I recently had the opportunity to read Out of Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers by Ian O’Connor. I was excited to learn more about Aaron Rodgers's childhood and who the person inside that we see QB’ing the NY Jets on Sundays is. I am not a Green Bay Packers fan, but I always admired Aaron Rodgers's talent. I learned more about his family, including his World War II hero grandfather. Readers of the book also learned about Aaron Rodgers's childhood through his college career. Since I am not a Packers fan, I was unaware of the extent of Brett Favre’s dislike of Aaron Rodgers being drafted by the Packers.

However, after Brett Favre took over the Packers, a few years after he was drafted, I felt I was reading a synopsis of his games, which was not really what motivated him as a person. Readers never learn why Aaron Rodgers cut off his family. It seemed he had a close relationship with his parents from childhood. He was generous with his family once he began earning money. Once he started dating an actress, things changed. His family heard from him less and less; he stopped communicating altogether.

But why? We never find out why Aaron made this decision. It could be a mixture of Aaron rethinking his feelings about religion; it is feeling used. As athletes become well-known and wealthy, they may feel some are taking advantage of their generosity. A conversation could have happened between his parents and brothers, but that didn't happen. It's been about ten years. I felt not learning the reason for this was a letdown.

The book details Aaron Rodgers's departure from the Packers, which is reminiscent of Brett Farvre’s. We also get a rehashing of the Pat McAfee appearances. This information is relatively recent and wildly reported, so it doesn't feel new. I appreciated the insight on that unfortunate night when Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles.

I enjoyed learning more about Aaron Rodgers's childhood and his journey from Juco to the NFL, including his frustrating first few years in Green Bay playing behind Brett Favre, who did not make this time easy for the eager quarterback. Beyond that, the book felt like a retelling of well-known facts with limited new details. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

Another winner for Ian O'Connor:

This book was in the very capable hands of tremendous sportswriter like Ian O'Connor. O'Connor did a fantastic job interviewing everyone throughout Rodgers' personal and football life. Credit is also due to Aaron Rodgers for agreeing to sit down for an interview with O'Connor and not preventing anyone from speaking with him.

Out of the Darkness takes a fantastic look at Rodgers childhood, teenage, and college years. Throughout life, he was doubted on the football field, and every time he rose to the occasion. In his younger days, he definitely seems to be a guy anyone would root for. He had a 1310 SAT, was not a partier or meathead, kind to everyone at his high school, and involved in his faith. His descent in the NFL Draft and Brett Favre's ignoring him for year with the Packers also make him a lovable underdog.

Something changes after Rodgers' one Super Bowl success. He cuts most family and friends out of his life apparently at the behest of his girlfriend Olivia Munn. He starts embracing conspiracy theories. And he just becomes a complete enigma.

However, despite his best efforts, O'Connor still cannot break the mystery of Aaron Rodgers. Everyone he talks to really gives conflicting thoughts as well in the last two chapters.

I would qualify this book as a great four quarter game that still needs an overtime. Will that overtime eventually be an enormous Podcast deal to be another Joe Rogan? Will he become a broadcast analyst? Will he eventually run for (and in these wild times, probably be elected) political office? All that remains to be seen.

What does not remain to be seen, is under the circumstances O'Connor did a fine job for what he had to work with.

I would like to thank Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for a review even though the book has been released.

Also as a bonus note, O'Connor was beginning the framework for a LeBron James biography, before this opportunity fell in his lap. Other than perhaps Roland Lazenby - O'Connor might be the best author for it. Count me in for a read if this indeed happens.

As a second aside - the physical book has really small print. If you have vision issues or difficulty focusing on a small print book, buy the Kindle version.

Ian O'Connor is as good as anyone at giving us inside looks at massive figures in the sports world. This time was no different and gave us a in depth, inside look at the polarizing figure of Aaron Rodgers. I think this is a must read for sports fans or anyone trying to better understand Aaron Rodgers.

