The best parts of the book are the semi-autobiographical elements which are probably lifted from the author's career as a chef. The convuluted plot includes dealings with the mafia, and ends pretty unsatisfactorily.

Where the author excels is entertaining the reader with tales about the sex, drugs, and criminal behavior, and he's only talking about the restaurant staff. He let's us in on the secrets behind how food is delivered to your table at dinner time.

For a better look behind the restaurant business, I recommend reading his non-fiction works Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour.

We learn what a mise-en-place is and get a graphic description of cleaning a squid. As a matter of fact, we learn a lot about the restaurant business from purchasing to personnel to controlling cost. The author is a certified expert at this and the next time you go to a restaurant you probably look at it with different eyes (and leave a better tip).

But this book is supposed to be a mystery, and so it is - in a way. It is an absolutely hilarious sendup of small-time and small-brained mafia gangsters. From Sally the Wig to Charley Wagons to Skinny they act like the book tells them to: Got to follow the rules! No wonder it gets them into trouble. Only their methods of maiming and killing seems to be innovative.

This is a satire you don't want to miss.

Manhattan chef-turned-fiction-writer Bourdain pens a first novel about murder and the Mob that makes a fair appetizer but no main course. Tommy is the second chef at the Dreadnaught Grill. His father was a made-guy with the Mob, but Tommy has managed to keep clear of any ``family'' entanglements. Harvey, who owns the Dreadnaught, owes big money to Tommy's uncle, a hit man named Sally who's also a loan shark. Harvey is weeks behind on his interest payments, with Sally applying lots of muscle. What Sally doesn't know, however, is that the Dreadnaught is a federal sting operation designed to snare racketeers like him. Sally approaches Tommy for a ``favor'': He wants to use the restaurant as a meeting place. Tommy eventually agrees, only to watch Sally and a friend murder and then dismember a man. Now Tommy is in way deep, and just in time for the feds to take a serious interest in him. They want his testimony on the murder, but Tommy can't narc on a relative--especially one who's a homicidal animal. Pressured by both sides, he also feels guilty over the murder. All of this could be compelling enough--if the book wasn't a catalogue of first-novel mistakes. The dialogue is usually flabby (``I wanna follow him,'' says a detective watching the Dreadnaught. ``Maybe he's runnin' an errand,'' says his partner. ``Maybe he is. Maybe he's runnin' an errand for Uncle Sally.'' ``Maybe he's runnin' out for a head of lettuce''); and, meanwhile, the plot gets sidetracked into very secondary concerns, like the head chef's struggle with heroin and entrance into a methadone program. Worst of all, though, the ending is a big disappointment: too easy, and totally anticlimactic. Great descriptions of food. But despite some very graphic violence, not as sharp, hard, or mean as the genre demands.

Our book group comprised of many retired teachers read this book recently; some members balked at its difficulty, but those who persevered felt that reading the book was a very rich experience. How else could you really sense the danger, the intrigue, the raw energy, and the vitality of the times. Burgess brings the period alive brilliantly through his inventive language and ironic humor. The book gets easier as it goes along, so stick with it; you'll be rewarded.

Marlowe is presented in full here. You can feel him touching the pages as you read them. You can taste the food he eats, drink what he drinks. This is a visceral book. Burgess was a linguist, so, of course, the dialect might prove a challenge to some, but, in the same way that the invented slang of Clockwork Orange made the experience of that book more vivid and real, the Elizabethanisms of Dead Man only give it more depth and color. The "Elizabethanisms" of this book are, in any case, less challenging than those served up in Burgess' earlier, more difficult but also astonishingly rewarding Shakespeare book "Nothing Like The Sun". Disregard those few on here who warn you off this book, particularly if you revel in language that comes rich and thick and genuine.

While some have said this is a difficult book (and I must admit I felt that way at first) if you relax and stick with it you'll find that it will begin to flow very smoothly.
Burgess takes us into the mind of Marlowe; his images are vivid. There were many passages that I had to reread, not because they were difficult, but because they were so beautiful. Sir Walter Raleigh introducing Kit to tobacco is marvelous.
I have to agree with those who found that following the characters was a bit confusing. I had the good fortune to have read Charles Nichol's book 'The Reckoning" first, a true story about the death of Marlowe. That work is a great introduction to most of the players in Burgess's book.
Please, don't be intimidated by "Dead Man", it is a pleasing and enlightening work.

