41 review for The Madness of Joe Francis: "I thought we were all just having fun. I was wrong."

1. 

   4 out of 5

   Sonia – Apr 01, 2013

   Omg a other amazing book that I have read and it is also a true story about a guy called joe Francis and he is also a manic but I really enjoyed reading the story I thought it was really good :)

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Giddy Girlie – Jun 26, 2013

   I have to say that I had zero interest in Joe Francis or Girls Gone Wild when the big lawsuits began in the early 2000's. Even today, I really don't care at all about Francis as a person or the business overall. However, what is compelling about this story is that the whole case is a miscarriage of justice. If a business as large (and powerful and wealthy) as GGW and someone as bold as Joe Francis can be taken down by crooked cops and political ambitions, it could happen to anyone - and the rest I have to say that I had zero interest in Joe Francis or Girls Gone Wild when the big lawsuits began in the early 2000's. Even today, I really don't care at all about Francis as a person or the business overall. However, what is compelling about this story is that the whole case is a miscarriage of justice. If a business as large (and powerful and wealthy) as GGW and someone as bold as Joe Francis can be taken down by crooked cops and political ambitions, it could happen to anyone - and the rest of us wouldn't fare as well. On that basis, it's worth reading about. I felt the author should have been more up-front with the readers from the start: he was a newspaper reporter at the time of the case who built a personal relationship with Francis and his legal team and eventually resigned his job to write THIS book. And although I think the personification of Francis was pretty fair (he calls him out on being bratty and childish), there was clearly a vested interest even at the start of the case and it makes one wonder about how the author was able to maintain neutrality, both for his job at the paper and with the lawyers/judges/politicians that he was interviewing. He clearly has a "soft spot" for Joe Francis, even calling in his girlfriend's daughter to be Francis's attorney at the last minute. Take his opinions of Francis with a grain of salt: I don't think that the profile of Francis was written terribly skewed *BUT* it's hard to say because this author had better access to him than anyone else, so as far as his misery in prison (who WOULDN'T be depressed?) it may have been dragged out a little extra to make his friend seem more sympathetic. Overall, I thought the book was well structured and did a fair job of balancing court transcripts with commentary on the proceedings so that it wasn't strictly copy/paste from court reports. However, I think that the editing was really lacking -- which is especially bad coming from a professional writer. Things like punctuation are commonly missing or misused and spelling errors are everywhere. The thing that irked me the most is the use of Francis' as a possessive -- it should be Francis's (apostrophe S) -- and it is this way through every use in the book. Maybe I'm a punctuation nerd, but every time it was like nails on a chalkboard. I also thought that the author did himself and possibly this case a disservice by talking a bit too much about his personal life. Although the tidbits were brief (and typically descriptions of Florida weather, yawn) there were many examples of him on a casual afternoon walk when he'd unexpectedly run into someone working on this case (judge, lawyer, etc.) and have a casual chat about the case. It would be pretty hard to convince me that the author kept this information private and didn't run it back to the Francis camp immediately. Additionally, I agreed with the author that the plaintiffs in the case did a poor job of presenting their case -- they just didn't have the facts to back up their assertions -- I thought it was still inappropriate that the author was able to chat with the jurors after the case. The Afterward of the book is a conversation with one of the jurors who happened to be the foreperson for the trial. I'm not confident that she was legally allowed to share those details, nor that he would be allowed to publish them. For someone so "in step" with court proceedings, it just seems like he'd do the Francis case less harm by staying away from that interview. I wonder if Joe Francis's new BFF might have just given the State ammunition to appeal?

3. 

   5 out of 5

   David Angier – Feb 28, 2013

   My goal was to write an engaging, fast-moving story that really put the focus on the outrageous people and situations that defined this case. The story itself is as fantastic as fiction, I just had to get out of the way and let you see it for yourself.

4. 

   4 out of 5

   Michelle – Jun 24, 2013

   I think perhaps this just isn't my genre. the book is well written, but not the type of book I enjoy reading. Joe Francis is an awful human being and I was intrigued by his crazy antics, they kept me reading. I think perhaps this just isn't my genre. the book is well written, but not the type of book I enjoy reading. Joe Francis is an awful human being and I was intrigued by his crazy antics, they kept me reading.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Andrew Singletary –

6. 

   4 out of 5

   Kim Currie –

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Morgan Dreiss –

8. 

   4 out of 5

   Susan –

9. 

   4 out of 5

   Marc McAfee –

10. 

    4 out of 5

    Joy Danne –

11. 

    5 out of 5

    Ashley –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    Tony Simmons –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Troy Espe –

14. 

    5 out of 5

    Sabine –

15. 

    5 out of 5

    Robyn –

16. 

    5 out of 5

    Autumn Paxton –

17. 

    4 out of 5

    Ashley Barrieau –

18. 

    4 out of 5

    Cheryl –

19. 

    4 out of 5

    Daniela –

20. 

    5 out of 5

    Tammy –

21. 

    5 out of 5

    Jef –

22. 

    4 out of 5

    Sarah –

23. 

    4 out of 5

    Cathy –

24. 

    5 out of 5

    Sarah –

25. 

    5 out of 5

    Felica Chapman –

26. 

    5 out of 5

    Russell Moore –

27. 

    4 out of 5

    Lisa Ann –

28. 

    5 out of 5

    Beth –

29. 

    4 out of 5

    Naushin –

30. 

    5 out of 5

    Barry –

31. 

    5 out of 5

    Janelea –

32. 

    4 out of 5

    Cindy Gates –

33. 

    5 out of 5

    Darlene Howard –

34. 

    5 out of 5

    Shelley –

35. 

    4 out of 5

    Tamara Anderson –

36. 

    4 out of 5

    Jessy –

37. 

    5 out of 5

    Christina Browne –

38. 

    5 out of 5

    Ilonka Bruce –

39. 

    4 out of 5

    Sue –

40. 

    4 out of 5

    Kelly W –

41. 

    4 out of 5

    Tasha Hart –