Book Review: The Accidental Joe by Tom Straw

Tom Straw is no stranger to being a ghost. Following the publication of his debut suspense novel, 2007’s Trigger Episode, he secretly assumed the identity of television’s fictional scribe Richard Castle, penning seven New York Times bestselling tie-in books before reasserting his authorial independence with Buzz Killer (2017). This May, Straw—also an Emmy and Writers Guild of America nominated TV producer and writer (Night Court, Cosby, Nurse Jackie, etc.)—offers his take on international intrigue with The Accidental Joe.

Subtitled The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef, the book introduces world-renowned culinary personality Sebastian Pike. Host of the globe-trotting television show Hangry Globe—which features a who’s who of prominent guests, from fellow cooks and cultural icons to politicians and pop stars—Pike has popularized a brand of banter that’s both brainy and biting. It’s under the direction of his new producer, Cammie Nova, that he finds himself slated to interview French filmmaker Victor Fabron. But when Fabron is gunned down right in front of him, Pike discovers that reality TV just got … well, real.

Before Pike can recover from the shock of witnessing a murder, he’s met with another surprise: the revelation that Cammie is actually a CIA handler. Moreover, she wants to use Hangry Globe (and thereby Pike himself) as a vehicle through which to extricate one of the agency’s spies, working undercover as Vladimir Putin’s accountant, before his cover is blown. Dubbed the MVB for Most Valuable Bystander and promised that he’ll be safe from harm, Pike nevertheless finds himself at risk—and not just from a cadre of deadly spooks and foreign powers but from the whims of his own heart, which begins to fancy Cammie despite the inherent dangers such a romance would invite. 

Straw maintains a brisk pace, doling out abundant action and continually upping the stakes as he whisks his characters (and readers) from Paris to Provence. Understandably daunted by the nature of the mission, Pike—still grieving the recent loss of his girlfriend, who died in a boat explosion that may or may not have been accidental—must summon up the bravado required of him, even with his life and heart on the line. Consequently, he can’t quite trust himself—and he knows better than to trust anybody else. It’s a dilemma that Cammie knows well, given her own haunted history. Pike’s pithy narration underscores the clash of personal and professional interests while simultaneously grounding the story despite its impressive scope.

Tom Straw serves up a sophisticated smorgasbord of suspense in The Accidental Joe, which boasts a heaping load of originality with undertones of deep-rooted tradition. Not simply an espionage thriller, the book is also part food devotional, part travelogue, and part television primer. Told with insider knowledge, sharp wit and wordplay, and more than a few nods to his forebearers and contemporaries (Reed “Feral” Coleman, anyone?), it’s further proof that Straw is one of our greatest (ahem) assets. Quite simply, this is a bounty for the ravenous reader!