Bone in the Throat

by Anthony Bourdain

Book Overview

The acclaimed first novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential and host of Parts Unknown on CNN. A wildly funny, irreverent tale of murder, mayhem, and the mob.

When up-and-coming chef Tommy Pagana settles for a less than glamorous stint at his uncle's restaurant in Manhattan's Little Italy, he unwittingly finds himself a partner in big-time crime. And when the mob decides to use the kitchen...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582341028
• ISBN13: 9781582341026
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

That's tony...

A NY chef for 30+ years his favorite books are crime dramas like "the friends of eddie coyle". This is his version of a crime drama but instead of writing from a legal or law enforcement perspective he writes what he knows about. The not so glamorous underbelly of the restaurant world. The focus of the story is tommy an Italian American sous chef who is serious about haute French cuisine. He develops a close friendship with his coked out chef who he admires for his knowledge and skill in the kitchen. The problem with tommy is that his sleezy mafia uncle gets him in deep and he never knows that the restaurant he works in is a set up for the feds to put guys like his uncle away. Like any good crime drama it is gritty and rough. You find yourself feeling for tommy and his, predictament and despising the brutal mobsters. Bourdain might have spent almost all of his adult life in the kitchen but he doesn't back off at all in depicting violence. It won't take you long to read this book because once you start it is hard to stop a real page turner. I believe bourdain's personality exists in both the tommy and the chef characters. The chef like tony is part French and has a drug problem something that tony admitted he once had in "Kitchen Confidental". But the tommy character is a punk rock loving kid who maybe resembles tony in his earlier days. Certainly there are some autobiographical moments here and the restaurant name is the same as the first restaurant tony worked at in provincetown. The dreadnaught..

If he cooks as well as he writes . . .

As the NYTBR said, this is a "deliciously depraved" novel. Tommy Pagana is a young sous-chef in an okay Manhattan restaurant. He likes his work, he hopes he has a future both with his career and with Cheryl the waitress, and he has tried for years to distance himself from his mobster relatives and their friends -- especially his Uncle Salvatore, a mid-level wiseguy who yearns to be "straightened out" by the higher-ups. The restaurant is run by Harvey, a Jewish ex-dentist who's into the local mob for serious money, plus he has another loan from a turf-encroaching bunch from Brooklyn. Only Harvey is also an informant for the FBI, which is trying to stir things up just to see what shakes loose. Then there's Michael the junkie chef, Tommy's friend and boss, who is also put to work by the feds, and there's Al the special agent, who really doesn't care what happens to any of them as long as they bring him something to make a case out of. Then Uncle Sally pushes the reluctant Tommy into allowing him to use the restaurant for a secret meeting -- which turns into a homicide, witnessed by Tommy, . . . who is now also a person of interest to law enforcement. What to do? How to stay both alive and out of prison, yet not have to rat out his uncle, which would break his mother's heart? These hoods aren't Donald Westlake's comic bumblers, either. In fact, their workaday attitude toward what they do, including murder, is what makes them decidedly scary. (The NYPD detectives, on the other hand, hardly come off as Lenny Brisco. . . .) Bourdain has a real ear for the nuances of New York style and conversation, plus a gift for describing life in the kitchen, that make the whole thing ring true. So why hasn't this terrific book been made into a film?

What Fun!

Anthony Bourdain has struck gold with his venture into fiction writing. Bone in the Throat is a wonderfully delightful romp through the world of mobsters and food service, which Bourdain has done a masterful job of intertwining. Not being personally inclined to read much fiction, I read this based on the quality of Bourdain's non-fiction works, and was very pleased. I'm looking forward to reading his other fiction work, Gone Bamboo, and am anxiously hoping that he writes some more, be it fiction or non-fiction. This guy has got real talent!

Better get out of the kitchen

We learn what a mise-en-place is and get a graphic description of cleaning a squid. As a matter of fact, we learn a lot about the restaurant business from purchasing to personnel to controlling cost. The author is a certified expert at this and the next time you go to a restaurant you probably look at it with different eyes (and leave a better tip).But this book is supposed to be a mystery, and so it is - in a way. It is an absolutely hilarious sendup of small-time and small-brained mafia gangsters. From Sally the Wig to Charley Wagons to Skinny they act like the book tells them to: Got to follow the rules! No wonder it gets them into trouble. Only their methods of maiming and killing seems to be innovative.This is a satire you don't want to miss.

Wonderful Characters Abound in Fantastic Mafia Story

Let's Face it the gangster genre needed some help. Not since Steve Thayer's "Saint Mudd" has there been a solid mafia based novel. I stumbled upon Anthony Bourdain's and found his first novel, "Bone in the Throat" full of vivid characters that jump off the page, a story line that was very tight and not watered down, which also has a good solid pace.The story revolves around Tommy Pagano who after losing his father due to mob ties, decides to try something else. Tommy refuses his Uncle Sal's offer to join the family business and chases down his dream of becoming a famous chef. Tommy however lands a job as a sous-chef at a restaurant, which his Uncle does business at. Tommy ends up doing one (against his better judgment) for his uncle and quickly finds himself in the middle of an FBI investigation. Tommy's friends, mainly Chef Ricard find themselves being pinched for information. Tommy faces hard time, and if he talks he knows what will happen next.To find out what happens I strongly recommend picking up "Bone in the Throat". It is a true treat for those who enjoy mafia fiction. Even those who don't will enjoy the colorful characters, awesome dialogue and fast paced story.