If you’re a Bon Jovi fan then you’re going to find a lot to dive into within these pages. Prolific rock and metal author Neil Daniels does a very good job in detailing a veritable smorgasbord of the events, places, people, releases and merchandise of the band, the writer displaying his customary attention to detail and enthusiasm for accuracy. Where possible, Daniels intersperses the basics with interviews with people associated with the generously-coiffured giants, including photographer Ross Halfin whose relationship with the Jovi is at best a little bumpy.
There are a few pages which are lists of tour dates – enough to send anyone off into reveries about Jon’s glistening torso, which could well be the point. There’s the odd glitch too, with a couple of pages out of sequence in our review copy but, in general, the band’s longevity and sheer mass of material, plus 200 black-and-white pics is enough to make this a worthy addition to the bookshelf. Love ’em or hate ’em, 120 million album sales ain’t half impressive and the narrative that emerges from this encyclopedia goes some way to showcasing the nuts’n’bolts of their rise to the top.
