William Schoell put out a number of King-esque horror novels back in the 80s. "Shivers" features a hideous creature stalking the underworld of a city which has the ability to kill merely by the virulence of its thoughts. Overall, it is a horror novel of average interest to those who love horror fiction.

Many reviewers here have expressed the same feelings of frustration that I had experienced during and after reading this book, so I won't repeat what has already been written. At one point early in the book, the authors dismissed Christina Crawford's "Mommie Dearest" as being untrue simply because of what they claimed were various inaccuracies in her story. The authors further went on to say that if Christina had factual inaccuracies in her story (and they felt that much--if not all--was inaccurate), then her entire story should be considered to be untrue. As I continued to read Quirk and Schoell's book, I noticed their inaccurate reports on several situations in Joan Crawford's life and career. Their rather acidic judgment of Christina's story kept running through my mind...and so it seemed only fair to place the same criteria upon their work...and it became difficult (if not almost impossible) to place any stock in what they had written.

I was disappointed in my purchase. I should have saved my hard-earned money to buy something else. Reader beware!

I just finished reading this "essential" biography and am so disappointed. To me, one of the authors seems to feel a saintliness toward Joan while the other goes from liking her films to trying to like her films. As I read this book, I felt like Quirk and Schoell were trying to convince me about aspects of Crawford's personality and events in her life and believe about them as they do. The job of a biographer is to write an objective narrative of someone's life. It is enjoyable reading but unfulfilling given the subject. One annoyance is encountering the phrase "chewing up the scenery" way too often. Then, there's the bombshell finale chapter in which Christina is put in the pan and roasted. The writing is almost like Faye as Joan - out of control!

I have been a Crawford fan all my life and am fascinated watching her in films, looking at her photographs and reading about her. If only someone in modern times would...could write an accurate objective biography that delves more into the woman, what she was about, what made her tick and NOT try to make her a saint or crucify her. Joan Crawford truly was one of the most fascinating personalities of the Twentieth Century. She deserves that much.

So, I guess we'll have to stick with JOAN CRAWFORD, A BIOGRAPHY by Bob Thomas or JOAN CRAWFORD: THE LAST WORD by Fred Guiles in the meantime. These two biographies are really good, and I highly recommend them.

While I enjoyed this book's thorough discussions of Crawford's films, I found much to be annoyed by. The authors portray Crawford as nearly a saint--and while I know she was capable of great kindness, I don't believe her motives were ALWAYS pure, and the one-sidedness of this book makes it difficult to swallow. EVERY SINGLE TIME the authors bring up a dispute or spat or negative information from a Crawford rival, they dismiss that person as jealous or washed up or a has-been. Similarly, they dismiss her "jealous" daughter's claims of child abuse as some kind of good old-fashioned "discipline." I don't claim to know whether Mommie Dearest contains a shred of truth or not, but this book does nothing to prove it as inaccurate as they claim. The main source of information here is Lawrence Quirk's own conversations with Joan in her elder years, and let's face it, anybody who's ever read Joan's "My Way of Life" knows that truth-telling is not her forte.

A more balanced biography is Fred Lawrence Guiles's The Last Word (1995). Guiles, at least, is not afraid to discuss unpleasant incidents in Crawford's life from several different viewpoints, and he refrains from opinionizing whenever the truth is unclear.

This book is not as good as his previous books. The story starts out in 1930's and follows the life of a young man who marries his high school sweetheart and on the day he is about to enter the navy. He finds out thru a series of magic spells that he will not live thru the upcoming war. So being a first time user of black magic he calls forth and makes a pact with a 'demon' to live thru the upcoming war of 1941.

Cut to the future (about 40 years). The story shifts attention from the husband to the wife. His wife starts to have nightmares that her husband is still alive and so starts a adventure that starts in the eastern seaboard and ends in sunny Hawaii.

The writing is fast pace and the description of the attack on the Arizona, the Hawaii landscape, The Arizona (past and present) and the Arizona Memorial is well written, but if you are tired of reading about the Pearl Harbor attack and about the USS Arizona then this book might not be for you.

If you are a fan of Mr. Schoell's then you might forgive him for not being up to his usual standards for writing a good book.

The bad news is that there is some question about religion belief and 'black magic' that may turn off some readers. So, if you are going to read this book it is best to keep a open mind at all times while reading the book and make any judgement calls after you are done with it. I wouldn't recommend this book over his other books, but that is a judgement call I leave up to you, the reader to make.

The blurb on the cover of THE RAT PACK says "They had fun" but there's precious little fun to be found here. This book is a tedious listing of (mostly negative) events. It lacks any sparkle and vigor, and if I believed half of it, I'd have to wonder just what the appeal of this group of overgrown adolescents could be. There had to be more.

The Chairman of The Board is the centerpiece as an egomaniacal bully who uses his star power to make the world feel indebted to him. His reported temper tantrums seem utterly absurd. Anyone who used his fists or threats of mob violence as much as the authors claim Sinatra did, should have and would have been locked up, "different era" or no. The Frank Sinatra in these pages wouldn't be a "King of Cool". He wouldn't be anything much.

The rest of the boys orbit around Frank like some kind of an inebriated solar system. The boozing and skirt-chasing is leaden, so where's the thrill? Where are the laughs? If this book is at all accurate (and it isn't, listing Dean Martin's date of death incorrectly), it means that this group of supremely talented entertainers valued nothing, not even themselves.

The bulk of the book is made up of mostly scathing summaries of the Rat Pack movies. Nary a word is said about either Frank or Dean's musical careers. Sammy Davis Jr. is dismissed as little more than the Rat Pack houseboy. Peter Lawford is depicted as a sexually confused drug addict craving the attention of the others. Joey Bishop is virtually forgotten. The Rat Pack Mascots (Shirley MacLaine and Angie Dickinson) get barely honorable mentions (MacLaine far more than Dickinson). One has to wonder why Shirley MacLaine would continue to associate with The Rat Pack after being assaulted by mobster Sam Giancana twice in their company. The book begs an answer. MacLaine is no slouch, so obviously more and better was happening with the "Clan" than this sordid book deigns to tell us. (...)

I gave this book 2 stars,because I didn't think it was quite as bad as some of the other reviewers did.(Apparently,some people don't want to hear anything negative about "MR.Sinatra".Still,this was a pretty shallow book.It wasn't anywhere as good as Shawn Levy's book.In fact,I can't say that I learned anything about the Rat Pack that I didn't already know.If you're already pretty familiar with the Rat Pack,you can safely skip this one.

Here is the deal. If you are just starting to get into the Rat Pack or any of the players individually. Then this book is a good start. I would call it the Cliff notes of the individuals and their movies. If you have seen all the movies including the Matt Helm movies or if you have already read books on Dean, Frank, Sammy's biography then you are way ahead of this book and pass it by.

But if you have not seen the movies and want to learn the basics of each man and then from there search into each one of them seperatly then this is a good starter. There are some great books on all the guys but you will finded Sammy's Biography to be the most fun. Remember to check out deanmartinfancenter.com for more info on the Rat Pack. For the guys who wrote this you could have given us some fun facts or answered some questions, instead they read everyone else book and put together their own version.