Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada have written an intense description of the recent steroid era of baseball. The investigative journalists have have attempted to reach the bottom of one worst eras in baseball history.
This book may be relatively hyperbolic but it is informative and even slightly enlightening. Game of Shadows explains how Victor Conte and his company BALCO influenced and introduced steroids to Barry Bonds and other sporting stars. For example there is in depth analysis of the reason Barry Bonds supposedly took steroids in pursuit of the Home Run record.
Williams and Fainaru-Wada are also extremely critical of Victor Conte (and rightly so). The book details this influence on Bonds as well as convicted drug cheats in athletics like Olympic superstar Marion Jones, former US sprinter Tim Montgomery and Dwain Chambers.
At times the book, though, does seem to turn into a bit of a rant which is is extremely one-sided. One has to remember that Barry Bonds, the focus of the book, has not been proven to have taken steroids. The evidence in the book is compelling and does make an interesting read.
7 out of 10
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