Engrossing, depressing ... Michael emerges as a gifted, tragic and infuriating figure, whose tortured relationship to his sexuality steered him into artistic confusion and self-sabotage.
Definitive, epic-sized ... Emotionally satisfying and meticulously researched ... Although he writes with compassion, Gavin doesn't let Michael off the hook for his self-destructive tendencies.
Comprehensive ... Detailed, evenhanded ... Though some of the author’s descriptions of the 1980s music scene are only serviceable, his first-rate reporting makes this biography sing. Gavin’s real stories of triumphs and tragedies poignantly explain one of pop’s most enigmatic stars.
