The Lemon

<b>“[T]his poised and playful debut novel is a sly satire on foodie culture and the modern hype machine. . . . As tart as ‘artisanal citrus,’ as sharp as a chef’s knife, <i>The Lemon</i> is both a gleeful foodie sendup and an incisive takedown of the commercial exploitation of just about everything.”<br><i>—The New York Times Book Review </i>(Editors’ Choice)<br><br>Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2022 by <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> • <i>Vogue</i> • <i>AARP the Magazine</i> • <i>The AV Club</i> • <i>Parade</i> • <i>Eater</i> • <i>New York Post</i> • <i>LitHub</i> • <i>Publishers Lunch</i> • and more!<br><br>Set in the intersecting worlds of fine dining, Hollywood, and the media, a darkly hilarious and ultimately affecting story about the underside of success and fame, and our ongoing complicity in devouring our cultural heroes.</b><br><br>While filming on location in Belfast, Northern Ireland, John Doe, the universally adored host of the culinary travel show <i>Last Call</i>, is found dead in a hotel room in an apparent suicide. As the news of his untimely demise breaks stateside, a group of friends, fixers, hustlers, and opportunists vie to seize control of the narrative: Doe’s chess-master of an agent Nia, ready to call in every favor she is owed to preserve his legacy; down-on-her-luck journalist Katie, who fabricates a story about Doe to save her job at a failing website; and world-famous chef Paolo Cabrini, Doe’s closest friend and confidant, who finds himself entangled with a deranged Belfast hotel worker whose lurid secret might just take them all down.<br><br>Bolstered by the authors' insider knowledge of high-end restaurants and low-end media, <i>The Lemon</i> delivers a raucous examination of our culture with deliciously cutting prose, crackling dialogue, and an unpredictable plot that will keep you riveted to the last page.