Mr Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard lived a rather eventful life; golden age cricketer, explorer, hunter, environmentalist, decorated soldier, son-in-law to an Earl, and prolific and successful author. Sweetman takes a swing at capturing Mr Hesketh-Prichard's life but doesn't quite succeed.

This book owes its existence to Hesketh-Prichard's cricketing links but they turn out to be the least interesting part of the book. His trip to Haiti, where he was the first European to cross the island in one hundred years and the first to write about voudon, is barely covered, as is his trip to Patagonia in search of a giant sloth. He was even one of Teddy Roosevelt's favorite authors and the bloke who taught the British Army all they knew about using snipers to advantage. But we learnt more about his trips to English villages to play local cricket matches than any of these heroics. ( )