Aaron Rodgers represents one of the great puzzles in American professional sports.

Let's start with the fact that he certainly ranks as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Rodgers will skate into Canton's Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is a four-time Most Valuable Player in the National Football League, which puts him in very rare air, and he's a 10-time Pro Bowler. Aaron owns some NFL records, and he does have a Super Bowl ring - although it wouldn't have taken much for him to have many more. Rodgers is bright and articulate, making him a media favorite during large portions of his career.

But there's a flip side. Aaron isn't really even speaking to most of his family members, and no one (besides Rodgers) seem to know what went wrong along the way. Lately he's never seen a conspiracy theory he couldn't embrace, and his anti-vaccination stance during the pandemic - and the way he handled it - certainly was an odd episode.

Does all of this add up to something? That's difficult to say, so full credit to Ian O'Connor for trying. The author of worthwhile books on such subjects as Bill Belichick, Derek Jeter and Arnold Palmer/Jack Nicklaus is here with "Out of the Darkness," a biography of Rodgers. Perhaps the subtitle is more interesting in a sense: "The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers."

O'Connor certainly put in a lot of effort to decipher Rodgers' behavior over the years. He went back to California to find people who could talk about Rodgers' childhood, which was dominated by sports. Nobody wanted it more, and there are plenty of stories about how he'd do whatever it took to get to the proverbial next level. That meant that if Division I college football programs weren't interested in him, well, he'd go to a junior college for a year and show what they missed. He did exactly that. Then it was on to California, where he surprisingly took no time at all to win the starting job, and then no time at all to become a star.

That led to a very curious moment in Rodgers' life: the 2005 NFL draft. The San Francisco 49ers had the first overall pick, and the decision came down to Rodgers or Utah's Alex Smith. O'Connor does some of his best work here tracking down what exactly happened. While opinions differed on the two future pros, the Niners went with Smith even though Rodgers - who played a few miles from their offices - would have loved to have stayed close to home. Still, there were other picks in the first round, right?

But as the first round progressed, Rodgers' name continued to be unheard. With each pick, Rodgers became the talk of the draft. A chip developed on his shoulder that reached boulder proportions in no time. Finally, at No. 24, the Green Bay Packers ended the long wait and took him - which put Aaron in the midst of some new drama. Brett Favre, another sure-fire Hall of Famer, wasn't too happy that the Packers drafted his probable replacement and complained loudly. Rodgers had to sit and wait for his turn, and eventually Favre was traded to the Jets. Rodgers showed that he was worthy of the tam's faith.

The dramatic part of the overall story, of course, is that Rodgers wound up in the exact same position as Favre. At the end of a great career, he saw the Packers take a quarterback (Jordan Love) in the first round. Eventually, Rodgers needed to go elsewhere to play and he was traded to the .... Jets. Then Aaron suited up for Opening Night with New York, and he tore his Achilles in the first series of the season. His year was over almost before it started.

O'Connor couldn't wait to see how the last act of the story would play out. The author plays it up the middle, relaying stories about Rodgers' personal generosity and along with tales of beliefs in, shall we say, less-than-mainstream concepts. There's no solving this mystery.

"Out of the Darkness" will provide some insight into Rodgers' never-boring career (the book mostly avoids the personal side of the story, except about the family rift). But biographies often come down to how much the reader likes the subject, and Aaron Rodgers remains a strange figure after the last page.

O'Connor does an excellent job trying to present an explanation of the rise and fall of Aaron Rodgers as son, football player, friend, man, and human being. We walks us through hundreds of interviews (his own and those published by others) with associates of Green Bay's former favored son, breaks down the history of his relationships with family, friends, classmates, teammates, superiors, coaches, fans, and casual observers. It starts out with the heroic World War II exploits of his grandfather, and ends with his own less-than-heroic "world war" on the "woke culture".