Before I bought this book, nothing worried me more than buying a diamond (not even buying a car or a house). After visiting several jewelery stores I was even more worried. I was concerned that there was a lot of information that I was missing beyond the "4 C's" (Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat). So, I decided I needed to do some research before I purchased an engagement ring and luckily I stumbled across this wonderful book.

This book provided me with all of that missing information in a format that was to the point and easy to understand. It taught me how to tell the difference between Cubic Zirconia and Diamond, how to tell if I was looking at the diamond that was listed on the certificate, convinced me that cut was the most important quality in a diamond and most importantly, it told my WHY.

As a result, we have an engagement ring better than anything either of us had imagined and I saved thousands of dollars. Buy this book before you buy the ring, you won't regret it. Thank you, Antoinette and Antonio!

My intended and I went shopping for the engagement ring armed with the knowledge this book provides were able to buy with confidence! The information on how to select a diamond is invaluable; all the technical aspects of diamonds and colored gems -- the knowledge you need to put you on par with the jeweler -- are discussed in detail and in a clear way understandable to laypersons like me. The retail-price-guide charts on diamonds are excellent; you can know whether the price being quoted to you is reasonable. This book taught me how to how to use a jeweler's loupe properly, to evaluate all types of gemstones. Now I'm married but I still use this book -- and a jeweler's loupe -- whenever I have any jewelry purchase in mind!

This is a must read for anyone looking to purchase a ring. Like many men, a wedding ring is a one time thing. It really is unlike any other product or service you will buy throughout your lifetime; such as: college, cars, a house or a dog. And like marriage, the ring is forever. So don't get caught walking into a shop not knowing anything about the product. This book, Engagement & Wedding Rings, 2nd Edition : The Definitive Buying Guide for People in Love, is key to understanding everything you'll ever need to know about the ring. From color, clarity, size and quality, this book covers it all in any easy to read format. You'll thank yourself and your soon to be wife will also thank you forever for taking the time to read this book.

I am a big fan of the Forgotten Realms and I have read most of the published novels and found the majority to be worth reading, but this particular novel was a little tiresome.

The story revolves around an accused thief who is given a second chance at life if he will find a certain noble who got lost in Undermountain. Artek The Knife is the thief's name and being boring is his game. Artek is half-orc on his father's side and this is the only interesting thing about him. The other characters fall short in most respects, except for Muragh the talking skull and Guss the Gargoyle. Muragh provides comic relief in the story and Guss shows great bravery. The noble and Beckla the mage are not that fascinating.

I believe if the characters were more developed this would have been a better read, but they were not and this is not.

Although I'm really a big fan of R.A. Salvatore's work, Mark Anthony really deserves a lot of praise for this book. The characters were some of the best that I've ever seen. Artek was great, and his bloodline made him that much more intresting. Beckla was also good, for she opened up a whole new perspective on mages. Even though Guss was introduced later in the story, his image of a good gargoyle was great. Muragh was a riot, filling in the comic relief that every good book needs. Lord Dairen Thal, even though his apperances were short, made a great villan. Last, but certinaly not least was Corin, the wuss of the party. His development from being a pampered dope to a confident fighter and leader was fantastic. The book had the perfect balance of fighting, emotion, and mystery. In my opinion, it's one of the best Forgotten Realms books out there. A must read for any fan.

I have read many of Mark Anthony's books and I think this one of his better ones, the end was kind of "ok" I think it would have been better if it had gone in a different direction. but hey, it was good all the same.

I read "Suspicion of Malice" because I wanted to keep up with the continuing saga of Anthony Quintana and Gail Connor. They are two lawyers, living in Florida, who have had a stormy romance, and they are trying to get on with their lives without one another. Connor and Quintana are reluctantly brought together to solve the murder of Roger Cresswell, a wealthy young man whom many people hated. Most of the members of the Cresswell family are a nasty, conniving, and greedy bunch, and several of them have a strong motive for murder. Parker's dialogue is brisk and she holds the reader's interest throughout. The ending could have been stronger, but overall this thriller is satisfying and I recommend it.

Barbara Parker cleverly entwines the emotional tension between her two series characters, Miami lawyer Gail Connor and her former fiancé, Cuban criminal attorney Anthony Quintana, with a whodunit puzzle among the vicious rich.

