Ka-Boom! by Gareth Crocker

I am a recent fan of all things Gareth Crocker. I enjoyed Never Let Go, even with the quirk that I can’t reveal to you, because it’s a spoiler, I fell in love with Jack when he wrote about finding him, and The Last Road Trip has forever changed my perceptions of navigating our beautiful country, with all its colourful characters, astounding natural beauty and unique landscapes.

It was probably a matter of time before the man wrote a (sort of) memoir. And, I have to say, I’d much rather have that than a(nother) book on how to write.

Gareth is not old, but he does have an interesting collection of stranger-than-fiction facts to tell us about. Consider the summary from the review on Books Live:

“Crocker has published half a dozen novels, made a horror film, run a 90 kilometre race in which he bled through his shoes, successfully failed to play right-wing for Manchester United, attempted the Olympics at 38, wrestled a ghost, been the spokesperson for a company whose head office exploded, been run over by a Honda, survived two almost plane crashes and is currently filming a superhero TV show.”

And as you can tell from this excerpt, he writes in his inimitable, wry, “slap myself over the head with a dead fish” deadpan humor. It will have you chuckling, or at the very least shaking your head and smiling. A lot.

It’s a fabulous read. Just two gripes. It isn’t – as the cover says - for men and boys (and the women who want to know why). Everyone will enjoy this. And it is way too short. Easily read in an afternoon, you will wish you hadn’t got through so quickly.

ISBN: 9781928257127

You may also enjoy Finding Jack, by Gareth Crocker or The Last Road Trip by the same.

If you're into memoirs, try KARMA, Deception and a pair of Red Ferraris by Elaine Taylor.