"Antifascist queer Western pulp horror romp, and what a delightful string of words that is.

This is massive fun, in an extremely gory way. Think Mad Max but in post-collapse fascist USA, where a war is raging between the fash and the, you know, non-shit people. There are also shifters, including Coyote, who makes the fun over the border to trade weapons and kill fascists. Most of Coyote's personality is violent resistance. Some books debate whether violence is the answer; consider this one to start with the word YES in 150 point type.

The world is complex, but you can go with the flow very easily, the characters are lightly drawn in classic Western pulp manner, the violence is extreme, and the message is very clearly that the resistance will always regroup and regenerate and fight back, and eventually win, and that this is done all the quicker by not worrying about 'civility'.

the escapist book I needed right now, and what a staggeringly good cover. "

"I hardly ever do this, but DNF @ 30%. I couldn’t take any more of it. If you want to read a book about how raucous the 80s were, full of vulgar and graphic descriptions of sex, drug addiction, alcoholism, and loads of inappropriate workplace behavior - sprinkled liberally with the most obnoxious name dropping you’ve ever seen - this is the book for you.

I felt I was done when the author described a staff member at the (apparently famous, though I didn’t recognize a single restaurant he name dropped in this book) Water Club, who would take his penis out to show “anyone who wanted to see it, and many who didn’t want to see it too.� This person cut a hole in his pants pocket and tricked a fellow staff member into touching his exposed penis in his pocket in order to find a supposed corkscrew in there. The author follows this anecdote with a disclaimer that reads like it was forced on him by legal - essentially saying, “Oh, this probably sounds horrific to anyone reading this today, but no one complained and I think it was all consensual! It’s not an excuse, it’s just the way things were!� Yeah, come on - we’ve heard this “boys will be boys� rationale before. This is all part of the massive cultural problem the restaurant industry has, and it certainly felt like the author did no reflection on how he may have been complicit in perpetuating a culture that was toxic for anyone not in the white male majority. The author’s vibe was not for me either - the way he talked about women and LGBTQ people smacked of misogyny and homophobia.

I’m not the kind of person who is particularly interested in celebrity gossip or anecdotes, and this book is chock full of them. I swear, there are two entire pages dedicated to name dropping all of the celebrities who came to eat at the Water Club. And for what purpose? Just so he can brag about his proximity to fame?

When there are so many other stories to read - by women, of people of color, of marginalized voices - and even all of these in the restaurant industry - I don’t want to spend any more time reading this one. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley."

"Ever want to sit and listen to the former high school star quarterback relive his glory days (disgusting behavior romanticized and maddeningly still self absorbed) at nauseam for 14 hours? Yeah, me neither.

This was not the interesting insider look at restaurant life I was hoping for and expecting based on the cover and title. This is a memoir from a badly behaved grown man with an inflated sense of self importance. Not only does he admit to and relish in the extremely childish antics for himself and his co-workers but he has the audacity to attempt to school the reader several times on the importance of proper tipping and respect for restaurant staff. The nonsense described in this book let’s me know the waitstaff and chefs at the places he has worked are doing nothing to earn my respect or my money.

Also, name dropping isn’t as impressive as this author seems to think it is.

As someone that has worked front of house in the food business for a number of years, I found this book distasteful and tacky.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this audiobook arc. The review above is my honest opinion about this book. My apologies for not enjoying it."