Simply, an astonishing story that verges from the sublime to the ridiculous and still no one at the end of reading this book will be none the wiser as to whether what apparently went on, actually happened. It's clear that there are elements of fiction but there are a lot more elements that are just so plausible that its even more unbelievable! Rob Smyth's biography of the footballer that never played the game is a classic read for any football fan and who doesn't enjoy hearing stories about the numerous great players that have graced the yellow of the great Brazilian sides across the year, and unbeknown to those outside of Brazil, the fascinating story of Carlos Kaiser.

As always with any look back across a 'career', the story begins with the background to Kaiser's life and it could be said that many of the inherent ways that his life panned out, could very much be down to his early life and how he was brought up. Alas, the funny thing is that perhaps with a bit of work ethic, Kaiser could very well have eked out a decent living within the game. One of the fascinating elements of the book for those not up to date with Brazilian football, is that it gives you brilliant insight into how the game is structured and how a large proportion of players, flit between the various clubs that grace not only Rio de Janeiro but other vibrant cities across South America, it being a wider scope that just Brazil.

The way that Kaiser goes about his audacious plan is both baffling in that for many that offer their opinion within the book, they were fully aware of what was going on, but also the bare faced cheek to get away with it for so long. Without a doubt, this just wouldn't happen in today's game for the wider scope of the Internet and the nature of how the game and the way it is reported is currently, there would not be any chance of this plan being in anyway successful. Shaking your head in disbelief at the access that Kaiser got to some of the greatest to grace the game, is a regular occurrence of reading this book, as are ways in which he had a hold over so many people. Bring all these together, along with then gumption to tell a story that couldn't be verified at that time, it makes for a brilliantly funny, if not quite sad at how someone's life panned out. Though, who am I to tell someone how to live their life, particularly when it involved the Sun, Sea and Sex with a little bit of the greatest game mixed in.

I'd certainly recommend this book for any lover of football and the incomprehensible. Its a funny and baffling look about a man who played the game in everyday apart from on the pitch, mixed in with obvious bits of sadness that give Kaiser, a human side amongst all the madness!