From Kirkus sFor his second course, Bourdain, novelist (Bone in the Throat, 1995) and chef (at Sullivan's, in Manhattan), dishes up a sorry, soggy mess of a stew in which a good-hearted hit man finds himself on the spot with both mob chieftains and law-enforcement agencies. Hired by an ambitious cross-dressing mafioso named Pazz Calabrese to eliminate his two immediate superiors, Henry Denard dispatches one but only wounds the other, D'Andrea (Donnie Wicks) Balistierian aging capo di tutti capi in New York. After returning to Saint Martin, the idyllic West Indian haven he calls home, the hired gun (a decorated Vietnam vet who went on to work for the CIA) learns his wounded target has turned informant and will testify against former partners in crime. What's more, an accommodating interpretation of the Witness Protection Act allows Donnie Wicks (and a small army of US marshals) to take up residence on Saint Martin. Concerned that he and his hardcase wife Frances may have to find another place to live, Henry talks his way inside the former don's compound for a meet. Not to worry, the elderly outlaw has the nothing-personal aspect of gangdom's business down pat, and he soon takes a shine to the professional killer as well as to his lovely, lethal lady. In the meantime, the expatriate godfather's former underlings mount a deadly campaign to silence him. In the wake of a furious assault on his island home (which costs six feds and a like number of Dominican nationals their lives), Donnie Wicks (now under the protection of venal French officials) is reported dead. As a favor to the American authorities cheated of a show trial, Henry heads north to waste the kinky Calabrese and his top lieutenants with a light anti-tank weapon on a New Jersey construction site. At the close, he's drinking and living it up with Frances and Donnie Wicks at his Caribbean hideaway. In the parlance of cuisine: tripe. (Author tour) -- Copyright 1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. "Bourdain establishes himself as a new master of the wiseass crime comedy." -- Publishers Weekly "Bourdain serves up a delectable concoction sure to appeal..." -- Denver Post About the AuthorAnthony Bourdain is the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York City. He is the author of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly and Bone in the Throat. how do you write the title of a book Gone Bamboo
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Good for a light beach read.By L. JeanAside from the big brotherish fact that I was asked to review this book within days of finishing it on my kindle even though I actually had ordered it a few years ago, I enjoyed the book well enough--enough to read another fiction book of his. I've read other nonfiction books by Bourdain (Typhoid Mary and Kitchen Confidential, which were much better), but this was the first fiction novel. He writes well. He's a little too stereotypical in his characterizations of the mafia types, but maybe that's true to fact.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. disappointingBy geoff b.Bourdain has written better - much better. This was slow. The story was unconvincing. The 'hero,' Henry, was shallow and fake, as was the gangster he was supposedly trying to comes to terms with (having been hired once to kill him...) Compared with 'Bone in the Throat,' this was very poor fare indeed. One expects more, because his earlier books were riviting and entertaining. Like His T.V. Travel series, clearly the man has gottern jaded and tired and his delivery now lacks sparkle and verve. He wrote this in the same tired voice he uses when doing one of his exotic dining scenes in far-off place, 'yet another snake consumed (yawn, yawn) Had he writtem 'Bamboo the same way he wrote Kitchen Confidential, it would have been a best seller. Instead it was a disappointment.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy J. Krebsclassic