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Rating: 
Summary: This writer is not a kiss fan obviously
Review: Black Diamond is a detailed account of the group's activities trough history, but the author gets lost with frequency in boring details of interest only to maniacs, I might think, like how many bands was a band member's brother's lover's friend in, or the super detailed solo career of Mark St. John before and after Kiss. (Who is he anyway?) Maybe the author of Black Diamond was trying to be very critic and unbiased when he wrote the book, but he ends up being a headache. You get the feeling from page 1 that the group is a bunch of losers who never had a hit or a good time in their career. Dale Sherman seems to hate one and every record of the band after Alive, and he doesn't explain why, because he is so busy trying to put every boring business detail in it that he forgets to talk about the most important thing: the music. I haven't read a good book about the band yet.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read amongst all the KISS books out there!
Review: Black Diamond is a good read for die-hard KISS fans only. It's up there on my top ten list for an all KISS book. Compared amongst other books like KISS and Sell, it's a better read. My favorite amongst all the Kiss books is KISS & Tell by Gebert and McAdams... NOW THAT'S A CLASSIC ROCK BOOK. I rate that a must-read for all rock fans (not just Ace/Kiss fans).
My list of KISS reading would be KISS & Tell first, Black Diamond and Black Diamond II (for the Kiss collectable people out there).
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Good Info, Good Read
Review: Great book. Read a lot about KISS in Black Diamond I did not know about the band. I have read other books about KISS,but they were not as informative or went in to such detail as Black Diamond did. If Black Diamond 3 is as informative as Black Diamond 1,2 it should be a great book. The CD on Eric Carr that came with Black Diamond 1 was great,but I read the same thing in the book. The CD should have been different then the book.
Rating:
Summary: On par with Kiss & Sell
Review: I was pleasantly surprised by this book--it's written from a fan's perspective, but it's still well-balanced; it would have been easy for it to have gone the other way (adulation).Essentially it's the history of the band as told by various members of the group at various points in time via various interview (tired of the word 'various yet?) sources. It may bother some that Sherman never bothered to index the pages, but that's a minor complaint. My only real complaint is the lack of input from Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John, Eric Singer, and Bruce Kulick; all off whom had valid opinions about the band, but were given little or no emphasis at all. Much better than Kiss & Tell, and as good as Kiss & Sell (however different), and well worth the money you spend on it. Especially for an unauthorised biography. I especially liked the massive amounts of contradiction amongst the band members concerning specific albums and tunes. I seriously doubt that Gene Simmons' upcoming book will be as honest as this one. Maybe the whole truth will never be discovered, but this book is a step in the right direction.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worth A Dime
Review: Nothing in this book is new. If you read enough articles on the band you would have the exact same information provided by Dale Sherman, who happens to be just an average writer in the first place. There's also a negative tone to this book as if Sherman was angry at the band when he wrote the book, and instead of coming across as insightful, he instead comes across as petty. If you're going to spend your money on a book about KISS, it would be better to buy one by someone who was either there or spent the time actually doing some credible research. "KISS AND SELL," and "Kiss: Behind The Mask," are both better books to spend your money on. Of course if you'd rather give Dale Sherman your money that's fine, and in the meantime I have some swampland in the Mojave Desert I want to sell you...
Rating:
Summary: Not Worth A Dime
Review: The small type letters alone are a pain in the a..., but the author really tried to write a good unauthorized bio. Of course none of the members were interviewed for this book. The main sources are interviews conceded for magazines, TV's, etc. You end up really thinking tha Stanley and Simmons are nothing more than greedy money machines who just want take every cent out of their fans'pockets. If this is true, I don't know.
Rating:
Summary: One of only two I recommend
Review: This and KISS & SELL (not to be confused with KISS & TELL which is good only for levelling a table) are the two books I recommend to anyone wanting to know about KISS. Mr. Sherman does an outstanding job of research, and then adds to his laurels by doing a great job of presenting the facts to his readers. If you want the truth, if you want to know about KISS; buy this! You won't regret it. And Mr. Sherman does a great job with fiction too. I look forward to seeing more from him.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book was pretty disappointing overall. There have been much better KISS bios out there like "KISS & SELL". This is poorly written, poorly produced, and very negative. The author makes a lot of statements but doesn't back up many of them with facts. His second book, "Black Diamond II" is much better as it concentrates on KISS collectibles.
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