Ten slices from the life of Bobby Gold: by night, the security chief of a mobbed-up New York City nightclub, by day, a reluctant bonebreaker and enforcer for Eddie Fish - his old college roommate, and best friend. Emerging from the ''gladiator school'' environment of an upstate prison with an imposing physique and a reputation for skilled brutality, Bobby''s a lonely, guilt-ridden child inside a hulking body. He views the grim work of coercion, assault and even murder as jobs to be done with a craftsman''s work ethic and with a minimum of force. However, the technician''s pride in a job done well is failing him, his friend and protector Eddie is getting flakier and flakier and worst of all, he''s falling in love with Nicole, a reckless and self-destructive female line-cook who"s been around the block a few times.Following on from his two superb novels, Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo, Anthony Bourdain has produced another stunning book of crime fiction.