Found murdered in his cousin's backyard after a wild party, Roger Cresswell, heir to a yacht-building fortune, turns out to have been spectacularly unpopular. His bimbo wife was sleeping with the aforementioned cousin, his ill father furiously regretted turning over the reins of his company, his uncle feared discovery of his embezzlements, the uncle's clever wife and her lover, the yacht-yard supervisor, feared that Roger was going to run the venerable company into the ground.

But with all these great suspects to choose from, the police focus on a young Puerto Rican ballet dancer from the New York slums. Though Connor is no criminal lawyer, Quintana's daughter Angela begs her to take on the dancer, her secret boyfriend. Connor tracks down the dancer's reluctant alibi witness (a judicial candidate) and discovers Quintana is his lawyer.

The tension of their recent, explosive break-up is exacerbated by Connor's pregnancy. She has not told Quintana and is considering abortion. And the dancer is seeing Angela against her father's express wishes. But Connor and Quintana manage to team up to clear Connor's client and keep Quintana's out of it - by presenting the police with a new suspect. All this sounds convoluted, even contrived when I say it, but Parker makes it sound quite reasonable.

The detective and legal work is clever and though the rich family is typically corrupt and dysfunctional, the sparks between the two likable protagonists keep things lively. Parker's literate writing style and thoughtful characterizations is highly satisfying.

in Barbara Parker's continuing "Suspicion" series.

The on-again, off-again romance of Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana has the stage set by a murder; each has a client that is on the fringe of the killing, and each has to support each other to insure that the real killer is unmasked.

Dysfunctional is the middle name of each person in the Cresswell family. Each remaining person, that is, because the book opens with the suspicious murder of Roger Cresswell, a killing that keeps tying back to Maggie Cresswell, his sister, who had been a victim of what seemed like suicide in a prior year. Anthony's daughter Angela, returns, getting Gail involved in the criminal defense (not a specialty of Gail's) to defend the boy she loves, dancer Bobby Gonzalez. Although Bobby is entangled in the background of the killing, so many of the Cresswells have motive, and so few of them have any admirable qualities, it seems that Gail and Anthony, working together against their better judgement, must pull the responsibility back to one of them, but whom?

Both Anthony and Gail, single parents and very different in heritage and background, leave the reader wondering about their attraction, and attraction it is, despite their break up in a prior instalment of the series. Although they remain together at the end of the book, it is only with some tragedy in their own lives, which draws the reader even closer to them.

The Miami setting is well-told in Parker's novels, and the romance never interferes with the mystery, just enhances it. A great read from a fine writer!

its been quite a while since ive read any books and i usually dont like this kind, but i thought that i would try it, it was really cool.

5 stars!! This book has all the magic of Xanth and then some! Join 3 interesting characters on their amazing quests in the punny, exciting, and wonderful land! Travel into the realm of the gourd and encounter an amazing animated skeleton, head underground and explore the different kinds of creatures who reside there and see how they can help poor Volney who is looking to fix the Vale, find out how Cherie reacts to Chem and Xap's daughter, and much, much, more! If you are a Xanth reader, this is obviously a must-have, and if you are not then this will get you hooked! Remember to look for the other great Piers Anthony novels to suit your taste and quench your thirst for adventure- they're out there waiting for you to order, read, and enjoy them! As a more than satisfied fan of Xanth I truly suggest you do just that with this book....What are you waiting for?

This book is immediately after the last of the "original" series of Xanth (Published by Del Rey) and it gets better and better. To the person who stated that it was for uneducated people, you need to read more of this series. About that Chester, Chet, Cherie, Chem, and Chex that is just ONE family of centaurs. All of them are related in some way, so they have a distinct name similarity. Get it? And not all centaurs are named with a C or a Ch, if you've read almost all of the series like I have. Well, back to the point. I found this book very interesting and kudos to piers for yet another well thought adventure through the magical land of Xanth.

I had very little time to study for Step 2 and this book was GOLD. I did also use Crush the Boards for Step 2 which is also excellent. Advanced Life Support has all the crucial little tid bits of info that you need. It could be in a little bit more of a clinical context but with its extremely short length and highly crammable format, it probably shouldn't change a thing. Its definitely a review and if you're learning the stuff for the first time, you should try a different book. BUT, if you have about 2-4 hours to go cover to cover through this book, then get it!!!

This book is one of the best step 2 review books out there...much better than the Prescription (though I guess there's a new edition out) and First Aid. While it doesn't cover every single topic, it's nice and short and has plenty of high yield stuff that actually appeared on the exam.

