The author of Bobby and Jackie and The Georgetown Ladies' Social Club, among other titles, Heymann is a purveyor of upper-crust, hot-item biography. Here he takes on the star-crossed marriage of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.

Gossip columnists thought the 1954 elopement and marriage of baseball great Joe DiMaggio (1914–99) and movie star and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) was a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, the couple's tumultuous union lasted only nine months and was marked by jealous rages, arguments, even physical violence. Heyman, a well-known biographer of the Kennedy family who died in 2012, shows how Monroe and DiMaggio were temperamental opposites. She seemingly had a split personality, sometimes warm and caring, at other times mean and manipulative, while "Joltin' Joe" was rigid, hated the Hollywood scene, and was often emotionally distant as a husband and as a father to his son from a previous marriage. After their divorce, DiMaggio remained in the background, supporting Monroe during and after her unhappy marriage to playwright Arthur Miller, through her numerous affairs, notably her disastrous involvement with John and Robert Kennedy, and ending with her final downward spiral and "unintentional suicide." This book provides testimony from friends and colleagues to recount the familiar but tragic story of the sensitive and gifted Monroe's rapid rise, decline, and fall. Readers looking for in-depth discussion of her films should look elsewhere. The author's approach is frank but fair to all parties. VERDICT This tragic tale of a life too soon ended is recommended for movie and popular biography buffs.—Stephen Rees, formerly with Levittown Lib., PA