiting for meat and potatoes of the story. I also enjoyed having little exerpts from legal or local documents intertwined with the story. It helped layer the story by seeing the research for the case without finding a way to explain it outright. I also liked how there were several places in the book that had some comic relief. The only thing I didnt like was the length of the chapters. They are inconsistent lenths and there were several chapters that seemed like they should have been split us into smaller ones. However, I enjoyed this book and will be recommending to my friends.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane books for an ARC.

This book is one of the best thrillers I've read so far in 2024. Right off the bat, it doesn't feel like a debut novel at all. It felt like it has been written by an established author.

The book follows Lana, an FBI agent who is tasked to solve the murders happened in her hometown which she had left ages ago.

The book is just brilliant. Very well written and charactersl development is done just the right amount.

FBI agent Lana Burrel is assigned to investigate a pair of murders in her hometown. Upon arrive back in her hometown, she is paired with a 60 year old rookie deputy. She describes Deputy Essie Leroux as a geriatric ambassador. The chemistry between these two is great! The investigation into the deaths leads her to a winery that her father, who is now in prison, use to manage the farming portion. Fresh salt it added to old wounds as she works the case that may implicate the governor of California. This is a well paced thriller that leaves no vine unturned. Sex, drugs and wine. A fantastic edge of your seat mystery. Great writing. The story simply flows and the reader is enveloped.

5 stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this book!! It was such a surprise!! I read this in one day and couldn’t put it down, it had an amazing plot, I could relate to the characters the story had lots of depth and turns and things that were completely unexpected. Also the history of “wine” was so fascinating! I’m an avid mystery book reader and it’s really really hard for me not to guess the “killer” and I had no idea! I highly recommend this book and I’m going to see what other books he has.
Specifically for the author though I recommend adding a *TW* as there is very brief material on rape. And readers need to be aware of this!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Blood on the Vine by J.T. Falco.
FBI, childhood tragedy, wine dynasty, and a cult. This twisty thriller has all the makings of what will hopefully be the start of a new series.