The easiest way to explain what this book is about is to read it's complete title: The Helldiver's Rodeo: A Deadly, Extreme, Scuba-Diving, Spear Fishing Adventure Amid the Offshore Oil-Platforms in the Murky Waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Whew, that's a mouthful. Written by Cuban-born Humberto Fontova, who emigrated to the US when he was a young boy, the book is an in-depth look at Helldivers -- highly-competitive men who helped shape rig-diving and spear fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. With its over-the-top stories and limitless machismo, think of Hunter S. Thompson crossed with that really annoying guy on the dive boat.

Filled with adventure, danger, and huge fish, the story is quick, easy, and entertaining. However, in my opinion, Fontova's lumbering writing style and endless braggadocio watered down what could have been a great book.

Helldivers began as fishermen who excitedly jumped into the water when the first scuba units came on the market in New Orleans, and quickly turned fish-catching into a competition (a.k.a., a Rodeo). The Helldivers were amazed at the abundance and size of the marine life that was attracted to the oil platforms in the Gulf: amberjack, jewfish, grouper, and sharks as big as a man and wrestled from underneath the platforms by scuba diving fishermen using heavily-modded spearguns. The Helldivers aren't the only ones who were surprised by the size of their quarries: I was flabbergasted by some of the photos inside the book.

So how was the book, itself? As someone who has no experience spearfishing, I found it hard to get as excited as Fontova about his hunting. Nevertheless, I was interested in learning about how the sport evolved; Jacques Cousteau's involvement with it; what a "Cajun wetsuit" is (jeans and a flannel shirt); and about the dangers Helldivers face. Unfortunately, one of the dangers includes drinking heavily before diving to depths of greater than 200 feet, so I found myself nearly empathy-free when reading about men who got hurt.

However, I was fascinated by stories like Gerry Bourgeois', who wrestled a 450-pound jewfish up from 170 feet with one hand stuck in the fish's gills, and the other stuck in the fish's mouth. Suffice it to say, the story ends happily -- for Bourgeois, at least -- but you have to read the book to learn how he got his hands stuck inside the fish, and how he got them out.

On the flip side, I was totally disinterested in reading about the Bacchanalian bashes on Breton Island, annual parties the Helldivers throw where they fish, spearfish, dive, eat, drink, reminisce, and brag. <Snore.> In some ways, this book is more of a gift to Fontova's friends ("Hey, remember when we did that?"), than an adventure story.

I'm guessing Fontova would insist that my level of naivete surrounding his sport is what led to my relative disinterest in his book. I'm guessing he's partly right. However, IMHO, the best parts of the book were the spear fishing stories. What I disliked was Fontova's rambling writing style (this book could've eaaily been 50 pages) and reading about men who left their brains onshore before they got in their boats, drank excessively, and tried to out-do each other. Nevertheless, this was a fun, easy story -- certainly, an excellent beach read -- and I learned a lot about rig diving and spearfihsing.

Final grade: B-.

For other (more positive) reviews of the book, check out Amazon and Scubaboard. Also, to get a sense of Fontova's style, check out his piece called Squirrel Opener, or run a search on his name. He's a prolific writer.