Damaged Goods

Reviews

From the glitzy parties to the threatening phone calls, the larger-than-life characters to the speedy downfall, this real-life tale of hubris has all the elements of a Greek tragedy. Either that or a James Graham box office hit Superb. It manages to be both forensic and pacey. It's penetrating, but it's not unfair. If there is a benefit of doubt to be given, Shah gives it. A sweeping, detailed colourful account of the rise and fall of the king of the UK's High Street, complete with a Dickensian cast of grifters, charlatans, flunkies, the odd dogged hero, and an irresistibly obnoxious protagonist. Shah has written a hard-hitting, often funny, ultimately sobering tale of how fortunes were made and lost in late 20th and early 21st century Britain. Meticulously researched... it's entertaining stuff, pacily written. Filled with colourful characters - and expletives. Brilliantly researched and sensational. The book reads as though it is on speed: there are moments when Shah's narrative runs like a frantic James Bond script interspersed with moments of Shakespearean farce. There are times you have to prick yourself to remember that Green's wheeling and dealing is not fiction but what actually took place behind the closed doors of the High Street A detailed and entertaining dismantling of the 'king of the high street' A merciless, profanity-strewn dissection of the tumultuous career of UK retail tycoon Philip Green Expand reviews