Reviewed by Kelly Stewart

Lance Armstrong’s inspiring story, documented in It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, has been splashed everywhere from magazine covers to Wheaties boxes. After fighting off cancer and starting a foundation to help others battling the disease, he’s won five back-to-back Tour de France races and numerous endorsement deals. In Every Second Counts, his second book with collaborator Sally Jenkins, Armstrong gives readers the story behind “Lance Inc.”

In a metaphor of hardship and pain that permeates the whole book, Armstrong intersects his hard-won cycling glories with stories about his own and others’ battles with cancer. It’s refreshing to read Every Second Counts because Armstrong admits he doesn’t have all the answers about why he survived the disease. A key scene between Armstrong and a journalist who survived cancer shows that even though Armstrong goes out of his way to help the cancer community, his efforts can still be misconstrued due to his celebrity.

The book is a compelling read, but Armstrong and Jenkins — a former Sports Illustrated writer who is now a sports columnist for the Washington Post — aren’t necessarily literary writers. Quotes from Armstrong’s friends are similar to the sound bites that populate the sports pages. Armstrong also falls into the celebrity cliché trap: Although he details his friendship with Robin Williams, and his tour of Ground Zero with Rudolph Giuliani and Bill Clinton, the title of one of Armstrong’s chapters is “A Regular Guy.”

Despite these bumps in the narrative, Armstrong’s story speeds along and keeps readers in suspense. Armstrong skillfully recreates his Tour victories, giving readers a chance to eavesdrop on grueling climbs and inside team jokes. The most fascinating – and painful – parts of the book delve into the hardships that came with fame: the rigorous schedule, the doping accusations, the visiting drug testers who encroach on his precious family time.

Every Second Counts gives sports fans, the cancer community, and the Lance-curious more reasons to root for Lance Armstrong.