A very high yield review for Step 2. Certainly not suitable as a sole review book, but as far as step 2 books go, definitely worth the investment.

In 1979, aged 72, eminent British art historian, Anthony Blunt, was exposed as a former spy for Russia. Many books recount Blunt's espionage, but British journalist Miranda Carter has written a complete biography. Fans of Bloomsbury will find new insights, and the author devotes half the book to Blunt's art career. Her exhaustive research into WWII espionage has produced a definitive and often amusing story.

Immediately after being unmasked, Blunt became a social outcast. Tabloids described him as "the spy with no shame." Besides passing secrets, he was accused of being a sexual pervert, a plagiarizer, a dishonest appraiser, and someone who bought valuable paintings on the cheap from unsuspecting friends. Consulted about a libel suit, his lawyer explained that Blunt's spying had defamed his name so badly that no further defamation was possible.

As an undergraduate in Cambridge, he was a member in good standing of the fashionable Bloomsbury Group, still going strong in the 1920s. Recognition for his art criticism came early. No one looked on him as a political activist. Bloomsbury faded with the depression and rise of fascism; many members turned to communism, but Blunt wasn't among them. He must have been attracted, however, because his art criticism took on a distinctly Marxist tone for a few years. His attraction must have been more intense because of what followed. Joining the Intelligence Service after the outbreak of war, he passed thousands of documents to the Russians. Flooded with material by enthusiastic English spies, Russian officials were deeply skeptical. In any case, there was far too much, so many documents were filed and ignored. The paranoid Stalin was avid to learn of British plots against Russia. That none turned up merely increased his suspicion, but eventually the Soviets realized their good fortune. Spying seemed a sideline for Blunt. Art was his true love, and he wrote several important books during the war. After leaving the government, Blunt's spying stopped, and he became a renown art historian. However, many in British counterintelligence had their suspicions. When Burgess and Maclean defected in 1951, suspicions grew stronger, but no one in high places had a taste for another embarassing spy scandal, so it was decided to let matters lie.

A man of modest historical importance, Blunt lived a complex life in fascinating times, and this book does him justice.

Miranda Carter's biography of Anthony Blunt in an engrossing account of a man who lived multiple careers, some of the contradictory. In the 1940s he helped establish the discipline of art history in England, became one of its leading scholars, even art curator to Buckingham Palace. All the while he was spying for the Soviet Union. Ms. Carter has structured her book like an onion, peeling back the layers of her subject's life, including his colorful homosexual pursuits, until he is exposed as a spy in 1979. Hers is a very sympathetic portrait, and in the final 100 pages Ms. Carter even conveys the tragic dimension of Blunt when he is humiliated in public.

This is not just another tell-all biography. Ms. Carter scrupulously weighs earlier evidence from Blunt's friends and foes, accepting or rejecting them according to rigorous standards. Hardly a detail finds its way into her pages that is not based on a checked source. Ms. Carter has also accessed Soviet espionage files and agents' accounts that have come to light since 1989. Her book is a masterful piece of research that is also at times amusing and sad.

Unfortunately, Ms. Carter's publisher, Farrar Straus and Giroux, does not seem to share her scruples for detail. They have printed an American edition that is downright slovenly. Reader beware: there are typos and/or omitted words on the following pages: 66, 80, 300, 351, 363, 402, 404, 429 and 448. And these are just the ones I spotted.

This superb biography reveals in depth the many "lives" led by art historian spy Anthony Blunt who worked concurrently for British and Soviet espionage agencies during WW II, but actually betrayed his homeland. Miranda Carter deeply researches her subject going into the notorious Blunt's salad days as a disconsolate, lonely, and abused student. The author follows her subject into Great Depression England when communism turns appealing to the leftist intellects especially homosexuals like Blunt that distrusted and often felt paranoid about English authority. During WW II, Blunt served in British intelligence, enabling him to supply secrets to the Soviets. When his friends defected to the Soviet Union, Blunt and other Cambridge intellectual playmates were investigated. In 1964, he received immunity in exchange for his cooperation. The embarrassed British intelligence community kept his secret for fifteen years until Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher exposed Blunt in 1979.

Miranda Carter provides an incredible insight into the life of one of the strangest enigmatic individuals of the past century. The author paints the complete picture so that fans of true life espionage stories and biographies in general will simultaneously be stunned yet bluntly fascinated by this spy, almost two decades after his death. ANTHONY BLUNT HIS LIVES is an intelligent and engaging true-life account of the infamous art historian counterspy worth reading.

