Bitter Fish is a colorful, cynical, and very real tale of one man's search for meaning. Thomas's characters are open and outspoken with their (sometimes extreme) opinions, which gives the reader plenty of room to let the ideas in and bounce around.

The main character is an outdoors enthusiast and computer programmer recovering from a painful divorce, who goes to Africa and encounters a witch doctor that changes his life. When modern medicine can't cure him, he finds answers in the lifestyle of a new-found friend surviving alone in the wilds of the Ozark mountains.