Booknote: Hungry Ghosts

Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose, Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts. Milwaukie, OR: Berger Books, 2018.  ISBN: 978-1-50670-669-6.

Genre: graphic novels and comics
Subgenre: horror, suspense, Japanese horror
Format: Hardback
Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library 

This is one of Anthony Bourdain's last works, and it was excellent. The premise is a group of chefs and gourmet diners play a game known as Hyakumonogatai Kaidankai, the game of 100 candles. The idea is to try to scare each other with tales of fear and terror, each more scary than the one before.

The volume contains:

• An introductory scene
• Eight tales
• An afterword
• Five new recipes by Bourdain
• The "Real Ghosts. This tells the real stories of the ghosts in the the tales. It is illustrated as well. 
• A cover gallery
• Creator biographies

Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose wrote the tales. Various artists did the excellent artwork. The Japanese have a strong tradition of haunted tales and ghost stories, and the writers here bring this tradition to life. The tales are not really gory. These are more eerie tales of ghost, karma, hauntings, and suspense. They are short tales that draw you in and stay with you after reading them. The supplementary material on the ghosts is a nice addition, and it is great for those of us interested in learning more. 

Overall, I greatly enjoyed the book. I highly recommend it, and it is one I would definitely add to my personal collection. If you enjoy Japanese ghost stories in general, the book is for you. Fans of works like Tales of the Crypt or similar EC Comics titles might enjoy this as well.

5 out of 5 stars.