Book Review: Tom Selleck's You Never Know

Some know him as Thomas Magnum, others as Frank Regan, but there’s more to Tom Selleck than these two roles. The Hollywood star has been part of the industry for over 50 years and recently opened up about his challenges finding work and later keeping up with expectations.

In his latest memoir 'You Never Know', Tom Selleck focuses mostly on the first half of his career, notably his struggling days and the Magnum phase where whatever he did, turned gold. He starts from his early days, guides readers through the real face of Hollywood, and finally settles in when his career settles as a TV and film star.

Tom Selleck's memoir, You Never KnowAmazon.com

Co-written by Ellis Henican, the easygoing memoir is not without flaws. Considering Friends and Blue Bloods played pivotal roles in shaping Tom's post-Magnum P.I. career, he should have discussed them in more detail. He skips discussing both TV shows for reasons only he knows, though it would have been great to hear more about them.

Here’s what we knew about Tom Selleck before the book. He played Thomas Magnum in the hit series MagnumP.I. for eight seasons. After that, he followed it up with one of the biggest hits of the 1980s—Three Men and a Baby—and later appeared as Monica's love interest, Richard, in Friends. In 2010, he became part of Blue Bloods, the cop family drama that has been around for 14 years and will be concluding next year, despite Tom's objections.

This book tells us all that isn't mentioned in the above paragraph. Tom Selleck draws unexpected inspiration from Huckleberry Finn (you’ll have to read the memoir to understand why!), was referred to a Hollywood agent by a drama professor, spent time with the California Army National Guard in the late 1960s, and appeared in TV commercials, print ads as well as B movies before being chosen for the character that made his career - Magnum P.I.

Once he became famous, he featured in a basketball championship win during the shooting of one of the Magnum P.I. episodes, docked his bonus to give $1000 to each crew member during the show's last season, and even danced with Princess Diana during her official trip to the White House.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 29: Tom Selleck visits the Build Series to discuss his show "Blue Bloods at Build Studio on September 29, 2017 in New York City. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images/AFP

Be it his interactions with Hollywood legends Mae West and Frank Sinatra or the tragedy that marred the Magnum P.I. shooting, Selleck’s narration doesn’t seem different from Magnum's, who also narrated his thoughts during the TV show.

You don't get to know much about his love life in this memoir because he seems to freeze when discussing it, however, we learn about his bond with his stepson Kevin, and that he was involved with several actresses, one of whom even appeared in Magnum P.I.

Two things that stand out for me in this memoir, things I wanted to know firsthand from Tom, were the reason why he couldn't play Indiana Jones and why the names of both Glen A Larson and Donald P Bellisario appear as creators in Magnum P.I. He talks about both these things in detail, which provides an intriguing explanation that will surprise you, especially the reason behind the credit sharing.

He also recounts a pivotal car crash from his teenage years that changed his life for the better. He mentions it at the start of this memoir and ends it by talking about his decision to make Blue Bloods a character-driven show instead of a procedural one, which helped both his career and the show.

However, his silence on films that flopped at the box office and the nine 'Jesse Stone' TV movies he made during the last twenty years also don't go unnoticed. Maybe he will have more in the next 'season' of his memoir which will be reserved for his post-Magnum P.I. career. Until then, You Never Know remains our only look into the life of the tall, dark, and handsome American who made his mark wherever he went.