Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain

I think I was burned out on fantasy temporarily, so instead of following through with my plans to read The Way of Kings or Lord Foul’s Bane, I decided to read a book that I got almost a year ago.

Bone in the Throat is a book about “murder, mayhem and the mob”, featuring a restaurant setting and a protagonist who’s a sous-chef. I’m a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations”, and I’ve also read “Kitchen Confidential”, his non-fiction memoir. I was still surprised by how good Bone in the Throat was - apparently Bourdain’s a great fiction writer in addition to being a great chef and traveller. It was well-written and funny, and short enough not to get boring. My only complaint is that there’s a lot of gore - which also happens to be really well described. It’s to be expected in a book about the mob, but I’m a bit squeamish.

Dec 3, 2011, 2:57am