Greedy
A Novel
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
“A deliciously twisted thriller that blends culinary obsession with moral horror . . . This novel savors excess, class, and complicity . . . and leaves you squirming.”—Dua Lipa’s Service95
What would you do for a seat at the table?
They will kill me soon, Edward Cook thinks. And when the Yakuza are unable to collect what he owes, Ed realizes, theyʼll go after his wife and child next. Broke, desperate, and unemployed, he stumbles upon an unusual ad: Chef wanted! Private chef for a high-profile businesswoman. One million yen per day.
Ed accepts the job. He hasnʼt earned any Michelin stars, but he knows his way around a kitchen. Leaving his life in Tokyo behind, he departs for an opulent estate in the mountains owned by the enigmatic and reclusive Hazeline Yamamoto, a disgraced socialite with a predatorʼs smile and an exacting palate. Hazelineʼs world is one of taste, connoisseurship, and experimentation—she is a certified gourmand. But when you can afford filet mignon for every meal, you begin to seek out the strange and forbidden.
The closer Ed gets to Hazeline and the brighter future that she promises—if he remains loyal—the nearer he is to realizing the chilling truth about her altruism. In this shadow world of unimaginable wealth, there are worse monsters than two-bit gangsters. The wind blowing through Hazeline’s home carries the sound of screaming, and Ed finds himself feeding all kinds of beasts.
Perfect for fans of Parasite and The Menu—enticing as a starter, meaty as a main dish, and full of satisfying just-desserts—Greedy is a suspenseful poison-pen note to classism and an ode to Japanese cuisine, a horror-tinged thriller unsuitable for vegetarians but full of shocking delights for every reader.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A British expat in Tokyo spirals downward as he struggles to keep himself afloat in Kazumi's competent sophomore thriller (after Claire, Darling). Once a recruiter and sous chef, Ed Cook is now unemployed and hiding the truth from his family while he dodges yakuza crime boss Isamu Ikagi, to whom he is profoundly in debt. When Ed comes across a mysterious, high-paying chef job, he falsifies his credentials and arrives at a remote, eerie mansion owned by Hazeline Yamamoto, a sharp-tongued, scandal-haunted British Japanese widow. Hazeline's extravagant tastes lead Ed to a tense but promising trial shift that he rushes to convert to full-time employment after he learns that Ikago is on his trail. As Ed falls deeper under Hazeline's influence, cooking for her secretive gatherings and accepting her sometimes ostentatious help, he begins to sense that her charity may mask darker motives. When Hazelin's facade finally cracks, Ed must confront just how entangled he's become with his new employer and determine how far he's willing to go to settle his debts. Kazumi's assured prose and tense set pieces keep the pages turning, even if certain plot developments are a little too predictable. Still, this is a solid bet for neo-noir fans.
