Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye TV star, asked his audience what ever happened to Henry Holt, the Aussie prime minister who went missing. An audience member shouted back, "It's Harold" satisfying all those who love accuracy. Clearly Van Ness, on his flying visit to our region for his show, had been to the Museum of Australian Democracy and Holt caught his eye. Which is more than can be said for most Australians.

This book seeks to return Holt to national memory and as an Australian prime minister he probably deserves that. Holt was, apparently, an affable man, charming, urbane, slow to anger, and a womaniser. Those who worked with him closely recalled a happy working environment.

Harold Holt had a miserably unsatisfactory childhood. His absent mother died when he was young; his father, too, was largely absent. This, naturally, raised issues for the biographer. To what extent did Holt search too earnestly for love, friendship and affection? Though charming, he was also reticent and reserved as if there were something missing in him.

He was also known for taking unacceptable risks throughout his life. He and wife Zara owned a shack in North Queensland where his closest friend, Johnnie Busst, also lived. To Zara and Johnnie's horror, Holt insisted in swimming in rivers known to have crocodiles. This was dangerous insanity. The reader will recoil with horror, setting up nicely the denouement of Holt's life, his drowning at Cheviot beach, near Portsea in Victoria, where he also had a holiday home.

The sea was broiling and angry the day Holt died; no one else dared to enter the water. His friend/lover, Marjorie Gillespie, watched in horror as he disappeared. Is there a suspicion of suicide or was it just Holt's wilfulness? Ross Walker avoids speculation on this vital point.

Holt's political life had unravelled. Anyone following Menzies had a near impossible task. He inherited Menzies' war in Vietnam. Australian casualties weighed heavily on Holt's mind, deeply depressing him. Winning a stunning majority in the House in 1966, by the end of 1967 Holt was in such poor odour with his party that it was possible he would be dumped as leader.

A senior Australian journalist, Alan Ramsey, described Holt as a trier. That seems fair, if damning. Was he trying to find the approval of his mother and father, of his party, of the nation? He never quite got it.

Ross Walker chronicles a lost and wasted life. A prime minister caught out by war, sycophantic where he should have been bold, liked and admired, but ultimately "poor Harold".

Holt tried and, to be brutal, he failed.