Oscar: An Accident Waiting to Happen, by Melinda Ferguson & Patricia Taylor

In September 2011, 17-year-old Samantha Taylor proudly introduced Oscar Pistorius to her family. The next 24 months were a series of roller coaster rides of emotional highs as young love blossomed, and dangerous lows as Pistorius' international celebrity, emotional fragility and life-threatening recklessness consumed the family.

Oscar: An Accident Waiting to Happen is the exclusive inside story of a teenage daughter's romance turned into a mother's nightmare.

The London Olympics in 2012 were the lowest point. As the world watched Pistorius, the first disabled athlete to historically compete against the likes of Usain Bolt, behind the scenes a weeping Oscar was on the phone, pouring out his fears to the Taylors day in and day out.

Promises by Pistorius to get psychological help never materialised. After one too many signs that his reckless behaviour was endangering her daughter's life, Sams's mom Patricia warned: "Oscar, you have to step out of your life. All you are is a cog in a massive money-making machine. They don't care about you. They're just using you... Something is going to go wrong. And it's going to happen soon... Oscar, your life is like this terrible accident waiting to happen."

Just over three months later Pistorius would shoot his new girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp four times with his 9mm Parabellum – the same gun he shot through the open roof of a moving car with Samantha in the passenger seat.

Of all the "Oscar" books to be released, An Accident Waiting to Happen is the only behind-the-scenes story shedding light on the athlete's state of mind leading up to the night he fired four fatal shots through the bathroom door.

Written by award-winning author and journalist, Melinda Ferguson, in close collaboration with Patricia Taylor, this book has attracted huge international interest. 

Author Ferguson Melinda & Taylor Patricia (2014)
ISBN 9781920601324
Format Paperback
Pages 176p.