Harriet Klausner

This book seems to be written for people that have no taste in interior design/arrangement. For them it gives lots of ideas but not enough photo's for my taste. Reading through the book I figured it had been written 20 years ago because of the way it looks, but it is actually a 1997 book. I think the author needs to read a book on how to make a book feel like it has some soul to it!

This book goes beyond a catalog of design ideas. It encouraged me to think for myself and discover how I really want to live. A HOME FOR THE SOUL changed the way I see my home by showing me how each room can be an inspiring place for finding and expressing the richness and meaning of my soul. If you have a home and a soul, buy this book.

If you are looking for lots of ideas for floor plans, design or decorating ideas, this is not the book you want. If you are looking for a book that will help you create a space that feels like "home," this book will help you think about what that means in terms of your space.

Lawlor takes an unusual approach to his subject by first examining each living area with respect to the Greek gods typically responsible for that space. Before one dismisses this as a New Age thing, study the ideas behind the activities represented by that god. It's simply his "hook" to get the reader to continue on, to think about what this space is intended to do in the routine of life. As a storyteller, I was thrilled to read of his ideas for planning one's living area, which should be a space for stories, music and social interaction. He does not ignore the ever-present television, but he does suggest planning for lively, involved social interaction, which we all crave but often lack in our busy lives.

He does give general suggestions for room layouts if you are in the planning stages of construction, and closes each chapter with his vision of the ideal layout for that living area. He suggests materials, colors, furnishings and accents for each specific area, so that if you are looking to change existing space, you'll find that, too. Anyone who places a priority on books as a major furnishing component will win me over every time, but his vision of planning for a home, not a house, has appeal as well.

This would have been a great tech review if it weren't for the NUMEROUS typographical errors present! In one chapter alone I found 5 math typos!! Its pretty bad when you can't trust your answer page to be correct! The information learned from this text book would have been so much more helpful if I hadn't had to spend so much time decifering their errors! I wish someone would have proof read this before it went to print! Luckily I have a great pharmacist willing to quiz me so hopefully I can still pass! If I'd had to depend only on this book I would be in some serious trouble! And for as much as this darn thing costs, you'd think they could at least have gotten the "solutions for problems" right!! Look into getting a different review book--not this one! Its not worth the money!

This text is an excellent review text. It is written for persons all levels of experience - quick study guides allow the student to skip what he or she is already familiar with, and detailed chapters are included for those who are not familiar with subjects. Questions or problems at the end of each chapter are answered in detail, to allow the student to see what the examiner is looking for and hopefully duplicate it for the exam, rather than simply designating the correct answer and leaving the student to guess why their answer was incorrect. This is really key, as a large part of the success on the exam is understanding what the question is asking and what the examiner wants to know.

Other salient features include a pre-test, to allow the student to pinpoint weaknesses and prioritize study, a sample certification exam, which is written to duplicate the exam in both style and content, and a very large and detailed section on pharmacy math, which includes every type of calculation which might appear on the exam, and as a practice math test. Since the lack of ability to solve math problems is a primary reason why students fail the exam, this is an excellent preparation aid. The text also teaches the student to think and understand, which is necessary for the exam, as it is not all regurgitation of material - you have to know how to USE and apply the material.

All relevant subjects are covered and discussed in detail. An excellent buy for the money, for students of pharmacy technology - and expecially for technicians trained in a retail pharmacy who may be lacking in hospital pharmacy.

This text could even be used as for a pharmacy technology quick study course, or self study course as it is quite complete.

This book has everything that you need to pass the certification exam. Prescriptions, filling, labelling, record keeping, OSHA, computers and law are all covered thoroughly. There are also chapters on pharmacology and ten chapters on math [the book covers almost every type of dosage calculation very thorougly]. Everything is explained exceptionally well, and is easy to understand. Review questions at the end of each chapter are asked, answered, and explained in detail, so that you understand how to answer questions and do the calculations for the exam. It explains "why", and helps you to understand and apply the information. Each chapter has a "quick study" guide for easy reviewing. There is a "pre-test" to help prioritize study and pinpoint weak points, and a mock certification exam, which follows the format of the exam, and includes questions very similar to the questions appearing on the exam. Helpful hints for taking the exam and answering questions are also included. This book is a must, especially for retail techs [a lot of hospital pharmacy is included], and particularly for understanding the math.