Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light

This quite a large biography and as is the case with a lot of biographies, I enjoyed the subject of Alfred Hitchcock growing up and how he started his career. However, I felt that it became a bit boring later on in his career, which I felt was a bit mundane. It may become more interesting later on in his life. I don't know and have not decided yet whether I am going to start reading it again or not. Generally I felt that I had wasted the best part of £8.99.

Never, they say, judge a book by its cover. The jacket looks idiotic and I delayed buying this book for months until I found time to read some reviews. When I did I discovered a superb biography - the best book about Hitchcock I've read apart from Truffaut's classic tome. American critics were often unappreciative when Hitchcock was alive, but this author really reveals what the Master of Suspense was like. Crammed full of information - much of it new to me - and highy readable. But please change that vile cover! It must be losing you a lot of readers.

I'm 600 pages into this beauty of a biog, and already feeling bereft at the thought of finishing it. Page-turningly fascinating, both when you're familiar with Hitchcock's films and when you're not; it's impossible to imagine a more well-rounded (you'll excuse the pun) account of this extraordinary man. The author's research is meticulous, yet he wears his knowledge lightly; this is not a text littered with multiple cross-refs or overcluttered with footnotes, but a highly readable story that both acknowledges Hitchcock's flaws and puts the received wisdoms about his various oddities into perspective. It's such a damn good read that I may well go on to read another of this guy's biogs despite having no prior interest in his subjects...

Great read! I'm only halfway through it at the moment, but I haven't laughed so much in a long while. Can't wait to read tonight's installment!

An excellent and fairly dispassionate analysis of the man, the myth and the movies, much kinder than Spoto and to my mind at least, fairer. Well researched and detailed, the greatest delight is in the minutiae of production. Readable but informed.