Broken Covenant: The Story of Father Bruce Ritter's Fall from Grace--How Power, Politics, And...

Freelancer Blum spent 1990 behind the scenes at the Falls--a trendy New York City restaurant owned by Bruce Goldstein and Terry Quinn--to produce this lively, amusing but sometimes too hip tale. In detailed vignettes, he anatomizes rituals like the search for investors, the formulation of the menu, pricing and the search for loyal, competent, good-looking employees. The Falls survives critics' pans to become a hot restaurant, but summer brings doldrums and an increasingly desperate, unsuccessful effort to stay afloat. Blum's clever style (lists, play-like dialogue, interior monologues) befits his subject, but it can grate, especially when he slips into the second person. (Nov.)