Mark Towhey, chief of staff to Rob Ford until he was fired and marched out of city hall during the mayor’s crack cocaine scandal, has written a “tell-all” book — that is to be published six days before the election.

The book is the first about Ford by a former insider. The title is Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable; the subtitle is How I Tried to Help the World’s Most Notorious Mayor. The book will be released on Oct. 21, publisher Skyhorse Publishing says.

“Towhey gives an insider account of working with Ford, covering for him, managing a man who people see as a joke, who trips over himself in videos; who throws candy at children instead of handing it to them; who rants and raves, and gets belligerent in meetings and at private events,” the book description reads.

Towhey, who now hosts a Newstalk 1010 radio show in Ford’s old Sunday time slot, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday. His co-author, well-known freelance journalist Johanna Schneller, referred questions to a publicist.

Towhey, a staunch conservative and a brusque former Canadian Forces infantry captain, joined Ford’s camp as a senior policy advisor during the 2010 campaign. He was Ford’s top city hall policy aide after the election, and he was elevated to chief of staff in 2012.

Ford fired him on May 23, 2013, exactly a week after the crack scandal began. Towhey had urged the mayor to seek help for his alcoholism and drug addiction. He had also resisted Ford’s request to have his aides help him organize a pizza party for Don Bosco Eagles football players after he was fired as coach of the team.

“It’s an unparalleled tell-all,” the book description says, “and perhaps what’s most amazing is that Towhey bears no ill will toward the mayor. This is not the account of a man eager to get revenge. It’s simply an up-close look at the mayor — and what goes on behind the scenes.”

After his firing, Towhey won over some Ford critics with self-deprecating and gently-Ford-mocking humour on Twitter. He made frequent jokes about his difficult hunt for a post-Ford job.

But many Ford critics have never forgiven him. Chris Caple, organizer of the Rob Ford Must Go sit-in protest, said on Twitter that the book will be a “reality-glossing-over attempt to rehabilitate what remains of his toxic image.”

“If he hadn’t been fired he’d still be there. Dude is morally blind,” Caple said.