OK , I have read the book. Quickly I would add , hands up this is my first impression of it ( I won't remember every bit) and you may be going down a vortex of Unreliable narrators (me) reading about another unreliable narrator (CS) recollecting in some instances what his sister said to him (perhaps another UR)
I've looked at the Times review and think that is good.
It won't surprise anyone that the attention grabbing , more salacious things are in the DM excerpts. The way the book is structured , there are more family oriented pieces interspersed with him finding out about her death , arrangements for the funeral, his tribute at the funeral and the actual burial.
If you take the book as a whole the accusations against KC and the palace are relatively short. He also recalls when D&C came to visit Althorp and the security guards made a mess of the house he was living in whilst his father was alive , KC wrote him a very kind letter. He also say he thought the Queen's speech on the eve of the funeral was well judged.
What does come across though is there is no love lost between him and the RF - especially KC. Part of this might be explained by he is obviously intensely proud of his Spencer lineage.
More so is his contempt for the tabloid press.
There is a very interesting section where he outlines writing his eulogy and the bits he took out or altered. Some are stylistic. Some , I think , had he left them in , would not have made that speech redolent of the moment , but made him seem a (in Malcolm Tucker's words) , a nutter. But he has worked as a journalist and presenter on NBC so he knows what speech writing is about.
There are scant footnotes and most of those to me seem like explanation for a US audience - eg explaining Fleet St use to be the home of newspapers.
Regarding his childhood , he remembers a much more loving childhood that Diana has told of - he actually said re Andrew Morton's book , he does not recall crying in a way that Diana described when she wanted to go to him in the night.
There are some better bits I think about their childhood at Park house.
Is this CS's wanting to put his side of the life of Diana - I am sure it is to an extent. Diana though , doesn't really come through as much as I had hoped. A story of a man who feels the responsibility of a lineage , determined to protect that , with a global superstar ( almost his words ) as a sister , yes.
I did say I had to go out this afternoon and I do , so those are my quickly rattled down thoughts to be getting on with.