Rating: 
Summary: I Loved It....and So did Father-in-Law
Review: I'm one of those people who doesn't know much about the Rat Pack (now who is Joey Bishop?) so when I brought of copy of it for my father-in-law, I thought I'd skim through a few pages before sending it out. You already know the end of this story - I was hooked by Chapter One. Levy is a funny, witty writer and he accomplished what every book author tries for - he got me glued to a book that I didn't even realize I'd be interested in.Good job. Good book.
Rating:
Summary: Gracefully Written, Wonderful Job
Review: I've read a buncha stuff on this subject, and I really admire Levy's book. He's an excellent writer, and has done a great job of distilling a mountain of material into a meaningful and enjoyable read. His portraits of the individual Rat Packers are insightful and empathic, and I think he hits a perfect happy medium -- he neither tries to inflate the importance material nor turn the book into a sordid exercise in scandal-mongering. He also makes a wise choice on the level of detail -- enough, but not too much. Anything that reads this easily must have been a bear and a half to write. "Rat Pack Confidential" also paints a useful broad picture of various aspects of the history of popular entertainment, politics and organized crime in mid-Century America. Nice job, Mr. Levy, and best o' luck in the future!
Rating: 
Summary: Literate, Funny, Fact-filled and Swingin'
Review: I've read a lot about Frank Sinatra and found "Rat Pack Confidential" a welcome addition to the shelf of books about the great man's life. Levy gives us five biographies, a history of Vegas, a look at the web that connected Frank, the Kennedys and the Mob, and page after page of breezy prose and eye-popping detail. A lot of the stuff is familiar, perhaps (he addresses this in an afterward), but his take on the Rat Pack and their place in our pop culture history is fresh and convincing. And I, for one, had never read so much in one place about Joey Bishop! I can't imagine how somebody could find it trite or poorly-done. It's a pretty darn good book.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous, baby
Review: Just a great read. I don't read much but I couldn't put this down - great combination of narrative and background stopped it seeming too documentarial and it really painted the picture of what happened and what was going on at the time.
Rating:
Summary: A damn good general introduction to the subject, pallie!
Review: Levy really tackles a tough subject here, writing not a biography of a person so much as a chronicle of a certain time (the age of Camelot), and a certain place (Las Vegas). Consequently, people who are looking for a detailed biography of Sammy, Frank, Dino, or even the two lesser members of the Rat Pack (Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop) would probably do better elsewhere. Nonetheless, Levy does a great job of providing a sort of introductory guide to the story of one of the most celebrated gang of entertainers who ever lived. There are excellent nuggets on the friendship between John Kennedy and Sinatra, along with juicy stuff about Marilyn (how could there NOT be?), gangster Sam Giancana, and enough gossip to satisfy the most demanding fan of the Age of Hef. Sure it's a bit shallow--heck, Levy tries to cover so much territory, it's a miricle the book reads as cleanly as it does--but it's clear not only that Levy did an awful lot of research, but that he enjoyed writing the book as well. In other words, a fast intro to the world of ring-a-ding-ding. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: As good has we are likely to get.
Review: Levy's book is not great, but it is good. He neatly contextualizes the five personas within their historical/social time frame and in fact demythologies this whole Rat Pack stuff. The book is quite tragic in away. Their spotlight together was brief. Their ends turbulent and sad. Levy is a fine writer...BUT (at least with the Dean Martin segments) he seems to lift passages from other sources. When you read the Martin chapters, you realize that Levy is just restructuring Nick Tosches' fine words from DINO. But hey, if you're going to emulate a writer, it might as well be Tosches.
Rating: 
Summary: uber-sleazy
Review: My interest in the Rat Pack comes from a more Swingers/lounge cool kitschy angle. I expected the drinking, womanizing, etc. but the up-to-it-past-his-neck with the Mob and the whole sordid Kennedys-Monroe connections honestly makes you want to take a shower after reading this book. It's a great book, don't get me wrong, but be prepared for the worst.
Rating: 
Summary: Same Tired Old Myths
Review: On page 214 of this book, the author notes that Frank Sinatra's legendary plaque on the door of his shrine to JFK carried the wrong date -- that JFK actually bunked at Sinatra's Palm Springs pad in 1959, not 1960. This widely circulated error had been crying out to be rectified for years, and its correction kindles the reader's hope that finally a biographer has actually done some homework on the Rat Pack. Lamentably, this hope is killed off in the rest of the book. Although the author gets off some original and insightful commentary on the public and private personae of each of the Rat Pack, he is content merely to repeat without a shred of critical examination the titillating but false rumors that compose the preponderance of Rat Pack lore. A bit of easily accomplished research would have shown the author that Marilyn Monroe was in New York during the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles and could not have been dining with and schtupping JFK in stolen moments between speeches and deal-brokering. It would also have shown that Sinatra left Chicago right after singing the National Anthem for the 1956 Democratic Convention and went to New York to promote his film Johnny Concho, and could not have "hung close to the Kennedys as the convention progressed," even though the author claims on page 69 that he did. The definitive Rat Pack book has yet to be written. Meanwhile, for a more accurate (if peripheral) account of these events, it's best to read Barbara Leaming's majestic biography of Marilyn Monroe. The author's biography of Jerry Lewis appeared to be a work of integrity. Too bad he has let us down so severely here.
Rating: 
Summary: S'ok
Review: On the whole...the book is mildly interesting and the writing is ok...too bad the author seems to be pinching his information and at times his style from other sources (eg. The Dean Martin section is pretty much all from Nick Tosches' masterpiece, Dino.) Save your money....pick up Tosches' book for a more honest overview of this overhyped 'scene'.
Rating:
Summary: Wildly entertaining
Review: Shawn Levy gives a fascinating and compulsively readable account of the Rat Pack, along with a healthy dollop of background and "whatever happened to" information on each individual member. There are also many intriguing stories about peripheral figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Jack Kennedy (find out just how he won the election), and Sam Giancana, to name just a few. While Levy does not hesitate to point out the mistakes and faults of each man, this biography is neither sensational nor muck raking. One gets a sense that while the author is somewhat sympathetic towards his subjects (especially Peter Lawford, who was exiled by Frank Sinatra in a sad case of "shoot the messenger") he is also quite able to portray them objectively. Between the wild lives of its subjects and Levy's solid writing, this is a very enjoyable read.
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