With all the credibility of a trembling, wild-eyed junkie promising you that this time he's really quit, Hunter Thompson earnestly insists that his latest tome, Better Than Sex, is his last book on politics. Maybe he realizes he's run out of things to say.
This book tries too hard. It's twisted like one of those come-clean confessionals that Watergate felons penned in prison when they found Christ; and twisted like warped humor that wildly and awkwardly misses its mark.
Politics is the most powerful and harrowing of Thompson's many addictions, and it's a drug that let him down. The thrill of politics is a rush he claims can be better than sex.
But Better Than Sex doesn't ring true as any sort of political exposé; Thompson is unable to overcome the reverent awe that drips from every one of his descriptions of men with Beltway power.
At times, the book rambles into self-absorbed musings. But Thompson has never been known for coherence. Passion is what made this guy the great icon of outlaw journalists - and that's what makes this book, despite its flaws, worth looking at.
Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie, by Hunter Thompson: US$23. Random House: (800) 726 0600, +1 (212) 751 2600.
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