They say, do they not, that The Dinner is the European Gone Girl. Mais non! I say. I threw GG at the wall after around page 100 with some force, but I finished The Dinner with a distinct smacking of the chops and dabbing of the napkin, so that's a big difference. Both books are about extremely irritating people, it must be admitted. But the plot swerves in GG are more than a little ridiculous and there for the standard lo-cal thriller effect, whereas I thought the disturbed and frankly nasty personalities on display here were just this side of plausible and therefore gave me a frisson, which sounds like something you could eat but isn't. 
 It's hard to discuss the plot. You know it's all about one single dinner in a very posh restaurant so the whole book is one evening from around 8 to around 1 am but with copious flashbacks. The ultra-sophistication of the restaurant brought me out in a cold sweat all by itself, with the maitre d' hovering by each dish and explaining what is on the plate - "The goat's cheese comes from the Rarata-Monteoru region of Romania. It is an organic farm established by monks in 1459. Each goat has a nominated chef to attend its dietary needs etc etc". So all that is quite amusing. 
 It is two brothers and their wives who are eating this dinner. Or actually pecking at it then jumping up and rushing outside to make a mysterious phone call. Gradually the ghastly family secrets are unveiled. Each brother has a 15 year old son and the two of them have been spoiler-oiler which is enough to put a person off his escargots. It turns out that the brother who is narrating is spoiler-spoil so you just don't know what a guy like that will do. So very spoilerish things have happened and indeed will happen. And I cannot say any more than that. 
 I rattled through this and as I did the movie was already forming in my brain. I see fluid camerawork swirling round and round the table and many revolting close-ups of the fancy grub. IMDB says it will be out next year starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Steve Coogan. What? Steve Coogan? Is there time to change that? 
 Three stars. Kind of sort of slightly recommended. Haute cuisine is what they eat in this novel but The Dinner is strictly burger and fries.