I liked the Long Rain and so I bought The Mystery Roast. In the years between the writing of the two books, Mr. Gadol has, happily, grown and improved as a writer. The Mystery Roast is clever, possibly a bit too much so--the characters' names being one example. There's Eric and Marek. Then there's the art impressario named Maldemer--not too suble for anyone with even a slight knowledge of French--mal de mer meaning seasick. Hmmn.

I loved the creation of The Mystery Roast cafe; the food and the beverages are appetite-provoking. Interesting, too, is the depiction of fad marketing. This is a New York novel in the way that Manhattan is a quintessential New York movie. The author scores big points for capturing the feel and smell of the city, even its pulse. But Eric's "visions" --the images of the past he keeps seeing throughout the first two thirds of the book, and the idol's italicized "comments" quickly become irritating, even detrimental to the flow of the narrative.

Gadol is a good writer, an imaginative one, and the book is worth reading, even if it does drag in parts and even if Eric is boringly self-indulgent at times. The secondary characters more than compensate for the lack of sympathy one feels for the hero.

I picked "THE MYSTERY ROAST" off the library shelf on a whim... I enjoy coffee, so the cover & title intrigued me. The 'blurbs" intrigued me even more, so down I sat to read. Hours later, at 1am, I could NOT put it down! The writing is so engaging - I especially love the historic 'flashbacks' engendered by the Goddess, and almost wish that Gadol had spent more time on fleshing those out. I am looking forward to reading some of Gadol's other work, and am so tempted to wander around the old Meat District in the west village during my next visit to NYC to find the "Mystery Roast Cafe".

This book caught my eye one evening when I was really craving a cup of coffee. Gadol's work took me to a place so clear and real, so much that I could almost feel the snow crunch under Eric's feet. Years later, every time it snows, or I wander throgh an almost empty museum, I long for that place and time that this amazing writer created.

Hi, I read the book called The Long Rain. This was a O.K. book. I honestly didn't like the book in the beginning. I didn't like it because the main character tried to hide the fact that he had taken a life of a young boy. He did this to try to protect a vineyard behind his house in the wine region state of California. He also tried to hide it because of his wife and child. I think that he should have just told the truth in the first place because he ended up trying to defend the man that the police had brought in for questioning. He was the only one that knows the truth about what actually happenend. To find out other things that happened, read this book.

My daughter suggested this book to me specifically because of my interest in wine. Gadol has influence over his descriptive license and he takes advantage of it. At times, he certainly made me feel that I was at the vineyard tending the vines and trellises, harvesting in the open air, crushing the cab or bottling the brew. There are instances however that I felt the prose to be too introspective and emotional. I have to admit, once or twice I felt like jumping off of the rock that overlooks the valley myself. While I was interested in most of the conversations, I also found myself longing for more and better dialogue. Some of the twists in the plot were very interesting while others were set up transparently. All in all, The Long Rain is an enjoyable book and one that I would suggest to readers who love wine and a good fiction.

Peter Gabol's 'The Long Rain' is a story of relationships--wife and husband, father and son, mother and son, friends and foes--and it is misguided to try to compare this novel with those of of John Grisham or Scott Turow, just because the main character happens to be a lawyer.

'The Long Rain' is unique in its genre--its prose is well-crafted, sensual, and amazingly vivid. The essence of this book is not so much what is happening to the character (he loses his marriage, job and runs over a teenager by accident) but how he reacts to these events, and whether he chooses to be honest with the people around him when he finds himself in a situation where he must face his shortcomings. The setting is in the wine country somewhere in California, and that in itself makes it an interesting read.

What makes 'The Long Rain' unique is the author's ability to get into the mind of a man whose worth enemy is his own self--Gadol makes the reader believe that Jason (the protagonist) is in fact trapped by his own stupidity and by the lack of faith in those around him -- he chooses to lie to his wife and son, claims that he loves his wife more than anything in the world, and yet never gives her a chance to help him when he is caught in a horrendous accident. Instead he lets an innocent man take the fall for his mistake. What is scary about this main character is that it's easy to see ourselves in his shoes, and realise that if we had been caught in same situation, we might have reacted and acted the same way.