There are a lot of confusing possible takeaways one could draw from the mythology that continues to be built around Aaron Rodgers, but most of them would either simply be wrong, or discounted by the man himself. There are too many references to chips on shoulders from those who knew him, climbing out of situations early in his scholastic, collegiate, and professional athletic career where he felt others had the stark audacity to doubt him. It makes an excellent story when it involves a hero overcoming those perceived doubts to reign supreme as he travels his chosen path. But when he takes those doubts and turns them into weapons, it's a bitter scene to watch.

By the last page, I'm still no closer to knowing just who this guy is. We can't pin that on the book's author or those who contributed anecdotes. That hangs on the shoulders of the book's subject. What a shame.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Mariner Books, for a free advance copy of this book that I was given in exchange for this honest review.

Ian O'Connor has done a great job of trying to understand the enigmatic quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The biography strikes a good balance between personal and professional and O'Connor has clearly got rare access to the player. Good read for anyone interested in him.

Compelling, insightful, and nuanced. O’Connor is our best sports’ biographer of this era, and perhaps, any era.

In our highly polarized and politicized world, his ability to capture the multifaceted aspects of complex individuals is rare.

Like all biographies - authorised, non-authorise, or half-authorised, such as this one, there are interesting bits and bits you have to slog through, depending on why you are reading it. I assume that a die hard Cheese-Head would love all the football game recaps, the people who love the controversial stuff this guy sheds would be holding out for the Covid vaccine stuff. Me, I usually read these books to try and cut through the public persona to get to the person behind the mask(s). And for this, it's a bit hit and miss.
We start with his grandfather's war, then go on to find out that he actually excelled at pretty much EVERY sport he ever tried - yes, he's one of those! Before finally settling on Football.
What I would have liked was more of what he thinks not being dismissed. What really makes him tick. Yes he can be controversial and contrary, and he certainly has strong views on many, many things. But I guess we'll have to wait until (if ever) he writes his own story. In the mean-time, this is an OK, if a bit shallow on occasion, delve into where he came from and how he got to where he is, with a few bumps along the way.
Or maybe he should remain an enigma...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Out of the Darkness is a fascinating look at Aaron Rodgers, his life on and off the football field and the ways that his life has influenced his way of thinking.

Only heroes fall. I started the book “Out of the Darkness” with a specific set of expectations. I expected to read about Aaron Rodgers’s fall from grace. I expected finishing this book might be a slog because it is on the longer side. Most importantly, I expected to give this book no more than 4 stars because is simply couldn’t be the best football book I every read. Every one of my expectations were shattered because like Aaron, this book is both complex and compelling.
We begin the book before the beginning with a bit of Rodgers family history. The history might seem extraneous, but it sets up the family as survivors against the odds. It also establishes family as a central theme. Then along comes Aaron and he is not the prototypical quarterback who gets all his dreams to fall in line from day one. Instead, he is a guy who fights every step of the way to become the NFL player her was destined to become. In this book we are with him every step of the way. In the early goings of the book, the author (or maybe life) builds up Aaron as a guy who faced disappointment and kept getting back up and pushing forward. There were a lot of names early in the book of college players and coaches that may seem unnecessary to me, but I imagine these lesser-known players will enjoy being part of the story. While I enjoyed reading about that, this story kicked up a notch with the green room drama and the chip it left on Aaron’s shoulder.
As a football fan, I remember watching that draft and as a fan of Brett Favre I remember being floored by the choice. To be honest, after that I was one of those people who wanted Favre to keep coming back and Aaron to go away. Reading about it from his perspective changed my view and I though the author did a super job of presenting this from the other side. From there on it became so much fun reading about all these players from the Packers who I remember watching for years. While the result was painful for a Steelers fan, I enjoyed reading about that big game very much. With name drops of players like Troy Polamalu and Big Ben, it made me smile and cry inside thinking of my team’s greats. I truly felt like we were along for the ride on the super bowl journey and beyond when the wheels started coming off. That is when the book started to show the cracks in the foundation of Aaron’s story. He was no longer simply the hardworking kid who fought to the top. He was a skilled manipulator very good at imposing his will all the while not winning championships. The story flows seamlessly through this transition showing Aaron’s growth and his changes. He became the villain of his own story. But wait, there is more, he was still the hero of his story with his donations and charitable work. He was ultimately both and the author had no small feat taking us through the life of such a complex man. Call him what you will, hero, villain, enigma, compelling. As the book states, he is the most interesting man in sports. The author had a tough job of presenting a controversial figure without bias and in a way the made user want to commit to the long pages.
As I said above, this is not the best football book I have ever read. That honor belongs to “Fear is a Choice”, the James Conner story. It is the most compelling and it is interesting. If your goal is to read a football book and be uplifted, go with Conner’s story. If you are a football fan and want to be challenged mentally, I would recommend this book. I’ve read it and I don’t know what I think of Aaron. He was an amazing talent but is he the hero or the villain of this story or why can’t he be both. The book made me think about my own perception of Aaron after the vaccine scandal and some of the other press especially his fight with his parents. The author did not try to answer the question of hero or villain for us instead he laid out the facts so we can make our own choices. The book made me think and made me agree regardless of how you view his talent, Aaron is interesting, and I enjoyed this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Book for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This is an excellent biography of the enigma that is Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers has become a somewhat controversial figure in the sports world with his mercurial behavior, what many perceive to be arrogance, his misleading statements about being vaccinated against COVID-19 during a time when he was around teammates and reporters, and his often ill-advised comments about people he considers a nemesis.

