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Book Review


Book Cover

24
The Official Companion
Season 6

 

Author: Tara Bennett
Titan Books
RRP: £14.99, US $16.95, Cdn $20.00
ISBN-13: 978 1 84576 655 9
ISBN-10: 1 84576 655 5
Available 22 February 2008


After twenty months of torture Jack Bauer has come home, only to be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice... The dark opening of day six sees a broken-spirited Jack returning to an America under siege and struggling President Wayne Palmer. Can the unstoppable hero save his country from its most horrific waking nightmare yet? This official guide to the sixth season gives fans exclusive access to the behind-the-scenes secrets of 24...

24: The Official Companion - Season 6 takes the usually dry and stuffy companion format and shakes it up a little. Thank goodness! I've lost count of the number of dull, poor quality Companion books that I've been forced to flick through over the years. And it always amazes me how a book that is claimed to be "official" manages to get signed off by the copyright holders when the end result will reflect badly on their show.

That's not so with this collection. This new 24 book is printed on some of the the finest grade, glossy paper stock and is full colour throughout (not just 16 pages of bland production stills). It also comes with a bonus 90 minute DVD that includes a number of interesting behind the scenes features: 24 Changing all the Rules; Keepin' it Real: The Stunts and Special Effects of 24; and 24 and the War on Terror: Can Truth Learn from Fiction?

Contained within the 146 pages are interviews with Kiefer Sutherland as well as the show's producers, directors and other cast and crew members; in-depth files on each episode of Season Six, with commentary from the cast and crew; extended features on the show's finale, its stunts and sound department; profiles on CTU employees and in memoriam sections on departing 24 alumni.

The pictures are well chosen and the layout is well thought out (even if the Timeframe pages all blur into one after awhile - but this design is used so that at a glance you can flick straight to the next one if you are just wanting a quick breakdown of the episodes). The only section I didn't really warm to was the Timeframe section - basically because I'm personally not that interested in exactly what happens in every minute of the show - but I'm sure a lot of fans will find these pages useful.

It goes without saying that this book will only really appeal to die-hard 24 fans, but those that do pick this up will be rewarded with the wealth of information and lavish production values that are contained with this essential purchase.

8

Darren Rea

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