In the opening pages of Bottle Grove we find ourselves at a wedding. It is being held in a small forest called Bottle Grove in San Francisco. Bottle Grove could have been be named for the increasing numbers of drinkers who leave their glasses on stumps and boulders. But it is actually named after the Bottle family.

Lil, a Bottle herself, is the woman in charge today. She is bent over a tray of enchiladas. But it’s not the food Lil is worried about. The Vicar is practising his ceremony. Two barmen who own the Bottle Grove bar (a failing enterprise) a few kilometres away are working with Lil today. Martin, ‘thrifty, clean-shaven, with pale skin, a little veiny as if his blood were making sure to get noticed’ and his business partner, Stanford, ‘black and younger and muscly in a white shirt and narrow tie’.

Martin has caught the eye of someone. Padgett, that’s what everyone calls her. Except Lil, who calls her Gail. Padgett’s eyes move over Martin’s body, ‘every place on him, like a pat-down at the airport’. Padgett is at the bar downing a vodka. You can see where this is going. A missing barrel of alcohol, a car accident, kidnapping, a despicable vicar who is not a vicar and a get rich scheme included.

While I enjoyed this book, for some reason it didn’t wholly engage me. I don’t think I ever really got attached to the characters and at times when I picked up the book again, I had to remind myself what had happened in the story previously. Having said that, I think Daniel Handler is a quality writer. He has fabulous lines. ‘She leans in and out of being plastered.’ If you are looking for a fun satire, a romp of a read, then this is your book.

Reviewed by Alice Wilson