Antonella Gambotto ... is one of the most exciting writers and interviewers it has ever been my luck to read. Gambotto anticipates her shamelessly honest approach to the art of the interview in the introduction to her new book. Explaining why a piece she did on Kylie Minogue was pulled from Elle, she tells us: 'My experience of her as a charmlessly narcissistic and robotic dwarf did not correlate with her experience of herself as an incandescent, gifted and alluring siren'. As Homer Simpson would say, it’s funny because it’s true. Gambotto’s skill lies in listening to and then - in most cases - summarily dismissing the personal mythology of her interviewee. She asks questions that challenge and disturb them and invites us to consider the implications of their not always straightforward answers ... Incidentally, the Capper interview is possibly the best piece in this quite brilliant book. ... Gambotto is the MENSA mannequin, a shit-stirrer, a show-off, a fearless, funny, beautiful woman who never sticks to the rules.

- Tegan Bennett, The Australian

Antonella Gambotto’s curiosity is avid and she has a big heart. You might think that it was impossible to do the right thing by Rose Hancock-Porteous but AG’s piece on Mr and Mrs Porteous shows how three deeply dissimilar people can have a swell night out and it’s touching. No amount of skill and goodwill on the part of the interviewer can make up for the three irreducible prerequisities - privacy, a silent space and no censorship; so when the daughter of the King of Jordan leaves a TV movie running throughout the interview, she’s blown it. AG dobs in the male half of the Perfect Couple. Five minutes after wifie’s left the premises he’s down to his underpants. And Jeffrey Archer meets his match: they’re two of a kind. AG’s assets are good research, a life rich in horror and complexity, and, at her best, the flair for taking a corner that distinguishes a Chopin nocturne.

- Australian Country Style

The role of journalist as self-styled vivisector of public personalities is clearly a role that Antonella Gambotto was born to play, and she does it with considerable verve, skill and flair.

- Fiona Capp, The Age

The title is a reference to award-winning journalist Antonella Gambotto’s acute observation, penetrating intelligence and rapier wit. These profiles and essays are compelling entertainment, her subjects are exposed by her skill and their own personal style, body language, public histories and - most tellingly - words ... and she is very, very funny. A brilliant gallery of contemporary portraits that verge on caricature, pinned down by a gifted writer whose best work is tinged with satire.

- Panorama

Gambotto’s pen is much more deadly than any sword and her magazine journalism has sliced up some of the biggest stars of our time ... Gambotto is the fearless investigator of personality journalism.

- Juice

In this collection ... it doesn't matter whether [Gambotto] is talking to Charlton Heston, Jerry Hall, Erica Jong or Jeffrey Archer: Gambotto's aim is to reveal the human behind the name. By what appears to be a mixture of charm, cunning, and a staunch refusal to play the coy sycophant, Gambotto does generally uncover a flesh and blood person. But she's not a publicist's delight. The problem is that she has a nasty habit of actually writing what she sees ... Be vulgar, be brash, be sleazy - but be a foolish poseur and beware.

- Australian Book Review

Prose of the highest order.

- Jeffrey Archer

I read and reread the book and loved it. The complex Gambotto reveals herself in every review and interview. Magical.

- Paulo Coelho

If this lady ever invites you to lunch, stick to the mineral water.

- Terry Sweetman, The Sunday Mail

Gambotto's integrity, adamantine wit, and ability to cut through the most elaborate psychological defence systems establishes her as one of the finest writers this country has ever produced. Her comic exertions at the expense of the unsuspecting left me sore with laughter.

- Colleen McCullough