Best known for playing loner rebel Dylan McKay inBeverly Hills 90210, Luke Perry was fifty-two years old when he died of a stroke in 2019. There have been other deaths of 90s stars, but this one hit different. Gen X was reminded of their own inescapable mortality, and robbed of an exciting career resurgence for one of their most cherished iconswith recent roles in the hit seriesRiverdaleand Quentin TarantinosOnce Upon a Time In Hollywoodbringing him renewed attention and acclaim. Only upon his death, as stories poured out online about his authenticity and kindness, did it become clear how little was known about the exceedingly humble actor and how deeply he impacted popular culture.

InA Good Bad Boy, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique among his Hollywood peers. To do so, she uses an inventive hybrid narrative. She speaks with dozens who knew Perry personally and professionally. They share insightful anecdotes: how he kept connected to his Ohio upbringing; nearly blew his90210audition; tried to shed his heartthrob image by joining the HBO prison dramaOz; and in the last year of his life, sought to set up two of his newly divorced friends. (After his death, the pair bonded in their grief and eventually married.) Amid these original interviews and exhaustive archival research, Wappler weaves poignant vignettes of memoir in which she serves as an avatar to show how Perry shaped a generations views on masculinity, privilege and the ideal of cool.

Timed to the fifth anniversary of Perrys death,A Good Bad Boyis a profound and entertaining examination of what it means to be an artist and an adult.