The Cascio family certainly had unprecedented access to Michael Jackson throughout his career, and Frank Cascio was there for a lot of the events that created problems for Michael. At the same time, some of his accounts vary in detail from those told by others, so once again it is left to the individual reader to decide whose memory of events is more accurate. Some variations in details are explainable due to the passage of time and different perspectives, while others remain completely at odds

The Cascio family certainly had unprecedented access to Michael Jackson throughout his career, and Frank Cascio was there for a lot of the events that created problems for Michael. At the same time, some of his accounts vary in detail from those told by others, so once again it is left to the individual reader to decide whose memory of events is more accurate. Some variations in details are explainable due to the passage of time and different perspectives, while others remain completely at odds with what we have previously been led to believe.



I do wish that Frank had dwelt more on the good times he and his family spent with Michael, either on tour or at Neverland, or in the Cascio home, and less on the problems Michael, and Frank as both a friend and close associate, had to deal with. But then those problems did have an enormous impact on their lives, to the detriment of the health of both men, and, at times, to their longstanding friendship. Happily it survived, despite Michael's understandable paranoia (about people wanting to take advantage of him - as so many did) and some sibling rivalry between Frank and his brother Eddie.



I'm just not convinced that this book lives up to the promise made on its cover 'An Ordinary Friendship with an Extraordinary Man'- there was little that was 'ordinary' about Michael and Frank's friendship, certainly not once Frank was old enough to be fully aware of Michael's celebrity. And I don't really think Frank succeeds here in adequately conveying the 'extraordinary' nature of Michael Jackson, as is his stated intention. In trying to convey the ups and downs of their long association, the good times and bad (which could be very bad) the puzzling, perplexing and frustrating aspects of dealing with such a creative genius, in the end Frank Cascio probably tells us more about himself than he does about Michael.



The great tragedy here is that Michael is not here to confirm, deny or otherwise comment on what has been written about him. And to be honest, Frank's account of his personality would leave us wondering if Michael was telling us what really happened, or what he wanted us to believe had happened; or perhaps what he had convinced himself had happened.



I found the impact of this book to be a depressing one. And while Frank relates his dismay at how Michael at times believed ill of his long-time friend, fans can be excused for asking if, in the publication of this book, Frank Cascio hasn't inadvertently proven Michael's paranoia about him to be justified. THAT, I find, to be the saddest thing of all about this book.



As fans, we must continue to trust our own instincts on what we know of MJ based not just on one or a number of (conflicting) books, but on the sum total of his life and work and dedication to his family and his fans.