Kato Kaelin: The Whole Truth (The Real Story of O.J., Nicole, and Kato from the Actual Tapes)

This book actually turned out better than if Kato had stuck his name on it as the "writer" of it. This gave the real writer the freedom to publish what Kato truly had to say about OJ, Nicole, and the whole situation, before a "scared-for-his-life Kato," had the chance to water it down and remove anything that might offend OJ.

Great Book. Read it once during the OJ trial.

Mr, Eliot wrote this book based on the many hours of taped interviews he did with Kato leading up to the trial of the century. I found the book very interesting with lots of background on all characters involved. Salacious gossip is included such as who was sleeping with who and who wanted to sleep with who. Nicole Brown and OJ are the prominent roles in the book. My takeaway is Kato might be the luckiest guy on the face of the earth! The book reads fast and I recommend it.

Twenty years ago I followed the O.J. Simpson case quite closely, and I read several books about the crimes, the trials (both criminal and civil), and the people involved. When it was over, I pretty much lost interest and stopped reading about it. But when I saw this book in a library sale last summer, I couldn't resist buying it. It provides a different point of view on the murders--that of a houseguest who had lived on the properties of both O.J. and Nicole and who knew intimate details about their lives and relationships. Kato Kaelin had worked out a rather informal book deal with the author Marc Eliot, but after the deal fell through, Mr. Eliot used his extensive taped interviews to produce this book. He tells us that Kato knew a lot more than he revealed on the witness stand, all of it incriminating to O.J. Simpson, but that information was not terribly surprising. The strong point of this book is not new evidence but rather the look into the lives of the people involved. The personalities of O.J. and Nicole are fully developed, as seen by a close friend who liked them both, and through Kato's own experiences we learn what life is like for a Hollywood wannabe. At this point in time, this book may be a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I did enjoy reading it. It is not graphic or gruesome--Kato didn't witness any part of the crime itself--and there is a lot more about Nicole's life than her death. Like another reviewer, I found myself wanting maps or aerial views of the properties, especially O.J.'s residence, to help me visualize what Kato was describing, but I'll have to look them up elsewhere. The author closes by wondering "What is wrong with a society that sees Brian 'Kato' Kaelin as a hero?" He doesn't answer his own question, but it could be pointed out that Kato was, although briefly, more of a celebrity than a hero. And if he hadn't been, it's doubtful that this book ever would have been written or published.

Good book!

The positive reviews pretty much have summed up what I came on here to say so I won't repeat them. I just wanted to encourage anyone who is interested in the O.J. Simpson trial to read this book. I have several books about the murders and trial from different people and am glad to add this one to my collection. I remember watching Kato on tv at that time and wondering if in real life he was as goofy yet oddly alluring as he seemed. From this book it seems to me that he may not have been brilliant, but he certainly was very skilled at grabbing an advantage, deceitfully or not, to gain his " 15 minutes and more". I'd love to be able to sit and listen to the tapes Mr. Eliot made of his conversations with Kato!

It took me a while to get into this book. I have to say once I did I couldn't put it down. I have read a lot of books on Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's murder. This book best described what I believe to be the best portrait of Nicole and OJ as individuals and a couple. Ron Goldman was at the wrong place at the wrong time, may they both RIP. Such a senseless murder.

I picked up a copy of this book at the thrift store because I'm always interested in reading memoirs and for 50 cents, I figured why not? I didn't have any real expectations, except maybe to hear more details on what Kato Kaelin "knew" or saw leading up to the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. This book isn't that, exactly. The backstory of this book (which is the first 50 or so pages; save yourself the time with this brief summary) is that the author was hired by Kaelin and his "people" to write a memoir and in the process interviewed Kaelin for several weeks/months and became friends with him. Although the book was completed, Kaelin's attorneys decided to kill the book deal which cost the writer a great deal of money (in my opinion, it was a bad decision to work on spec) and so he decided to publish a different version from his own point of view, in the hopes of cashing in. The "premise" of this book is, allegedly, to show the relationship that Kaelin had with both Nicole and OJ Simpson and how through his unique vantage point, he had insight into their relationship - particularly the difficulties in their attempts to reconcile and the jealousies that they both harbored. Kaelin also alleges that both parties had confided in him the violence in their relationship. The reason that this bears any importance is that Kaelin was called as a character witness in the trial of OJ Simpson and yet he carefully worded his responses to the court's questions, ostensibly to stay on the "good side" of OJ who was known to be vengeful - and also Kaelin relied upon both Simpsons for their celebrity influence and their generosity (he lived essentially for free with both Simpsons while being treated to lavish parties and vacations). The author contends that if Kaelin had spoken truthfully, the outcome of the OJ Simpson trial may have turned out differently. It is a fair point BUT it hardly makes a compelling book. The author assumes that the reader knows the details of the trial and references key aspects in throwaway phrases -- like you're supposed to know what he's talking about. Most people reading this type of book probably were trial watchers and got the references, but 20 years later his vague references were meaningless. I have no idea what he's winking at when he says things like "exhibit 35." The book was published in June of 1995, so the trial was either still taking place or just ending when it hit book stores, so it gives the definite impression that it is a "cash grab" book that came out to make money rather than provide information. Ultimately, that's what it does. Overall, the writing was sloppy. It was long-winded and obtuse, trying to hit a minimum word count without having enough content to back it up. You'll find phrases like "...reaction to his testimony at the July 1994 preliminary hearings was what one might describe in the O.J. maelstrom as a relatively mild storm off the Catalinas in this the Los Angeles year of Our Lord 19 Ninety and Endless Floods." What the heck is that supposed to mean? Nothing, nothing at all. Just eating up words against a word count. Ugh. The book is broken into sections (the Nicole years, the OJ years, etc) of Kato's life but there is no timeline and stories within the same paragraph jump around months or years at a time. It makes it really difficult to piece together (intentionally, I'm sure) and there's plenty of time wasted on celebrity name-dropping and more than a handful of times the author makes mention of other books he's written (that people are clamoring fans for; one DA even requesting an autographed copy of a book while working on the case). The author makes himself the hero - he voluntarily turned over his records and unpublished manuscript to the DA, which he never fails to remind you is a BRAVE thing to do (OJ is vengeful, powerful, and well-connected with a legion of fans who would injure anyone who spoke against him) but even though he was AT GREAT PERSONAL RISK he submitted the information anyway. Obviously, he wasn't too fearful to actually publish this book - in which he says that he believes that OJ is guilty - but then again, there's a payday attached to it (the DA does not pay for information). Overall, this book is blah. Not great writing, not great content, no insight, and even if you were trying to understand the case more deeply, you'd have to be a case scholar to know what info is important and why -- there is no background on the case, no layouts of the houses (which the author describes over and over in conflicting detail making it hard to picture what the layout was like), etc.

An interesting read.

Why did I even bother to buy this.