No nonsense and to the point, Bourdain triumphs in making his characters real and relateable, and in turning his gruff murderous hitman of a main character into someone you're constantly rooting for. The plot was almost nonexistant for most of the story, but this detracted nothing from the brilliant character study. When action did commence, the descriptions were spot-on and the twists were well-placed. The repetitive nature of this novel is something to be enjoyed, though I found myself wishing every chapter would start with a description of clothing. Brief, witty, and gritty--three of my favorite things. ( )

I think this novel is very much inspired by Elmore Leonard. However, the brevity of the book diminishes the story's integrity. At only about 160 pages Bourdain should have included at least another one hundred pages to make both the characters and situations more intriguing and not as thin. Bourdain is still my man, though. His two other books seem to have more favorable reviews on Amazon.com, and I think they may be worth looking into at some point. ( )

I bought this book based on how much I enjoyed Bourdain's non-fiction (A Cook's Tour and Kitchen Confidential). This was a huge disappointment.