Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs

by Levi Johnston

Best known as Bristol Palin’s baby daddy and Sarah Palin’s favorite whipping boy, Levi Johnston sets out to clear his name and—with any luck—end his run as Alaska’s most hated man.

Promising hockey player and Governor Palin’s almost son-in-law, Levi Johnston was eighteen when Palin became the vice presidential nominee. His unique place as Bristol’s live-in boyfriend provided him a true insider’s view of what was going on behind closed doors. And how Sarah’s public views were often at odds with her home values. It makes it all the more curious that Sarah eventually turned her anger directly on Levi, after losing her ticket to the White House
After being bullied, lied about, and outspent in the courts when he attempted to bond with his new son, Tripp, Levi Johnston now is ready to set the record straight.
Deer in the Headlights is a poignant, at times very funny, and fascinating tale of a boy thrust into the media spotlight and now figuring out how to be an adult and a dad. Johnston, ever honest, had a unique window into Palintology at a critical time; he sat in the family’s living room and paid attention. Not bitter and never petty, Levi shares his story.
As Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC so aptly put “I love that kid. He's honest, he's straightforward, he's not embarrassed.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2011

About the author

Levi Keith Johnston is the former fiancé of Bristol Palin. He first received media attention in August 2008 when U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced that her daughter Bristol was five months pregnant with Johnston's baby and that the two were engaged. Johnston and Palin broke off their engagement in March 2009, and Johnston had several public feuds with the Palin family for which he later apologized. The couple announced they were engaged again in July 2010, but ended that engagement three weeks later.

After working in the Alaskan oil fields, Johnston began pursuing a career in the entertainment industry, aspiring to be a model and an actor.

In August 2010, Johnston announced that he is running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska in the October 4, 2011 election.

Reviews

[Ryan Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

In January I posted about reading Levi Johnston's "Deer in the Headlights," and I wanted to follow up with a short post about the book.

I'm giving it five stars and there's a reason for this. It's an easy read, it sounds honest enough, and I'm glad I got to read Levi's side of the story. He seems like a simple, uncomplicated guy, and for him to take on the task of actually getting a book of his own out I think is commendable in itself. I don't mean that in a snarky way either. I know how hard it is to write a book, and I've never even tackled a memoir. Most young guy Levi's age don't even read books let alone write them. For that alone he would have received at least four stars from me. And even if he had help with the book, he did it.

If Levi wanted to get his story out and show what he's really like with this book, as opposed to what's been written about him in the mainstream media and said by the Palin family, he succeeded. This post is not a knock against the Palin family. I'm not a political person (I don't trust any politician.)But as I've said before, you don't get to the position of becoming Governor of a state the size of Alaska...or any size for that matter...by being a simple girl with a simple dream. The Palin family, good old simple Todd included, are hardcore players and all that simple working man nonsense never passed with me. I could say the same thing about our current President, or anyone out there in a position of political power. It simply stands to reason. We aren't talking about simple down home folk when it comes to winning in politics.

But I did find a certain amount of innocence in Levi's book, where he was thrown, pardon the cliche, in with the wolves and they ate him up alive...or at least they tried. I believe his descriptions about certain family members. I like that I didn't get a sense of bitterness either. After all he's been through, he sounds as if he's still basically a nice person who is willing to maintain a balance and give credit where it is due, which is more than most in his position would have done. In fact, I didn't come away from the book thinking how terrible the Palin family is. I came away with the same thought I had before I started the book: these are complicated, powerful, ambitious people who know how to get what they want through determination and manipulation. I'm not being snarky about that either. Without ambitious people like Sarah and Todd Palin we wouldn't get anything done.

I didn't get the impression Levi was on the defensive, which is more than I can say about other books like this. Though I'm sure he could have sounded that way, it sounded more to me as if he came to terms with his situation and put an end to it with this book. Or, at the very least, he came to terms and showed us who he is. I could be wrong. I could be reading far more into this than I'm supposed to be reading. But I like to think that people write books like this to tell their stories, share their personal feelings, and let the world know who they are. I believe he did this in DITH and he did it well, too. I would recommend the book to anyone as well written, fast paced, and nicely executed. And I'm going to give it five stars because it deserves all that and more.

[Lauren orso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like, I believe him? There's something really believable about it?

If every word in this book was a lie, I don't care, it was better, more even handed, and believable than Bristol's book. I'm sure you have to write books like this even handedly or else they come off like Bristol's book (that is to say, a manifesto dictated but not read by an insaniac), but parts of it were so weird and bad that I REALLY FELT LIKE a high school drop out was writing them and not a team of ghostwriters. But maybe that's the rub of BEING a professional ghostwriter, is that you can capture someone so well that you read like a high school drop out. Or maybe the ghostwriters were also high school drop outs. Listen, I don't know these people, I'm speculating wildly, but maybe they didn't go to high school either. Maybe there's a club. I don't know.

