Rendell's book is a combination of solid sports biography and race fan awe. He delves into Marco's personality from childhood, and makes the point that his career highlights almost always came with a severe personal loss.
I'm up to the chapter that goes into the 1999 Giro, where Marco pulled a suspension one day before the race ended. He had the Giro wrapped up, but his hematocrit went over 50%.
Both his career and his personal life went into a nosedive after that. His cocaine abuse escalated, feeding his more paranoid tendencies. Meanwhile, his form never came back to his 1998 level. I suspect that his doping progam got scaled WAY back to avoid another positive.
So far, the book is very good. It doesn't sugarcoat his performance-enhancing or recreational drug use. At the same time, Rendell gives incredibly detailed an vivid recountings of Marco's greatest race expoits.