Crush: A Novel

The bullet that war correspondent, Sloan Munroe, took in the hip while in Afghanistan has put her on the couch for months, while the grief over losing her partner has kept her there for more than a year. Her concerned family secures her a safe assignment: writing a coffee table book on the worlds hottest new wine region, the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. She is intrigued by the location of the Predator Ridge Winery, which sits on the US-Canada border. Against her better judgement, she becomes romantically entangled with wine-maker Niclas Alder-Huxley, who she discovers is smuggling something across the border. Worse yet, Cuccerra Industries is threatening Niclas's vineyard as the multinational company buys up land and family-run wineries. The danger intensifies when Sloan realises that Cuccerra Industries is actually after access to the border and they will crush anyone in their way.