We're about three and a half years into the Pope Francis era and there is no shortage of literature on His Holiness. I recall back in March 2013 clearing off the Benedict XVI display, heavily laden with the voluminous Ratzinger bibliography, and replacing it with the single book I could find by the former Jorge Bergoglio, and trying to beef it up with whatever magazine covers I could track down. Nowadays the display is about as heavy as it was in 2012 and I don't even need the magazines anymore.This particular book came out about two years ago, and it's already starting to show its age. When it was recommended to me, it was considerably more fresh, but have a gigantic prioritized reading list doesn't exactly help with keeping up with current events. So that's on me. However, the writing style, perhaps due to the author being a journalist, is a little crazy for narrating historical events. The chronology is quite jumpy, with the first half shifting between Francis's earlier career and the 2013 conclave. Furthermore, almost everything is told in present tense, which is a pet peeve of mine.
On the other hand, the author's credentials are impeccable (Argentinian and Italian - perfecto!). If you really want to dig into Pope Francis's first 18 months, you could do worse than this book. I will agree that it really capture's the character of Pope Francis and that an understanding of his pre-papal career makes his actions as Pope no surprise at all.
Perhaps due to the limited coverage of Francis's papacy and the somewhat minor publishing house (Loyola Press), this book may not be readily available from the nearest public library. It would make a good fit in a parish library (even a non-Catholic one), and I got my copy from my own library.
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