The author gets as close as one can in explaining the personality and life story of a public sports figure who clearly craves attention but is also reserved and eccentric. There are many themes packed into this biography as to what make Aaron Rodgers tick woven into an overall narrative of his life. Let's unpack some of them.

Football, Late Bloomer, Underdog.

Football, specifically playing quarterback, is what Aaron Rodgers has done most of his life. Rodgers was a late bloomer, at least in size if not athletic talent, and nobody gave him a real chance after high school at a starting job at a big school. Instead, he had to start for a local community college, Butte College, for a year. He then went on to star at the University of California headed into the NFL draft.

Most who follow the NFL know what happened in the 2005 NFL Draft. After being considered a potential number one pick, and at least a top ten pick, he slid all the way down to pick number 24 and sat in the New York studio in the "green room" in an agonizing and personally embarrassing wait for his name to be called.

Then he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers who already had Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Farve full entrenched as the starter. Favre didn't treat his heir apparent very well and Rodgers waited four years to get the starting job after Farve's off again, on again retirement drama and ultimately being booted out of Green Bay.

These struggles no doubt shaped Aaron Rodgers outlook and gave him a chip on his shoulder.

Team Underachievement

Many consider Aaron Rodgers the most talented quarterback of all time (at least before Patrick Mahomes). Yet, after 15 years starting for the Green Bay Packers, who have had some excellent overall teams, he has only one Super Bowl win to show for it.

Championships matter for sports legacies and his cupboard is bare. While it does not necessarily tarnish his legacy, he can never be considered the greatest of all time without that championship pedigree held by the likes of Tom Brady and Joe Montana.

Chris Simms of NBC Sports said that had Rodgers been the QB for the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick he would have won 10 Super Bowls in a row. That is clearly over-the-top hyperbole but that does illustrate the stark gap between Rodgers' talent and his team's playoff fortunes.

Unfortunately for Aaron Rodgers his teams have underperformed in the playoffs and have lost in some crushing ways. For brevity, I won't recount them here but suffice it say these losses leave a rather large hole in Rodgers professional resume. And it has to shape how Rodgers views his career overall -- excellent individually but lacking in essential ways.

There are more details about playoff losses and his dissatisfaction with coaches in his career which are also interesting and builds a full story of his career.

