YOU would have to reside under a rock not be aware of Heath Ledger's tempestuous but tragic road from Perth to perdition.

This attempt to tell that story recycles and strings together a wide range of interviews.

  • Heath Ledger: Hollywood's Dark Star by Brian J. Robb. Hardie Grant Books, rrp $29.95

This bio offers fine detail but little fresh insight into the star's short supernova life, nor any new illumination on what led it to end abruptly this year.

Of interest here are Ledger's obsessive, doubt-filled role preparations, acting technique and his early career in a string of dreadful television shows.

There are also the dalliances with starlets Heather Graham, Naomi Watts and, mother of his daughter, Michelle Williams.

This good-looking coffee table-style book is teeming with 100 high-quality images of Ledger in his various poses.

But it falls short of being the insightful biography Ledger deserves.