Anyway, there are a lot of great parts. One is an ongoing great thing, which is that almost every time he refers to Bristol, it's by saying "my babe." Second is his part about voting for Obama because he seemed "naturally curious" and, conversely, the Palins allegedly believe in Alaskan secession which I think we're all sure is a NOT CURIOUS attitude to take. A not great part in the life and times of Levi is his affinity for bear baiting, which, what is that shit? If you want to give a bear a doughnut, don't murder him about it later, okay? NOT COOL, LEVI.

ANYWAY, anyway, as I consider myself an expert on this subject, I will be happy to answer further questions here, or on MTV, should Beat the Geeks be revived after its decades long hiatus.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been a diehard Palin gossip obsessive, but over the years it's been hard to avoid all the tidbits about Bristol and Levi. I thought this book at the least would be amusing - and luckily Levi and his ghost writers have come up with exactly that - an amusing and sometimes surprisingly insightful quick read.

Ultimately, Levi's no perfect angel - a high school drop out who's done his best to support his child in light of the drama and hoopla around the Palin family. If anything, this book has stoked my interested in following the dynamic between Sarah and Bristol Palin - hopefully some day Bristol will write her own tell all, hopefully telling that horrible "Mommy Sarah" off once and for all.

Oh, and Bristol and Levi's child Tripp wasn't a surprise - Bristol voiced her want for a child, and Levi notes that he wasn't really paying attention to the particulars. Thus Sarah Palin's spinning of the child as a teenage accident is a load of crap - I had a laugh when Levi describes how Bristol mentioned Sarah wanted her to develop a career speaking for teen abstinence, and Bristol had to ask what abstinence was.

[Debra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am so done with these people.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know why Levi allowed that picture on the cover of his book. It makes him look like a crazed lug head. Oh wait, the whole book does too.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because, like Sarah Palin’s, I was curious to see what Levi Johnston could find to write about for 288 pages. I didn’t have very high expectations for it, and I wasn’t disappointed.
For a book written with the help of/primarily by ghostwriters, I thought it could have been a lot better just in the delivery. Except for the occasional big word thrown in, most of the book felt like it was written by a 12-year-old. It was extremely episodic, and some of the ideas felt like they could have been threshed out more. Some of the sections are only a long paragraph, and some of the anecdotes felt unnecessary. Some of Levi’s hunting-related stories sort of come out of nowhere, and then are tied back to the main point of the book with a campy “and the moral of this story is” explanation. Like the story of Levi’s dad’s friend who gets eaten by a bear in the woods because he isn’t paying attention to his surroundings, and couldn’t get to his bow in time to save himself. Except Levi compares himself to the guy and says Tank and Rex are his weapons. But they can’t be very effective, since in this metaphor, Levi gets eaten by the bear.
There were also parts that were confusing and maybe accidentally misleading. The Playgirl photo shoot stands out the most. He says more than once, no frontal nudity, or so I was told, like that’s not what eventually happens. “I did have to admit that when my beautiful sister, Sadie, posed for a Playboy centerfold, I was grumpy. Like me, she was told there would be no frontal nudity either,” (198). Then, “I continued to hold the line at full frontal nudity for the cameras,” (204). I guess being protected by only a narrow hockey stick doesn’t correspond with Levi’s idea of no full frontal nudity, but he never explains further, or gives his reaction (or for that matter, anyone else’s) to the pictures that are actually used, and whether he feels he was duped.
Tank is a funny character, and that’s all he feels like, a character, not a real person in a real story. Just look at his career path: private-eye to body guard to managing Levi’s widely-varying gigs. I’d forgotten about the pistachio commercial – I think I only say it on TV a couple times.
Rex seems pretty useless as a lawyer. After the first time Levi mentions that Bristol doesn’t let Levi see Tripp when scheduled, I thought the lawyer should be doing something other than filing potions for hearings months away. Rex sure takes his time before telling Levi he needs to get a lawyer more familiar with family court. I’m not sure what has to happen before an Amber Alert can be announced, but surely law enforcement should have been somehow involved when Bristol wouldn’t return Levi’s calls and she even took the baby out of state. I really hope they can eventually get a custody agreement that is enforced, and that Levi gets to see his son, who has probably forgotten him.
One big pet peeve: I really wish the ghostwriters or editor would have put the dialogue in quotation marks. To make up for that lack, there is an overabundance of commas, many unnecessary.
I was thrilled that Levi included the lyrics to “Levi Johnston’s Blues,” written by awesome novelist Nick Hornby and sung by Ben Folds. To get the full experience however, listed to the song performer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZbUOC....