[The worst loss was in the 2014 NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. Green Bay had a 19-7 lead with just over two minuets to play but utterly fell apart at the end. A fake punt for a touchdown, a successful onside kick followed by another quick touchdown and two-point conversion had Seattle rolling to an overtime win.]

Religious Upbringing and Estrangement from Family

The author takes a more indirect approach to Rodger's upbringing and family. Rodgers grew up in a strict Christan household and Rodgers says he is "spiritual" but doesn't believe in organized religion. At some point Rodgers became estranged from his family and it all started when one of his actress girlfriends commented on their intimate life publicly. His mother did not like it and that seemed, from accounts in the book, to have cause the riff. He has not spoken to his parents and brothers in years despite them wanting a reconciliation. While his mother claims the estrangement is not over religion it certainly seems like most of it is. His two brothers side with the parents but haven't helped matters by taking shots at their brother on social media. Estrangement from his entire family has to eat away at one's psyche even if they won't admit it.

Interestingly, Rodgers seems to have a thin skin and has ostracized many friends for real or perceived slights through the years, which makes up part of his personality.

Free Thinker

Aaron Rodgers is considered by many to be a genius and a free thinker who marches to the beat of is down drum. While claiming he is not an anti-vaxxer he misled the media about this COVID-19 vaccination status in a deceitful way. He says he used alternative medicine to "immunize" himself from COVID-19 because he was fearful of allergic reactions. Why didn’t just tell the truth? Kirk Cousins said he was not getting vaccinated because of his religion and did not get the negative backlash Rodgers received. His deceit dropped his reputation in the eyes of many. He clearly has a conservative and at times an eccentric political point of view, which is fine. But the way he expresses them, for a public figure, is often in divisive language. I am also fine with that, but it does showcase a part of his personality -- he doesn't care what people think of him.

He also has used psychedelic substances to "open his mind" and went on a Darkness Retreat (being shut up in total darkness for three days). He also talks about alternative medicine and techniques. All fine things to do, but again illustrating he his perspective on alternative ways to seek personal fulfillment and maybe even spiritual fulfillment.

BOTTOM LINE: I thoroughly enjoyed the biography and praise it for unpeeling the layers of Aaron Rodgers' personality.

Whether you like him or not, there is no question that Aaron Rodgers is one of the most polarizing superstars in all of sports. Out of the Darkness is a biography detailing the life of Aaron Rodgers from his childhood years, to junior college before playing at Cal University to his NFL career with both the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.

This was a pretty interesting read that I imagine most sports fans would enjoy. I consider myself a pretty big NFL fan and there was even tons of information that I learned. Although it is not officially authorized, Ian O’Connor was still able to sit down and interview Aaron Rodgers which I thought was a nice touch.

This book was packed with tons of interesting interviews with everyone from friends, family, and coaches. Obviously when you talk about Aaron Rodgers there is going to be some controversy involved, I thought this book did a wonderful job of approaching a few of these touchy subjects in a nonbiased, informative manner.

I would definitely recommend this book! Special thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing me with this advanced copy in exchange for my honest and fair opinion.

Thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book for my perusal. I am leaving this review voluntarily.


Full disclosure: while not an authorized biography of Aaron Rodgers, the author did meet with him for about an hour and a half and ran some things past him to confirm or deny facts presented.

Let’s just say that I endured 18 years of Aaron Rodgers in my town, and yes, I believe endured is the correct word. Because I got a bad vibe from Rodgers early on in his career in some of his interviews with the media, I didn’t pay too much attention to him. I never bought his jersey, thought he was probably the most accurate of modern NFL quarterbacks, and that after his only Super Bowl win, went full-blown wackadoodle, which also prevented him from coming through in the playoffs, preventing another Super Bowl appearance for the Green Bay Packers. Then the pandemic happened, and well, my opinion on the guy didn’t change. I decided to read Out of the Darkness to see if maybe I misjudged the guy.

