50 Pages of Bone in the Throat

The book I chose to read is called Bone in the Throat and it is written by Anthony Bourdain.

From the prologue to 53 pages later (because I just had to read a little more), Bourdain had me hooked. The prologue begins with a disturbing description of a mysterious body being pulled out of the river. I already have my prediction as to who this John Doe is.

Let's see if you can figure it out too.

So, after the John Doe is pulled out of the river, the person whose job it is to inspect the body (who is the narrator in the prologue) notices that this is not just a regular "floater." FBI agents and guys from the U.S Attorney's office were flocking around the scene, all looking very serious. Some of them even got into a fight. The narrator described their expressions as looking "...well, guilty."

I bet you think you know who the killers are now, but hang on...
Sally Wig, Tommy, and Harvey are all introduced. Tommy is just a young sous chef trying to move on past his father's mob history, but his uncle is not letting that happen. Tommy works at Harvey's restaurant. We get our first glimpse of what kind of trouble Harvey has gotten himself into when Tommy's sweat suit wearing uncle, Sally Wig, comes to ask for the "weekly payment." Harvey has apparently skipped payment the past 3 weeks on account of the fact that he is putting all "his money" into his restaurant (the questionable quotes around him actually being the owner of the money will be explained momentarily). Sally Wig lets it slide this time but makes sure to bruise Harvey up a little bit before he leaves.

Harvey leans on a man named Al to help him figure out what to do. Al is actually an FBI agent, and Harvey is actually a snitch. The money that Harvey has been incorrectly spending on his restaurant is money that the feds gave him to give to the mob. This is their attempt at getting dirt on them.

Are the pieces starting to fall together for you too yet? If not, then I guess you will just have to wait in anticipation for my next blog.