Death of a Tycoon: An Insider's Account of the Rise and Fall of Robert Maxwell

Examines the bizarre reasons behind millionaire Robert Maxwell's odd behavior and probes several mysteries, including his relationships with Israel, the Mafia and his sinister death

Former foreign editor of publishing magnate Robert Maxwell's Daily Mirror , Davies ( Diana: A Princess and Her Troubled Marriage ) dishes out eyewitness dirt on the self-made billionaire-cum-con man's greed, lying and excess, but avoids solid analysis of his subject. The mercurial, "incorrigible" Czech-born Maxwell (1923-1991), the author reports, bullied his wife, manipulated his staff and had little regard for the truth. Addressing Maxwell's death, Davies offers several scenarios he believes to be more credible than the theory that Maxwell fell overboard from his yacht: that the KGB, which had long-term contacts with Maxwell, might have murdered him; that mobsters involved with the New York Daily News killed him; or, most likely, he suggests, that Maxwell committed suicide because he could no longer conceal his fraudulent practices. First published in Great Britain, the book emphasizes Maxwell's British holdings and scants coverage of his purchase and looting of the Daily News . It also contains numerous redundancies and other signs of slapdash editing. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Penthouse.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Intermittently absorbing testimony to the idiosyncratic--and autocratic--management style of the British media baron who was discredited as a swindler after his mysterious death in late 1991, coupled with an apologia that doth protest more than a bit too much. Davies (White Lies, 1991) was foreign editor of London's Daily Mirror when, in 1984, Robert Maxwell gained ownership of the tabloid newspaper and made him a confidant. A constant companion on ``Cap'n Bob'' 's globe-trotting forays, Davies provides tellingly detailed accounts of his boss's boorishly eccentric behavior in venues ranging from Communist chancellories to Tokyo. While the author doesn't claim to have realized that Maxwell was looting the pension funds of publicly traded and privately held enterprises under his control, he leaves little doubt that grandiose ambitions helped drive the financier to the shady side of the street. Davies also adds to the posthumous charges against Maxwell with such plausible if speculative allegations as that his employer laundered money for the KGB through Liechtenstein trusts. He further argues that Maxwell ran afoul of America's Mafia as a result of attempting to cut distribution costs at N.Y.C.'s Daily News (his last takeover). Rather late in the game, Davies gets around to addressing charges leveled by Seymour Hersh in The Samson Option (1991) that he himself had been an arms dealer and that Maxwell was an agent of Israel's Mossad. Davies (who endorses the consensus view that Maxwell committed suicide rather than face exposure as a common crook) pooh-poohs the notion that his former boss was an intelligence operative, while copping what will strike many as an unpersuasive plea on his own behalf. Vivid, occasionally axe-grinding, vignettes that contribute a modicum of depth to the still incomplete portrait of an apparently world-class villain. (Photos--eight pp.--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Publishing mogul Robert Maxwell apparently had a shiny nose, and Davies writes "the only time I ever saw Maxwell panic... was when he realized he was heading out without his powder puff." Such is the stuff of this latest biography by the author of Diana: A Princess and Her Troubled Marriage (Birch Lane Pr: Carol Pub. Group, 1992) and formerly foreign editor of Maxwell's Daily Mirror. This is a chatty account of a grotesque, abusive, paranoid, and domineering man who had dealings with the KGB and organized crime, stole from his own companies, and, Davies speculates, killed himself. It is also filled with detailed accounts of Maxwell's bizarre eating habits. There is a glut of Maxwell biographies on the market (e.g., Tom Bower's Maxwell: The Outsider , LJ 6/1/92); like some of Maxwell's newspapers, this one is entertaining and frequently titillating but certainly not required reading. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/93.
- Jo Cates, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, Ill.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.