Book Review: A Good Bad Boy

Best known for playing loner rebel Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills 90210, Luke Perry was fifty-two years old when he died of a stroke in 2019. There have been other deaths of 90’s stars, but this one hit different. Gen X was reminded of their own inescapable mortality, and robbed of an exciting career resurgence for one of their most cherished icons—with recent roles in the hit series Riverdale and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood bringing him renewed attention and acclaim. Only upon his death, as stories poured out online about his authenticity and kindness, did it become clear how little was known about the exceedingly humble actor and how deeply he impacted popular culture.

In A Good Bad Boy, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique among his Hollywood peers. To do so, she uses an inventive hybrid narrative. She speaks with dozens who knew Perry personally and professionally. They share insightful anecdotes: how he kept connected to his Ohio upbringing; nearly blew his 90210 audition; tried to shed his heartthrob image by joining the HBO prison drama Oz; and in the last year of his life, sought to set up two of his newly divorced friends. (After his death, the pair bonded in their grief and eventually married.) Amid these original interviews and exhaustive archival research, Wappler weaves poignant vignettes of memoir in which she serves as an avatar to show how Perry shaped a generation’s views on masculinity, privilege and the ideal of “cool.”

A Good Bad Boy will be published on March 5, 2024. Simon and Schuster provided an early galley for review.

By the Fall of 1990 when 90210 debuted, I was already in my mid-twenties and married. My high school (and college days) were well behind me. Still, my wife and I both found this show entertaining and tuned in weekly. Perry was just one of the many acting draws in the cast. And in 2017 when Riverdale debuted, I was also right on board (even though I was well into my fifth decade). What can I say? I have a Peter Pan syndrome.

I enjoyed looking into Perry's life and learning details I had not previously known. I savored details about auditions and behind the scenes exploits from various television and movie sets. The focus on moments from episodes gave me a longing to revisit shows I have not watched in several decades.

And though not as many people of the industry or Luke's family were interviewed for this book, those that did share their memories ended up painting the picture of a well-liked, hard-working, and supportive individual. I came away with a better understanding of who he was from those who interacted with him in all walks of life.

What makes this book different, though, is Wappler's supplementing of his biographical journey with slices from her own life (tacked on to the end of each chapter). It is a little jarring at first, throwing the rhythm a bit. However, it soon settles in well enough and provides the supportive "...and How a Generation Grew Up" part of the book's tagline. I did notice, though, that quite often a chapter is more about her life than it was about Perry. Some readers might see this as padding a book; a thicker tome always has a perceived increased value.