I remember watching the WWF with my friends twenty years ago.  Unlike most others, I always found myself mesmerized by Andre the Giant.  Bad guy or not, the man had my attention.  The day The Princess Bride came out, not only did I go see it in theaters, but I still own a copy of it today.  I did know that wrestling was fake then and though I've moved on, I also tell my children regularly that wrestling is perhaps one of the most brilliantly choreographed shows out there. 

Winnepeg's Christian Chris Irvine gives an in depth look into the world of professional wrestling.  He's around my age, so I found his biography to bring back a lot of memories, I still have my Stryper albums right along side my Iron Maiden albums.  Chris happens to be one of today's most widely known wrestlers, Chris Jericho.  A LION'S TALE: AROUND THE WORLD IN SPANDEX offers not only a look into the childhood obsession that grew into a stunning profession, but it also offers a lot of behind the scene information that many fans would not necessarily know. 

As a freelance writer, I realize that Chris Jericho would have had some help getting his thoughts and memories onto paper.  That man is co-author Peter Thomas Fornatale.  The pair do an exceptional job with this novel because I was hooked from the start and couldn't put it down, much to my husband's dismay as he sat waiting to see if I planned to finish dinner or if he needed to be doing it himself. 

The writing is engaging from the start and apart from one word (ricockulous) that I felt wore thin after a couple occurrences, there is little I think they could have improved.  A LION'S TALE is not only perfect for those wanting a more in-depth glimpse of life as a wrestler, but it is also a trip down memory lane to anyone who was in high school in the late 1980s.