Book review: "Risk!" by Kevin Allison

I'm not a good poolside reader. Many a time when I go to a pool with family or friends, I bring along a book or a magazine, thinking I'll read while relaxing on a chaise lounge.

But it never works out that way. I might glance at a page or two of my reading material, but it never holds my interest. Instead, I swim, chat, eat, play games or snooze in the sun.  The book or magazine comes home with me, barely touched.

I tell you this to point out how unusual my experience was while on a family trip to Arizona. We stayed in two places, each with a pool. And the book I brought to the pool was "Risk!," a 2018 collection of personal stories based on a podcast of the same name.

After a swim in our hotel's pool, I sat down nearby and decided to start the book, To my amazement, once I started, I kept going, page after page, chapter after chapter. I was utterly engaged.

Each day we went to the pool, the same thing happened. By the time the vacation was over, I had covered over 200 pages in the book.

The stories in "Risk!" are all tales of personal trauma or turmoil. They're told genuinely from the heart, and you can't help but be hooked.

In one story, for instance, writer A.J. Jacobs describes the disturbing exchanges he had with men while posing on online dating sites (with consent) as his kids' gorgeous female babysitter. In another, Lili Taylor recalls the time her mentally ill father challenged her 15-year-old brother to a knife fight.

There are stories of rape, suicide, murder, family conflict, and relationships gone terribly wrong. Sex is a big topic, including kinky encounters with graphic descriptions. Gay sex is addressed more than straight. Three of the stories wrestle with the difficulties of being transgender.

Typically, collections of stories suffer from a disappointing lack of consistency. There might be some winners, but there are losers, too. But in "Risk!," all the stories are engaging. Impressively, almost none of them go on too long. The author tells the story and stops.

While all the stories are worth reading, If I could only pick a handful of stories to recommend, it would be these:

• "Dressing the Wound." A cop recalls being called to help out a young man who had been stabbed in the neck and the surprising events that followed.
• "Another Saturday Night." A transgender hooker describes being kidnapped.
• "Slave." A woman lives out a domination-submissive sexual fantasy that goes too far.
• "Chasing the Sunset." A husband describes the death of his wife shortly after giving birth to their fourth child. 

Encouraged by the book, I decided to check out the "Risk!" podcast. I downloaded an episode and started listening. The host listed four or five storytellers that would be featured. Cool — I was eager for some good stories like the ones in the book.

Then the host started talking, first about the show's financial problems, then asking for donations, then discussing how amazing it was that this was the show's 500th episode. Soon, I realized I was 4 minutes into the show and we still hadn't started a story. He kept talking, rambling disjointedly into any topic that popped into his head.. Six minutes, eight, then 10. At 11 minutes he was still talking and I gave up.

I can't recommend the podcast, but i do recommend the book.