Over the years, WWE Books has brought you 

deep into the lives of WWE Superstars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Ric Flair.  

Now, the latest offering from WWE Books brings you to a place you could only imagine in your nightmares.  A place so dark and lonely that things like love and friendship could not possibly survive.  A place where hope is a single flickering flame always threatening to be extinguished - the like of Kane.

The new book, Journey into Darkness, by Michael Chiapetta, foes deep into the shocking history of the 7-foot Kane, from the birth defect which threatened his life, to the horrific fire that tore his family apart to his journey to WWE Superstardom.

It is a picture that has been painted periodically over the course of his WWE career, but never before in such detail, letting us in on the man behind the "monster".  Much the same way that movies like Batman Begins tell the backstory of an icon, Journey into Darkness explores how Kane evolved into the man he is today, answering many frequently asked questions - such as why his eyes are two different colors, and why he wore a mask - along the way.

Also explored in depth are turning points in his life.  For example, when one of Kane's foster parents viciously and intentionally breaks his ankle to teach the young boy a lesson, we feel the boy's heartbreak at again being let down by those who are supposed to love him.

As an individual story, it is a challenging episode, but when these types of things happen in waves, one after the other, it becomes perfectly clear why Kane has been a soul so tortured that he would wear a mask in public for years and barely utter a word while still somehow evolving into Superstardom.

Kane is a man that grew up with no roots, no family, no fixed home, no close friends.  And any time he began to grow close to someone or something, it was ripped away from him.  Few things remain from Kane's youth.  The house he grew up in burned to the ground.  his parents died.  His closest friend passed away in a tragic accident.

And with no place to call home and no one to call family, he wandered aimlessly in search if sine meaning or direction, even living on his own for a time despite being in his early teens.  Finally, when he discovered that his brother had survived the fire, his life had a new purpose: revenge.

The story of Kane is a true American tragedy, a young boy with a promising life ripped away from him in the seconds it takes a house to burn.

The "curse" of Kane may or may not be real, but by the end of the book, after seeing the cruel twists of fate that turned a man into a monster, we realize why we still root for him.  Though he remains trapped in his own hell - though he has traveled a true journey into darkness - he still fights to escape it. «»

Available August 30 at bookstores everywhere, online retailers and WWEShop.com.

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