A Likely Lad

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It lacked a bit of detail and spark about certain things and felt more like a chronology of his life. As a somewhat lonely “army brat” – born in Northumberland but raised in Belfast, Cyprus, Germany, Dorset and Warwickshire – Doherty read Percy Shelley, Oscar Wilde and George Orwell. You can enjoy slumming it for a few years, hanging about with dodgy characters and having a non-stop stream of strangers coming and going from your flat, with parties that last for as long as the drugs do. But I know that when you choose your poison, you have to understand what you're getting yourself in for.

There are Doherty’s first experiences with crack cocaine and heroin during the much-mythologised early days of the band, when they’d play tiny, unruly gigs in basements, squats and the brothel where they lived in north London – all always described as “the Albion Rooms”. He admits to having romanticized the idea of opiates being something beautiful and a part of the creative lifestyle he read about many of his literary heroes using.Hard drugs, tiny gigs on the hoof, huge stadium shows, collaborations, obliterations, gangsters and groupies - Doherty has led a life of huge highs and incredible lows. I'm sorry but these guys are not rock stars by any means, too nice, sweet, polished and well-behaved. Hard drugs, tiny gigs on the hoof, huge stadium shows, collaborations, obliterations, gangsters and groupies, Doherty has led a life of huge highs and incredible lows. Self-mythology was always part of Doherty’s approach and you sense at times a weakness for a fanciful thought, such as the one about imagining Morrissey in intensive care with him, suffering from “suspended melancholy”.

With his trademark wit and humour, Doherty also details his childhood years, key influences, pre-fame London shenanigans, and reflects on his era-defining relationship with Libertines co-founder Carl Barât and other significant people in his life. There are the years spent in and out of prison, including the day Doherty appeared in court and was arrested again when one of the 13 wraps of heroin he was carrying fell out of his pocket. When he explains the appeal of John Lydon – he “had this image of being a bit rotten, vicious, but actually he was a really intelligent, sensitive kid… quite timid” – you feel he could be describing himself: soft-spoken, always preferring “Peter” to “Pete”, pinpointing the vulnerability that endeared him to his fans. Like his friend Amy Winehouse, he was a fixture on tabloid front pages, whether in disrepair or ducking out of a courtroom. Born into a military family, Doherty spent much of his youth moving from place to place across Europe.and an addict) and loved gaining a deeper insight into his genius/sources of inspiration, and learning the real timeline of events of his life. There are eccentric, shady characters, altercations with celebrities, tabloid dramas, and, of course, copious quantities of hard drugs. As one of The Libertines frontmen and one half of the most written about couples of the Noughties thanks to his tempestuous relationship with Kate Moss, Pete Doherty has quite a few stories up his sleeves.

The latter is perhaps the most apt, but it lacks the reflective quality I look for in a memoir; much of the book feels like standard biographical information that one could find on Wikipedia.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. But then it's such a Peter thing to do, telling everyone the book was written by someone else, based on his words, but not what he was expecting and cut up by his misses and others who wanted certain stories to stay quiet, just before it was released. Felt like he was trying to set some records straight although as a book about recovery I was saddened to hear that Pete had fallen into using after the Libertines was formed.

He does obviously talk extensively about his addiction and he dips into some of the mayhem his life has been, but the sugar coating he puts on much of his 20+ years of extreme drug use, makes taking his words at face value (forgive me here) a tough pill to swallow. In 2007 a book of his “collected writings” was published (containing reproductions of his handwritten lyrics, alongside other scrawled fragments). Loved reading this as Pete is a fascinating bloke and it was good to read some of the stories he has and how he started e. I was so excited to discover that Peter had finally written an autobiography, disappointed that I didn't manage to score a signed copy (although I have plenty of other signed bits), and further disappointed that it's ghost written.With his wildest days behind him, Doherty candidly explores – with sober and sometimes painful insight – some of his greatest and darkest moments, taking us inside the creative process, decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, his time in prison and tendency for self-destruction.