'The Long Rain' is a psychological thriller of an anti-hero that reminds us how complex and fearful life can be when we no longer follow our moral conviction. It's a study of human behaviour set in a lavishing and unusual setting. Peter Gadol has crafted a multi-dimensional novel that is both haunting and revealing. You will enjoy this book if you enjoy your thrillers with more philosophical depth than your average thriller. An honest study into the darkness of an everyday man.

This brooding thriller is set in Paris played out by three Americans named Will, Pedro, and Jorie. Will abandons his Foreign Service post and returns to Paris to take up with an old lover named Pedro, who welcomes Will back after an absence of 7 years. The two then become involved with a diplomat's daughter, Jorie, who is mothering a Lebanese boy named Nico. When Nico is snatched away by a French Nationalist gang, the suspense begins. Finding the missing little boy becomes the main thrust of this story and from there on the story moves right along to its conclusion.

The story is interesting enough and keeps you turning the pages to the end, but I wish the relationship between Will and Pedro had been developed more fully, and with more detail. I would recommend this book, because Gadol's writing is very smooth and the words just seem to flow off the pages. The ending was unexpected and a real surprise. All in all a good read.

This book was very much counter to my expectations; I picked it up as a "gay novel" but found it was about people -- some of whom happened to be gay -- caught in a story that was absorbing and very evocative of time and place. Unlike some readers who found the characters less than compelling, I felt the relationship between Will and Pedro was well delineated, and if we don't "know" Will, well, neither does Pedro. We make the discovery together. The book is much like a film noir, innocent people drawn into events they can't control by a chance encounter that changes their lives. It even evokes the black and white of film, describing a grey, wet, threatening city that is a far cry from the Paris of travel posters. A beautifully written little book.

Light at Dusk is not an epic tale of love or politics and it doesn't pretend to be. Rather, it's a pretty conventional but well-told and fast-paced exploration of a reunion between two former lovers which is overshadowed and ultimately marred by the darkening political circumstances of a France which has succumbed to the xenophobic, ultranationalistic and racist elements which have been nibbling at its mainstream over the last twenty years. Just after being reunited, Pedro and Will are once more separated when Will goes off to find the son of a former classmate, apparently kidnapped by the gangs who roam the streets of Paris, instilling fear. Not only does Gadol make the foreign service seem very appealing but his is a very rare take on gay relationships. He concentrates more on the relationship itself rather than the antecedents of the culture in which it is grounded, perhaps not the model form of gay writing but one which is refreshing and different. Light at Dusk- with its sad but redemptive ending- is an accomplished novel of the kinds of compromises, political, cultural, and most importantly, romantic, which are made in difficult circumstances. The novel is an swift read made easier by Gadol's engaging style. A quick, satisfying read.

I enjoyed THE LONG RAIN, and decided to read Gadol's earlier novel. While the concept of the story is interesting, it is ultimately unsatisfying. There is too much description of "woods" and house-building techniques and not enough plot.I don't feel as though I ever got a handle on Helen.Though THE LONG RAIN is flawed by too much description (this time it's wine-making), the story and characters are better-developed.

Gadol is wonderful at plots but here he aims at a Brahmsian autumnal perspective that moves neither the characters nor the sense of time passing. The metaphor of house construction (renewal from chaos) is too disjointed and the sense of 'completion' (safe from the elements) too distant from the self-absorbed lives of the three protaganists. (They all confront 'loss') Gadol writes the book like a play, but the absence of threat and external horror (other than the weather and iits punishing unpredictability)lessens the tension of the 3 linked lives. The heterosexual love sequence is ludicrous - the 2 male leads (who are strangely unaware of each other's physicality) connect not at all. Gadol is a wonderful, inventive writer when he has a plot to drive - here the plot is reflection and hot Californian sun, and the book gets lost in the heat.