Goners: The Final Hours of the Notable and Notorious

by Gordon Kerr

It’s human nature to want to know about the lives of famous figures, but it’s also human nature to want to know about their deaths, especially the unusual and sometimes sordid details. In smart prose with a light touch, Goners reveals the last days, hours, and moments of 50 notable and notorious figures in history such as Alexander the Great, John Belushi, Billy the Kid, Joan Crawford, Princess Diana, Charles Dickens, Cary Grant, Ernesto Che Guevara, Harry Houdini, Bruce Lee, Marie Antoinette, Pablo Picasso, Tupac Shakur, and Andy Warhol. You’d have to read 50 biographies to get all the in-depth information that author Gordon Kerr has compiled under one cover.
Read straight through or just dipped into, Goners is a compelling and curious ride.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Adult, Death, Reference

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Gordon Kerr was born in the Scottish new town of East Kilbride and worked in the wine trade and then bookselling and publishing before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of numerous books in a variety of genres, including art, history, true crime, travel and humour. He has a wife and two children and lives in Hampshire and—when he can—South West France.

Reviews

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goners should reside in the bathroom, not because it covers Elvis's death which occured in a bathroom, but because it's one of those books you can pick up and read a section of and then put it down. Oddly enough, I couldn't put it down. Maybe I have an unhealthy interest in death that I never realized, or maybe my brain just needed a break. More likely it is the fact the Kerr writes clean prose with tantalizing tidbits that pull you from story to story.

[Metagion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very cool if you're just plain curious about how celebrities went on to their big reward, be it Ché Guevera, Liberace or even Pope John Paul II. Compiled by the author Gordon Kerr, it gives you a glimpse (or a 'slice of Death') into the demises and aftermath of how these folks passed into history. The book I got (from my Library; it's a 'loaner') is really nice with a red silk place holder so you can mark your page. I just wish the book was longer :( Great for trivia also. :)

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good bathroom reading.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read that covers the deaths of famous and infamous people, circumstances leading up to their demise as well as lots of historical information. It's an easy book to dip into to read a couple of stories at a time that only take a few pages apiece.

[Melissa G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little read if you like small quips of history.

[Sarah Frick · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and fascinating book. Not particularly healthy to read in large doses, best absorbed a few chapters in a sitting.

I believed the book to be well researched and full of true accounts, but did find myself doubting it a bit later on due to 2 errors.

The first was either a factual error or a badly written sentence in which he mentioned Sylvia Plath attended Smith College in Boston!!! Of course, Smith is on the other side of the state of Massachusetts. In his defense, he may have meant that Plath attempted suicide in Boston during the time she was a student at Smith. Anyway, that was red flag number 1.

Red flag number 2 was an editing error in which the word inferred was used instead of implied. That just bugs me.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sounds slightly dark (admittedly) but is absolutely unputdownable. This book is a great way to remember how some of the most interesting personalities in human history have checked out, from Mary Queen of Scots to the King himself. Filled with fascinating facts, this book is my favourite guilty pleasure. Published as Goners in the US.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one is going to confuse Goners with great literature, but then again, someone who looks solely for great literature isn't likely to read it anyway. It's a fast, entertaining read with a healthy dose of black humor, perfect for indulging your morbid curiosity.

[Lindsay White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this is my kind of book - I'm only on the John Belushi entry now, but learned so much about his final hours and death (a back-up singer for the Band was convicted of manslaughter for administering Belushi speedballs the night he died!) than from any SNL book I've read.

[Karen (Living Unabridged) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite the odd lineup. Monsters and princesses and Hollywood royalty and a few folks I'd never heard of. I suppose the recent death of Philip Seymour Hoffman might be one reason this book jumped out at me at the library.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, yet an odd mish-mash of characters. Ilearned a lot and put several of these people on my 'biographies to read' list.

[Al]

Good and bad endings for the inner ghoulish among us.

[Louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just used this a book talk starter & it worked great! Kids really responded well.

[Cindy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, fun read - learned about the last days of many interesting people.

[RoloPoloBookBlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting and somewhat macabre read with no review to follow.

[Violet Flurry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting view into the last moments of some of the most famous and influential people in history.
a great commuter read.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating to page through, lots of interesting tidbits. Would have liked to see an appendix of where information about some of the deaths was gleaned.

[Gia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was an easy read. Some misspellings. Interesting, but take with a grain of salt. For a lot of it is made of speculation, which is the usual case, considering celebrities.