[Bookish · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hesitate to admit to reading this, but I must if I want to save others from my fate. There were interesting bits in this bio, but mostly it was just sad. I feel for Levi, but in the end, this isn't about exposing injustice - it's about making money while one can.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I also read Bristol Palin's book and have determined that one of them is a horrible liar. I'm not sure which

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life is a story with many characters. I feel for this young man. It was a quick easy read.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1968, Andy Warhol predicted that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." How could he have foreseen this era of reality TV, where anyone who knows anyone gets to be a fleeting star? In this case, the star’s claim to fame is as the father of the baby of the daughter of the candidate who never became Vice President in 2008. His biography’s title, “Deer in the Headlights,” is quite appropriate, since he was apparently as dumbstruck as a daft young fawn during his rise into the national spotlight. There are some other animals he brings to mind: he's as cunning as a fruit-fly and as masterful as a gnat, to name a few. Portrayed as your prototypical Alaskan white boy, Johnston presumably emerged from the womb fully clad in camo, steering a monster truck with one hand and clutching a gun in the other. He is a self-proclaimed expert on all game animals of the Alaskan frontier, and likens his life experiences to tales of the hunt. Bristol Palin, for example, reminds him of a female black bear he closely encounters who refuses even to acknowledge his existence. Sarah Palin is like a sly black bear who snuck up to slaughter a hunter unsuspectingly enjoying the scenery on a bright Alaskan morning. Johnston compares himself to a studmuffin of a black bear, who piteously fell prey to hunters because of his naive failure at constant vigilance.

Johnston paints the Palin siblings as Narnian creatures, inhabiting a mystical home in the tundra, where countless young nymphs with charmed names, such as Bristol, Willow, Piper, Track and Trig, bound in and out of the household, where parental guidance is missing, and the domain is ruled by wild children. Todd Palin is an absentee dad, brooding solitarily in his garage until the wee hours when he stalks into the living room to pass out on an armchair. Sarah Palin permanently hides herself in her room, stampeding in and out of the children’s lives whimsically, only to brush off her daughter’s pleas for attention, order fast food for her hungry clan, label her youngest son "my little retard," or proclaim things like, “I hate this friggin’ job [as Governor of Alaska]! I should be making some real money!”

That this book is actually readable is testament that it was not independently written by the semi-literate high-school dropout who is named as sole author. His ghostwriters, to their credit, managed some authenticity by preserving the voice of the overconfident teenage would-be frat boy that likely represents Johnston’s true persona. Despite his cockiness, he is a bit endearing in his frankness; and sympathetic in his obvious inability to match the wiles of Palin’s teams of lawyers and PR crew. This book seemed, to be Johnston’s golden opportunity to relate his side of the story, and—most pointedly—to affirm Sarah Palin’s reputation as “the gift that keeps on giving.” The reader’s hilarity at the expense of Sarah, Bristol, or even Levi himself, won’t do any of these folks much harm. They have cashed in on their ridiculousness, and each one is laughing all the way to the bank.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Levi Johnston got sucked into fame and controversies when Sarah Palin was picked to run for office as VP of the United States four years ago, because he was dating Ms. Palin's oldest daughter Bristol and she was pregnant with his child. I liked reading this book as it was a quick read and fun. However, Johnston made a lot of money by selling his soul to the Devil so it was hard to feel bad for anything that he was dragged through. He was paid to be on talk shows, pose for Playgirl's first printed magazine copy in years, and many other things. Johnston sounds young and even he admits he was naive and not well read. He had a good relationship with Ms. Palin in the beginning but that did change. He felt that there were a lot of changes in Ms. Palin and her family once they struck gold with fame and money, which just goes on to prove that money can change people. Johnston is a native Alaskan, but he says that he feels changed in many ways since he's now had some exposure to travel out of his home state. He says that he loves his son Tripp, even though the Palins have tried to make him look like he doesn't care or is a "dead beat dad." I tend to believe Johnston in a lot of the things he talks about. Except I will never really know what is the truth unless I was to spend time with the Palins myself which is unlikely to happen (ever). Anyway, it was a fun story and I decided that if I ever have the chance to sell my soul to the Devil to make a lot of money, I might do it too. It doesn't sound half bad.

[Jillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hm... Levi Johnston, the infamous baby daddy and ex-finace of Bristol Palin. When my mom handed me this book and said I had to read it, I thought she was insane. Of course, then she explained to me that most of the book completely trashed the Palins. We're not big Palin fans at my house. Story: When I was in the eighth grade, I had a magnet with a picture of Sarah Palin on it that said Smiling gives you wrinkles. My history teacher loved it so much that I gave it to him when the year ended.

Obviously, he's not winning the Pulitzer, but Levi definitely has something to say. I'm not sure how much of this book was true, but it was amusing to say the least. Sarah Palin must've been fuming when this came out. Which, of course, makes me laugh. This doesn't really deserve two stars because it was totally pointless and I wasn't really interested until the chapter when he started dating Bristol but I gave it anyway because he should get two points for both pissing off Sarah Palin and making her look bad at the same time. (Not really that hard of course, but good job anyway!) I recommend only for amusement purposes. Get it from someone else if you can. If you can't, steal it from the bookstore. They won't mind anyway. I mean, he's a nobody. It's not like he's Brad Pitt or something.

[Kathy Hiester · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK so yes I bought the Playgirl Levi Johnston was in just to see what the fuss was about and discovered well to be honest there wasn’t much to talk about and in fact it was very disappointing so when I saw Deer in the Headlights I figured why not pick it up I mean he must have something going for him. Right? Umm no. Johnston comes across as a sympathetic tag along to the Sarah Palin campaign that for all intents and purposes ruined the new Grandma’s bid for election. So I get it he is and will always be famous so should I say infamous for knocking up Bristol and so for that I commend his book as a way to cash in on having to say he is a Palin’s baby daddy.

3 Stars

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will say that I can't believe I read this. (But yes, I feel an obligation to read Bristol Palin's book now to get her side of the story.) But my favorite programming is reality TV, and I count US Weekly as one of my weekly reads. That being said, this book wasn't bad. And I feel bad for the kid. He doesn't appear malicious. Just probably isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and as a result, has encountered many, many mistakes along the way. (He probably should just stay away from the public eye from now on though if he wants to prove that he's not out for fame.)

[Kay Delbosque]

Break out the popcorn! To get the full effect, you really need to read Levi's and Bristol's books back to back. These two sanctimonious "victims" are hilarious in their portrayals of themselves and each other. So run, don't walk, to your library and catch the show! I think they are perfect for each other. Or deserve each other. Or something.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this directly after reading Bristol Palin's memoir. It seems like Levi just wants to blame the Palin's for everything. If he was trying to make himself look better by writing this book, he failed miserably. However, if you need to satisfy your tabloid gossip craving (admit it, we all do), this book is worth the read.

[Dustin Rollins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, it was interesting to get a new perspective on the Palin family drama. The book was definitely not a piece of fine literature and the language was a bit much at times. It was worth a look and definitely a quick read.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the local library after I read Bristol & Sarah Palin's books. I feel like I spent more time scoffing at his version of the "truth" than actually enjoying the "candy" of a read that it is.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woe is me... Jeesh, all he did in this book is blame the Palins for everything.. He acted like he didnt do anything wrong.. He didnt "wrap" it up to begin with, which is why he's in the position he's in.. Be a man.. Stand up for your responsibilities... Blame no one but yourself

[Mikey Warden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may or may not have read this in a Percocet induced stupor post surgery. I was bored, stuck still, and curious. Unfortunately this book only alleviated my curiosity. It was a miserable telling of a mediocre story. Things I wish I hadn't read.

[Herb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I read it and Bristol Palin's books and now I can say goodbye to the whole story. Truthfully, there really isn't much to either story. A time filler.

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I am infatuated with the Palin's and Johnston's.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uhm...I got curious. I get that this is published because there is a market for it. What I don't get that there is only a hardcover edition avaiable of it.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly know nothing about any of this 'scandal' at all. This was just a book in the big box of books Dad brought back from North Dakota.

That being said, this is written from a little boy trying to be an adult. It sounds like everyone in this book was a little kid trying to be an adult. I don't think there's any clear 'victor', and there were a LOT of mistakes made on a lot of sides. Who even knows.

Who even cares?

[Whitney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book reads as if Levi Johnson was told to write an essay about what he did over his summer vacation, he waited until the very last moment to do it and he was given a sympathy C as a result (because even though it’s written poorly and he never uses quotation marks, he did turn it in on time).

[Linda Galway · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was almost like reading a story in the National Enquirer

[Toni Fuscellaro · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't expect much from his book. Just an easy, salacious read.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not particularly favorable to Sarah Palin

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

See Bristol Palin review

[Blts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guilty pleasure summer reading. It is what it is.