drugs are mentioned for the first time and then it's all about jailhouse rock and the romanticizing of drugs - the classic sex, drugs and rock 'n roll story. He comes across as very honest and matter of fact when it comes to drug use, and talks candidly about some of the murkier accusations attached to that side of his life. Four years later, film-maker Robin Whitehead died of a suspected heroin overdose in the flat where she had been filming Doherty and Wolfman. There is not much of a redemptive narrative arc, very little contrition, and Pete seems to indicate that it's everybody else's intolerance that is the issue and not his Herculian drug hoovering. I was saying, ‘Yeah, I’ve taken it, but it’s all right, it’s quite nice,’ and it all kicked off and went downhill from there, really, with Mum and Dad.

You may think you have heard them all (and plenty more fabricated ones too), but the indie rock star is set to lift the lid on his decade-spanning career with the release of a memoir. His deeply heartfelt recollections of his family, the places he grew up, and his budding fascination with literature from a very early age, had me immediately set right.

A Likely lad is reminiscent of an amalgamation of two other ghost-written memoirs; Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth and and John McEnroe: Seriously.

This talented artist (or Simon Spence) had forgotten something namely to say a few words about the dangers of drug use especially hard drugs that Pete used to get. He approached stints in rehab as an obligation he did for other people (the justice system, bandmates and so on) and regarded himself as a fully functioning addict. If this isn’t quite a comeback story, it does end on a hopeful note, with Doherty – a musician again rather than a caricature – optimistic about what’s to come, intent on repairing various relationships once pushed to breaking point. Fans of the Libertines – who formed in 1997 – may hope for a work rivalling the literary merit of Patti Smith’s Just Kids or Bob Dylan’s Chronicles. He's finally happy with the direction his music is now going, and after reading this book I truly couldn't be happier for the guy.The issue is not that the book is lacking in salacious stories – there are plenty – it’s just that Doherty doesn’t seem to have much to say about them. It turned into a long weekend, and on the morning of the second day, he was just sat there on the stairs with his head in his hands. Irritatingly, Peter reminded me of Skimpole in some place, talking about how he is 'a perfect child' when it comes to finance and owing money. He describes one infamously terrible Babyshambles gig – a bandmate had attempted suicide just beforehand and arrived wearing “his long woollen scarf that he’d used to hang himself still connected to the branch that had snapped”.

Doherty describes how, after that first Top of the Pops appearance, he and Barât were “mobbed” by fans for the first time, something they’d been hoping would happen for years. Coke and speed were nice little additions, and benzodiazepines for the come-down were really just a way of helping to get to sleep after being up partying and munching "disco-biscuits" for 3 or 4 days at a time. There are Doherty’s first experiences with crack cocaine and heroin during the much-mythologised early days of the band, when they’d play tiny, unruly gigs in basements, squats and the brothel where they lived in north London – all always described as “the Albion Rooms”. The long-awaited, candid memoir from Peter Doherty, whose talent as a musician has more often been eclipsed by a Herculean appetite for self destruction: drugs, prison, prostitution, court, murder, death, robbery, car crashes and hospital emergencies. Perhaps this shows the effect such an enormous amount of hard drugs can have on a person – inviting all manner of chaos into their orbit, but diminishing their ability to find meaning outside their addiction, in their passions, their loved ones, or their selves.

He surrounds himself with amoral, skanky people who he seems to be aware are taking advantage -see "Wolfman" who even Mick Jones of The Clash, (who must've seen some serious skanks in his career) views as unsavoury. That sounds like me,” he says, “I think that’s a solid foundation of my character, prone to despair or melancholy. Doherty paints his drive to introduce chaos to the Libertines as an anti-capitalism kick – though that’s not the only reason why they played cash-in-hand shows. It’s a perfectly normal biography all the info is in there but the whole time I’m waiting for the romanticism and fantasy and lyricism with which the same events are described in the Books of Albion etc.

I can still see the pictures of sweaty Pete and Carl in those bedroom concerts posted to livejournal by Finnish math students. He immersed himself in books and poetry - something that is evident in his lyric-writing to this day. When he explains the appeal of John Lydon – he “had this image of being a bit rotten, vicious, but actually he was a really intelligent, sensitive kid… quite timid” – you feel he could be describing himself: soft-spoken, always preferring “Peter” to “Pete”, pinpointing the vulnerability that endeared him to his fans. Still, within the 300-odd pages are major revelations and intimate insights previously unheard of from the performer’s colourful life. I did pick up from an interview that it's been heavily edited and some of the true revelations removed but worth read.

It keeps you pretty glued with a veilde promise of something wonderful to come but sadly never really gets there. To me it paints a very accurate and important picture of drug abuse and addiction and to talk about it so openly isn’t to glorify it. But then that was always part of Doherty’s appeal, the last of the great romantics, and man out of his time, positioned as the final epithet to a dying tradition of addict as artist. I wanted her to prove her love, so I said, You’ve got to get a tattoo with my initials on, you’ve got to get branded – it was more more of an insecurity thing on my part. With astonishing frankness - and his trademark wit and humour - he takes us inside decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, prison and his self-destruction.