**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

I came into this book with very little knowledge of Eric Fleming other than the fact he was part of the "Rawhide" series. As my mother used to love the show, I was hoping to read about someone she had watched on TV for years.

The back and forth narrative is nice as you get to learn about Fleming from differing viewpoints. Some of the facts given were different from what I had previously heard about him, so I'm not sure which information is correct- this version or the versions I'd previously heard.

Overall, it's an okay book, but nothing stands out to me that would make me want to read it again or suggest it to others.

Hollywood, money, alcoholism and machismo.
The first half of this book was entertaining and well paced. The second half drags on.

this was a really interesting read, I really enjoy books about people that knew actors and I really enjoyed reading Ms. Garber's story.

“Death On the Amazon: My Memories of Eric Fleming” is a memoir that details the short-lived life of the Hollywood actor, Eric Fleming.

As you can tell from the title, it does not end well.

The author, Lynne Garber, is Eric's fiancé. She writes about his 41 years of life, borrowing much of the content from Eric's letters and journals. (He was an avid writer since receiving his first journal around age 8).

Almost every other chapter is “authored” by either Eric or Lynne. (I use the word ‘authored’ lightly because Eric wasn’t alive to proofread his portion of the memoir, despite it appearing perfectly written, complete with dialogue and detailed memories. A bit too peculiar to me.)

Eric Fleming is best known for his role as Gil Favor in Rawhide. Toward the end of his 8 years filming the CBS TV series, he meets Lynne Garber, a model from Manhattan.

Shortly after meeting Lynne, Eric quits Rawhide and leaves Hollywood behind to live a life of privacy in Hawaii. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he accepts a low-budget movie from a “B-rated” Director. Unfortunately, he ends up making a decision that cost him his life.

I think the first half of the book is interesting and well-paced. Mostly because it draws upon stories of the glamourous Hollywood lifestyle. Eric is a self-proclaimed book-loving loner in the Hollywood Hills, and seems quite likeable. He has to overcome so much, that I want to root for him. His chapters are very well-written and full of details. He likely would have made an excellent screenwriter. As readers, we can tell he loves Lynne, and awaits a life without the L.A. drama.

The second half of the book is chock-full of alcohol and egos. It was just too much. By the time Eric and Lynne leave Hollywood, I was no longer a fan of their story. The pacing changed and the characters turned into co-dependent brats. Unfortunately, Lynne paints herself as a very rude, spoiled drama queen. Once her love dies on the Amazon, she abruptly ends the story.

Because the story only captured my interest for the first half, and because Lynne’s accounts were less detailed (despite her being alive to tell them), I recommend my memoir-loving friends pass on this book.


Thanks to the author and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

i had no idea who Eric Fleming or Lynne Garner were before reading this memoir but the two combined have the biggest egos ever encountered. He was brought up rough by an alcoholic dad and a look-away mom, suffered a horrendous accident and had 5 or 6 facial surgery to make him into Rawhide star alongside Clint Eastwood, whom he did not like. He meets cute Lynne and they immediately are soul mates. Im not sure how these exact conversations of 'Hollyweird' come to be but 50+ years later--why now?
I wouldn't have cared about either one of these people but I do love the Amazon-which is where Eric drowned during filming of a made-for-tv movie.

Lynne Garber’s Death On the Amazon: My Memories of Eric Fleming is the story of an irreverent, iconoclastic Television idol from the days when Western’s dominated the Nielsen ratings. Garber was a young cosmopolitan lady from Manhattan who had multiple characteristics—Bennington College scholarship, Ford Agency model, Latin Quarter dancer, and insider to mafia mysteries.

She writes about Eric Fleming, who starred as Gil Favor on Rawhide television, from an insider’s viewpoint, Lynne Garber described Fleming from her role as his fiancée and confidante. Fleming’s childhood was an ordeal of daily beatings by a drunken father, and Fleming needed plastic surgery after a 200-pound load crashed on his face during World War II.

With refreshing candor, she demystifies pervasive myths about Fleming. The writer sheds light on Fleming’s antagonistic relationship with Clint Eastwood who played his Rawhide sidekick Rowdy Yates, and discusses CBS CEO William Paley. She divulges the authentic reasons he quit Hollywood only to return to film ‘a made for television movie’, High Jungle in the Peruvian Amazon.

Despite the personal tragedies, I appreciated her lighthearted manner in how she described life at Eric’s Hollywood Hills house, “Los Angeles weather is like an obituary; the local newspapers always had something positive to report about it, regardless of its true condition. It was early spring in Los Angeles, with blossoms budding on deciduous trees and awe-struck tourists ignoring the smog as they tried to locate estates of past and current hot Hollywood legends.”

With her insider’s sensitivity, Death On the Amazon is a book about a nonconformist television star that spurned Hollywood proclivities; its traditions and social rituals. Garber describes her solid, heartfelt insights into one of Hollywood’s top stars of the 60s. The staying power of Rawhide on ME TV and streaming services is a testament to the two Adonis’ that starred in the show. With stars Fleming and Eastwood, Rawhide vaunted to the sixth highest rated television show in 1960, ahead of The Untouchables, Ed Sullivan, Bonanza and Candid Camera.

I will stop the review at this point and let the reader revisit a more glamorous time in Hollywood, and read about the decision to film a scene where Fleming shoots the rapids on the Huallaga River, deep in the Amazon.
Review by Arik Kaplan, Author