It's a boy's own Puberty Blues, complete with surf, sex, heroin and humour, but the book about the notorious Bra Boys gang and its founders, Sunny, Jai and Koby Abberton, has the dubious distinction of being fact rather than fiction.
Set along the sand at Sydney's Maroubra Beach, where the city's sewage outflow was pumped and Long Bay Jail stands as a caution, My Brothers Keeper tells of growing up with a drug-addicted mother, world championship surfing success, and the night in 2003 when Jai shot childhood friend and stand-over man Tony Hines to death, dumping his body over a cliff.
The ultimate celebrity bad boys, the Abbertons mix court appearances with red-carpet strolls alongside mate Russell Crowe, model girlfriends, bar brawls and sporting triumph in this rags to riches tale.
''When you're on your arse the first thing is to stand back up,'' says a surprisingly guileless Koby, 29. ''And I went through my whole life like that and I work my best not to be in that situation again.''
My Brothers Keeper is the Abbertons' recollections of their lives, from the gritty to the glamorous. In interviews provided over 212 years to the book's author, Sean Doherty, who also edits surf magazine Tracks, they revealed their early hardships.
For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times