Mystery/Thriller
Anthony Bourdain is best known as a chef and the author of Kitchen Confidential. This novel is his first attempt at fiction and it tells the story of Tommy, nephew to a mobster but trying to break away from that lifestyle and make one as a chef. He has a job working as a sous-chef at a fancy French restaurant, but his uncle Sally got him that job. Tommy becomes close to the head chef, Michael, who has a methadone addiction and he also learns that Sally has his hand in the restaurant, with the owner owing him business. As the FBI closes in, they try to squeeze anyone they can about more information on Sally and his cronies.
Since Bourdain knows all the ins and outs of the restaurant business, it's no surprise that his first fiction novel focuses around a restaurant. That's really where his writing shines, when the speaks about making food and being in the kitchen. The mobster/mystery part of the book was a bit lack-luster. It could have been any old book about mobsters. I would read one of Bourdain's non-fiction books but I don't think I'd pick up another of his fiction works.
First Line: "That the dead body should be found washed up on the beach was not so unusual."
Rating: 
(3/5)
Fritz Malone, a private investigator and bastard son of a former police chief decides to go out for bagels on a beautiful Thanksgiving morning. He lingers to watch the parade and suddenly sees a gunman taking aim on the princess on a float. Fritz throws the bagels at the princess , saving her life and takes after the gunman. Both Fritz and the gunman are apprehended by the police and instead of being driven to the local precinct are driven to a building near police headquarters.
Dr. Jeremy Cramer has lived through many tragedies, including his father drowning in water and his son dying in a car crash. He's always blamed himself for those accidents in the back of his mind and wondered what he could do about them. As an infectious disease researcher, Jeremy gets the chance to research why children usually survive cold water submersion but adults don't. Politics makes him change his research focus to slowing down the progression of AIDS but there are applications there too.
Nancy's husband gave her a shiny new red lawnmower for Christmas. But Nancy had figured she was getting jewelry when the local jeweler sent her husband a thank-you card for all his business. Nancy leaves Edinburgh and her adulterous husband for her friend Carmen's luxury London flat.
Most of the residents of Pine Cove are on anti-depressants, as prescribed by the local psychiatrist Dr. Val Riordan. But when one of her patients allegedly commits suicide, Dr. Val thinks that maybe it's a better idea for none of her patients to be on medicine and forces them to take placebos. But a sudden, very weird, event causes a few people to go missing and seems to cause the entire city to become horny. The event turns out to be a giant sea-dragon coming out of the sea to seek revenge on a man that killed one of his family members.
A man and his boy set out in a post-apocalyptic world down a road, heading south to warmer climates. The world has been like this for a few years and the father decides they can't stand another winter where they are. Life is getting more and more dangerous because there is less and less food. It seems that plants and most animals haven't been able to survive the disaster, whatever the disaster is.
Josie Kincaid is a hard-worked and underpaid Journalist who is the go-to person in the TV newsroom where she works. She re-writes stories, checks facts and dreams of becoming an investigative journalist and changing the world. In order to achieve this she has become one of the guys, drinking too much, sleeping around and being very aggressive.
Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy go to a special school that's on for kids like them. They live there and learn there and, in many ways, they are like normal teenagers. But some things don't seem to make much sense to those three and as they slowly start to peel away the layers, they learn more about what their future is going to be like. As they learn about their future, they also need to go through regular teenage problems, like betrayal, gossip, and sex.
Anna Abbott grew up on the Isle of Palms(IOP) and moved away when her mother died and her emotionally cold grandmother and controlling father took her to Mount Pleasant to live. However the IOP has been in Anna's heart for a long time. Anna was date raped at her senior prom and has a daughter, Emily.
When the headmaster of a Vermont Prep school receives a videotape of three basketball players engaging in sex with a underage girl, he has to decide what to do. Should he cover it up or expose it and what should happen to the people involved?