Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson - Hardcover

Ian Halperin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1439177171 ISBN 13: 9781439177174

Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009

Synopsis

In late December 2008, Ian Halperin told the world that Michael Jackson had only six months to live. His investigations into Jackson's failing health made headlines around the globe. Six months later, the King of Pop was dead.

Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Friends and associates paint a tragic picture of the last years and days of his life as Jackson made desperate attempts to prepare for the planned concert series at London's 02 Arena in July 2009. These shows would have earned millions for the singer and his entourage, but he could never have completed them, not mentally, and not physically. Michael knew it and his advisors knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. Why did it happen this way? After an intense five year investigation, New York Times bestselling author Ian Halperin uncovers the real story of Michael Jackson's final years, a suspenseful and surprising thriller.

About this title

About the Author:

Ian Halperin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson, Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain, and Whitney & Bobbi Kristina, among many other biographies. He is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, having directed and produced several films, including the documentaries Gone Too Soon, Chasing Gaga, and The Cobain Case. Halperin regularly appears on television and radio to share his perspective on celebrity culture.

Review:

The curious case of Michael Jackson turns curiouser still in the hands of investigative journalist Halperin, who concludes that Jacko likely was not a pedophile, but likely was gay, among other urgent findings. In this audiobook produced just weeks after the singer s death, four-time Audie Award winner Allen reads Halperin s work crisply, with precise diction and restraint, which nicely tempers the occasionally prurient subject matter. In places Halperin does Allen no favors, as the reader quickly realizes that listening to trial transcripts is just as boring as reading them. The same can be said of lengthy television interviews, but the transcripts are central to Halperin s thrust. Author of two pieces probing the possibility that rocker Kurt Cobain was murdered, Halperin decided to film a documentary that would prove Jackson s guilt after the singer was acquitted of child molestation in 1993. To his surprise, he became convinced that Jackson was innocent of those charges, though, in his digging, he came up with more than enough scandalous stuff for this book. Allen gives the sordid saga a veneer of restraint, but at base, this is one fun wallow in celebrity salaciousness that may nonetheless change listeners minds about Jackson s likely guilt or innocence. Mike Tribby 8/26/09 --Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1439177171
• ISBN 13: 9781439177174
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224