First off, if you are any type of American sports fan, this is probably the type of biography you’d enjoy. You get the background of Aaron Rodgers young life; you also get the fact that Rodgers was such a laser-focused kid when it came to sports that he excelled in anyone that he tried. He came to football rather late because of his parent’s concern over injuries like concussion. I once saw a video of Aaron Rodgers sinking insane basketball shots for some charity TV event and he never missed a shot. That accuracy came from years of practice, no matter what the sport.

The reader also gets a closer look at the family dynamics in the Rodgers family: middle child, parents sacrificed so his dad could go back to college later in life to change careers, and they are very religious. They encouraged their three boys and were supportive of them in their sports endeavors but delayed letting them get into football until late middle school, early high school.

Quite frankly, I thought the book dragged as it detailed the young Rodgers journey from school yard sports player, through his short high school career, the disappointment of not getting selected to a big-time college, and then his college career. I know it’s the norm of sports biographies in general, but the blow-by-blow description of key games bores me relentlessly, and there’s a lot of that.

Once the drama of the NFL Draft and subsequent selection of Rodgers by the Packers happens, the book picks up considerably. There’s plenty of game play-by-play, but it’s more selective considering the fact that the guy has been in the league for almost two decades. The fact that O’Connor switches back and forth with the narrative and gets plenty of off-the-field stories makes this a more palatable book. Because I watched the games, I don’t find it necessary to rehash every game of a down. (I’m told that’s mostly a guy thing, but I don’t like to stereotype.)

As a few people in Rodgers’ orbit mentioned in the book, he’s always had a chip on his shoulder, and each slight against him has made the chip bigger. There’s being overconfident in one’s abilities, and then there’s being full-out arrogant like Rodgers. There’s being highly intelligent, well-read, well-rounded, readers, and then there’s someone who perceives everything to being a conspiracy because of something they’ve read online somewhere. There are respecting others’ opinions on religion, and then there’s cutting off most of those around him who don’t align with his personal beliefs. No one interviewed in the book admitted as much, but you can read between the lines. The whole chapter on Rodgers cutting off his whole family with the exception of Uncle Chuck is worth the price of the book alone. Many suspect then-girlfriend Olivia Munn for the breach, but Rodgers literally did not say two word to his parents–for nine years. And when he did, it was just a few words.

I’m not even gonna get into the whole Covid “I’m immunized” controversary because I had to live through that garbage. Add to that all the appearances on Pat McAfee’s show, a failed punter in the NFL-turned radio host. No one needs to recycle the garbage that’s spewed on that show by the host or Rodgers.

I lost interest in the narrative once Rodgers left Green Bay, in part because that’s where the story ends for me, as a Packers fan. But it seems one can’t escape him. Rodgers is in the headlines once again these days, missing New York Jets mandatory minicamp for reasons I don’t care to look into. Good riddance.

Maybe, if you’ve been a rabid football fan, you’ll have heard all these stories about Rodgers. Or maybe, because in many ways, Rodgers has kept most of his personal life out of the media spotlights, you’re interested in his off-the-field life more, like me. There was plenty of new information that made this a satisfying read, although I personally wish the guy would just go away so I don’t have to keep hearing about him. As for the “MYSTERY,” there is none: dude’s a jerk.

Ian O'Connor has written a masterful story on one of the most intriguing sports figures of our lifetime. Aaron Rodgers is believed by some to be the greatest NFL Quarterback of all time. Without a doubt in the top 5 of those who have played the game in the last 30 years if not number 1 or 2 depending on the source. Rodgers has been in the headlines for much more than just his play on the field. This book deals with those topics as well. It does so in a manner that is fair to both the QB and to the man who is Aaron Rodgers. I think it is a must read for football fans and may shed some light on the mysterious nature of the persona of Aaron Rodgers. It's complicated. It's an easy read. It has compelling stories. It's real. It's a great sports book. Read it and you'll be glad you did!