Jack Grisham - An American Demon (ECW Press, 2011)

Everything you’ve heard about this book, and for that matter, about Jack Grisham himself in his younger years, is probably true. Thinly disguised as quasi-fictional, this feels and reads like nothing less than Jack Grisham’s autobiography and what a compelling read it is. Occupying similar territory to John Joseph‘s incredibly compelling and almost impossible to put down autobiography The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, An American Demon reads like a West Coast version of that book as much of it takes place around the same time period (‘70s and ’80s) and documents each of the authors’ involvement in the burgeoning American punk rock and hardcore scenes.

Simply put, this book is not for the weak and the squeamish. If you’re looking for a typical story of redemption, this isn’t it. Though some of the more extreme acts chronicled in the book are clearly indefensible, Grisham refreshingly challenges the reader by laying it all out on the line and not apologizing for any of it. In doing so, he neither asks nor forces the reader to take a moral stand. In other words, he doesn’t tell you how to think and you’re free to draw your own conclusions. I can’t help but to paraphrase Jim Lindberg from the band Pennywise in his blurb on the back cover, though. It’s amazing that Grisham didn’t wind up in a maximum security prison for his antics. It should be noted, though, that he’s been clean and sober for the past 22 years and is now a licensed hypnotherapist and public speaker. It’s wonderful that he’s been able to turn his life around, but it’s sometimes hard to believe that it’s the same man given who he is now versus who he was then.

Fans of Grisham and T.S.O.L. will want this book and some undoubtedly already have it and have read it, but this book is not just for fans only. Even if you’ve never heard of T.S.O.L., this book is highly recommended and will be very hard to put down.