The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

Starred review from March 28, 2011
Hiding behind one of Americaâs wealthiest names, a German immigrant duped the world in a decades-long charade that Vanity Fair contributing editor Seal unravels in this fascinating account. Born Christian Gerhartsreiter in Germany in 1961 , he left home at age 17, landing with an acquaintance in Connecticut. Over the next 14 years, he carefully honed his impersonation skills. He shed his German accent and began acquiring aliases, first in wealthy San Marino, Calif., and then, in 1992, in Manhattan society, where he made a calculatedly low-key entrance as James Frederick Mills Clark Rockefeller. He soon married Sandra Boss, a financial executive, whose money Rockefeller spent with abandon. Only when she filed for divorce after 12 rocky years of marriage did his carefully constructed facade crumble, and he went on the run with their young daughter, sparking an FBI chase and a prison sentence for kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Seal (Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Death in Africa) brilliantly reconstructs and dissects Gerhartsreiterâs strange life, weaving in interviews with those who knewâor thought they knewâone of the men he pretended to be along the way. (Earlier this month, the L.A. Times reported that prosecutors have brought an indictment against Gerhartsreiter in a 1980s murder in San Marino.)

Starred review from March 15, 2011

Vanity Fair contributing editor Seal (Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa, 2009) unravels the complex case of "Clark Rockefeller," a fiendishly clever con man who, over the course of three decades, insinuated himself into the highest echelons of American society using only his wits and a borrowed name.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a precocious teenager hailing from an obscure Bavarian village, felt he was destined for greatness, and such humble beginnings would not do. Consequently, he made his way to the United States, where he adopted a series of identities more in line with his self-image: patrician, wealthy, well-educated and possessed of impeccable social standing. In privileged enclaves nestled in exclusive pockets of California, Connecticut, New York and Boston, Gerhartsreiter spun wild stories of his family's prominence and wealth (and invented an ever-changing professional resume, at various points claiming to be a Hollywood producer, Defense Department contractor and international financial advisor), charming their blue-blooded denizens with his erudition, sponge-like appropriation of manners and appearance and, most crucially, the magic name Rockefeller. Seal delineates his endless schemes in an irresistibly lucid and propulsive manner, and his characterizations of his many victims are richly observed. Readers will marvel at Gerhartsreiter's ability to bamboozle his way into tony social clubs, jobs at eminent financial institutions (he had no qualifications or experience) and, most crucially, into the affections of wife Sandra Boss, a savvy financial wunderkind who nonetheless funded "Rockefeller's" lavish lifestyle in complete ignorance of his true identity. The narrative occasionally takes some dark turns. Seal makes a strong case naming Gerhartsreiter as the likely murderer of a young couple who fell under his sway early in his career, and the impostor's kidnapping of his own daughter once his façade began to crumble is uncomfortably gripping material.

Impossible to put down—Patricia Highsmith couldn't have written a more compelling thriller.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

For over two decades, Clark Rockefeller was accepted in exclusive circles on both coasts on the strength of his famous name; he eventually married a dazzling Harvard MBA. But there is no real Clark Rockefeller. That was just the name adopted by a young man from Germany, eager to succeed in America. Seal was a 2010 National Magazine Award finalist for the Vanity Fair piece that served as the basis for this book, which should please anyone who enjoys a good comeuppance.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2011
Prepare yourself for one of the most intriguing, compelling stories of audacious criminality youre likely to read this year. In 2008, Clark Rockefeller, of the wealthy Rockefeller family, was arrested for kidnapping his daughter. But this criminal act was quickly overshadowed by some more startling revelations: Clark Rockefeller doesnt exist. He was the creation of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1978 and built for himself a series of fake identities, including Christopher Mountbatten Chichester, descendant of Lord Mountbatten, and Christopher Crowe, a television producer. But Clark Rockefeller was by far his finest creation, an identity he used for more than 15 years, including a 12-year marriage to a woman who was unaware of the deception (although, to be fair, there were plenty of hints that something was not quite right about Rockefeller). The book is a chronological account of Gerhartsreiters life, dating back to his early childhood (when, as a teenager, he posed as other people as pranks), and its a deeply fascinating story. Gerhartsreiter is a con artist, no doubt, and there is some suggestion he might be a murderer, too, but he is also an undeniably personable and persuasive fellow. It is impossible to read the book without getting caught up in his story on an almost hypnotic level. Full marks to author Seal, too, for making this true-life story as suspenseful as any crime novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)