Kiefer Sutherland: Living Dangerously

Kiefer Sutherland is a mystery to me and I wanted to find out more about him and what makes him tick so when I heard about a Montreal based publishing house releasing a biography on Sutherland, I immediately wanted to read the book. Kiefer Sutherland: Living Dangerously is exactly the type of book I was looking for. From the prologue where the author, Christopher Heard states that he never writes a book on someone he has never met, to the engaging, informative and respectful tone of the storyline, there was absolutely nothing I did not like about this book. Heard first explains his own personal encounters with Sutherland - then segways into Sutherland's youth and then basically discusses every movie Sutherland ever made. Some movies were covered in bigger detail of course, but I have to say that the author does a fine job of giving us a thorough overview of Sutherland's professional life - intermingled with events that were also happening in his private life. If there is one negative comment that I would make is that I was hoping for a little bit more "personal" stuff - but overall, this is a minor exception to a very well written biography. The author really hits his stride when he talks about Sutherland and "24". I loved the little "tidbits" he shares such as when Sutherland and his TV daughter had to tape a scene where they are talking on the telephone - but were really sitting only a few feet from each other. The author does a great job of showing us the many sides of Sutherland - he can be an absolute pro when it comes to his professional life - but can also be an absolute horror when it comes to his personal life. Heard balances this off very well - in the end, Sutherland is pretty much the way I thought he would be and thanks to this biography, I feel as though I know more than I use to. I also liked that the author always uses a tone of respect when talking about any person in this story. He is balanced and respectful rather than negative, sarcastic or overly "fan" like - I also thought this added a touch of seriousness to the book. I hate reading biographies when they are written by authors who are so obviously "in awe" of their subject matter - this is not the case here. If you want a down to earth, engaging and entertaining biography on Sutherland, this is the book for you!

Heard, Christopher. "Kiefer Sutherland: Living Dangerously", Transit Publishing, 2010. A Portrait of Kiefer Amos Lassen Kiefer Sutherland has earned the reputation of being a bad-boy and in this book we learn how his personality and his life experiences have caused this happen. But Kiefer Sutherland is also Jack Bauer, a man of extremes and has done a wonderful job on television in the series "24". Sutherland has had other successes as well as some flops. He managed to break away from Hollywood to take part in rodeos and he finally got the chance to play a cowboy on film. Regardless of his personal reputation, most of us will think of him, however, as Jack Bauer who is Sutherland's own creation. As Bauer he must combat terrorism in the world and that world is one of danger, uncertainty, indecision and insecurity. As much of a hero Sutherland is on screen, his personal life has caused him a lot of grief and now that "24" is going off the air, Sutherland will face new challenges. He certainly has his demons to deal with but we can only hope that he will learn to deal with them. Heard takes is into the star's life and gives us an intense portrait of Kiefer, the man and I think that after reading this, you will never look at Kiefer Sutherland in the same way.

"Living Dangerously" is a respectful and engaging biography about one of tv's most successful actors, Kiefer Sutherland. Author Christopher Heard presents Kiefer as a hard-working actor with a bit of a wild side. The book looks at Kiefer's early career in film, his problems with alcohol and the law, his private life in the rodeo and his rebirth as Jack Bauer. The book is funny and honest and leaves readers with a good feeling about the actor on the whole.