The beginning of the book is not dissimilar to most other Nirvana books; it's basically a condensed Kurt Cobain/Nirvana bio. Once Courtney Love is introduced, it's clear that she will not be portrayed favorably, both by quoted sources and the authors' tone.
The middle section focuses on the Cobains' stormy relationship with each other, the media, and others that had the misfortune to anger them. The infamous Vanity Fair scandal and the resulting fallout are covered before moving on to the roles of Tom Grant and Hank Harrison -- Courtney Love's father -- in this tale.
Grant is built up, at the very least, as a competent investigator -- despite Love's unflattering comments -- able to find discrepencies or strange circumstances that cast doubt on the official ruling of suicide. It's frustrating, though, that Grant will not reveal what he claims are keys to the case. He also acknowledges that access to official files is needed in order to establish some facts, though that seems tenuous if the files do not contain what he anticipates. The authors finish this section of the book by summing up why the case should be reopened, mentioning theories where Grant is on shaky ground, and concluding:
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"There is no doubt Grant is sincere in his crusade, but it is important to note that he has not produced any smoking-gun evidence linking Courtney to her husband's death (he claims he is saving it until the case is reopened by the FBI), and until he does, she is entitled to the presumption of innocence."
Describing Love as an uninhibited conversationalist is an understatement, but as Harrison is profiled it's easy to see where she got this gift (curse?). Despite all that he says, some of Harrison's statements make it hard to remember anything else:
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"Suddenly a lot of pieces came together. I certainly wouldn't put it past her to have Kurt killed. Face it, she's a psycopath."
But this is where the book starts to lose steam. The father-daughter "he said, she said" leads into: the death of Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff; the death of a Seattle police detective; the copycat suicides of dozens of Nirvana fans; and how Love dealt with the tragedy, moved on, and changed her image.
While the bickering between Harrison and Love may entertain some, there's not a lot of substance when it comes to what the book had been leading up to, unless one can believe a father (a self-described flake) that finds it easy to say outrageous things about his own daughter. The two deaths that followed Cobain's are eery, but not a lot is brought forward to connect the cases in an attempt to create a conspiracy. The pages devoted to troubled fans that ended their own lives offers nothing when it comes to answering the question Who Killed Kurt Cobain?, though it does demonstrate how much of an impact Cobain had worldwide. The remaining text tries to cast Love unfavorably by cataloging her numerous instances of odd behavior and statements after April 1994, but most everyone is already aware of these due to the amount of media coverage she receives.
Although you may not agree with what this book set out to do, the first ten chapters can be informative to those interested in conspiracy theories or looking for an alternative view of events that most media outlets have never covered. If you haven't read this book yet, but have been online long enough to witness or take part in murder theory discussions, chances are you won't learn much from this book -- this is the source of a lot of the information used by fans on the pro-murder/anti-Courtney side of this heated issue.
