Gone Bamboo

### From Kirkus Reviews For 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._ ### Review "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 _ Fiction,Action & Adventure,General,Mystery & Detective,Thrillers,Humorous,Murder,Humorous fiction,Assassins,Adventure fiction,Saint Martin,Saint Martin (West Indies)

Gone Bamboo pits Henry, a CIA-trained assassin, and Frances, his hard-nosed, hard-bodied wife against two governments and a cross-dressing mafioso. Henry and Frances have gone bamboo-living an idyllic, retired life in the Caribbean-but when Donnie, a powerful capo relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program, inadvertently jeopardizes their plan, all hell breaks loose. Despite the fact that Henry once tried to kill Donnie, the two join forces against the transvestite mob boss looking to ace Donnie. But things aren't going to be so easy...

Written in Anthony Bourdain's signature style-raucous, funny, a bit vicious, and always fun- Gone Bamboo is a feast of murder, hitmen, and the hitwomen they love. Reminiscent of Dashiell Hammet's Nick and Nora, Bourdain's Henry and Frances are a tough-talking, unlikely couple that will win you over-if they don't kill you first.

Publishers Weekly

Following his hilarious first novel, Bone in the Throat, with another antic tale, Bourdain establishes himself as a new master of the wiseass crime comedy. Henri Denard, an ex-Vietnam War hero who was trained as an assassin by the CIA and is now cozy with the French government, is living a peacefully hedonistic life as a ponytailed hippie on St. Martin with his wife, Franceswho's smart, gorgeous and similarly handy with a gun. But Henry's past is coming back to haunt him: a year ago, 320-pound crossdressing mob boss Jimmy "Pazz" Calabrese hired him to knock off two rivals at a ski resort. Henry botched the job, allowing one of the mobsters, D'Andrea "Donnie Wicks" Balistieri, to survive. Now, not only has Donnie Wicks made a deal with the FBI to testify against Jimmy Pazz, but he's also ended up as Henry's neighbor on St. Martin. After weighing his options, Henry decides to confront Donnie directly. To gain access to the mobster, Henry and Frances befriend Donnie's friends and housesittersuptight failing restaurateur Mickey and his fun-loving girlfriend, Racheland end up hitting it off with Donnie, too. Meanwhile, the thug Jimmy's hired to hit Donnieand maybe Henry, toohas found true love with an Indian prostitute and isn't at all eager to complete the task. As Jimmy grows frustrated, the number of playersfederal marshals, French spies and a variety of small-time gangsterscontinues to mount, threatening mayhem and bloodshed. A potentially routine mob caper is brought to life by tight plotting, appealing characters and a stylish mix of irony, snappy dialogue and amoral verve. Author tour. (Sept.)

A hilarious crime thriller by Anthony Bourdain, the New York Times bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential and host of Parts Unknown on CNN. CIA-trained assassin Henry Denard is looking for the good life when he retires with his wife, Frances, to the Caribbean. He may have botched his last job a little#8212;allowed Donnie Wicks, the guy Jimmy Pazz hired him to kill, to escape with his life#8212;but Henry and Frances are determined to take it easy. That is until Donnie agrees to testify against Jimmy Pazz, and gets relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program to Saint Martin as well. Now Jimmy Pazz is after both men#8212;the mobster, and the man who was supposed to kill him#8212;and things in Henry's paradise are about to get a lot more complicated. Written in Anthony Bourdain's signature style-raucous, funny, a bit vicious, and always fun- Gone Bamboo is a feast of murder, hitmen, and the hitwomen they love Gone Bamboo pits Henry, a CIA-trained assassin, and Frances, his hard-nosed, hard-bodied wife against two governments and a cross-dressing mafioso. Henry and Frances have gone bamboo-living an idyllic, retired life in the Caribbean-but when Donnie, a powerful capo relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program, inadvertently jeopardizes their plan, all hell breaks loose. Despite the fact that Henry once tried to kill Donnie, the two join forces against the transvestite mob boss looking to ace Donnie. But things aren't going to be so easy ... Written in Anthony Bourdain's signature style-raucous, funny, a bit vicious, and always fun-Gone Bamboo is a feast of murder, hitmen, and the hitwomen they love. Reminiscent of Dashiell Hammet's Nick and Nora, Bourdain's Henry and Frances are a tough-talking, unlikely couple that will win you over-if they don't kill you first Welcome to the retirement home of Henry and Frances, ex-New Yorkers and professional assassins. A luxury hotel suite in an idyllic, tequila-drenched Caribbean hideaway. It's supposed to be all cocktails and sex on the beach. But when a job icing a Mafioso godfather goes awry, trouble hits paradise...in the form of a cross-dressing capo, a debauched Irish hard man and a slew of incompetent but vicious US marshals. Henri Denard, a Vietnam War hero and professional assassin who is living on a French island in the Caribbean, discovers his neighbor is a man he unsuccessfully tried to assassinate as part of a contract. A crime comedy