The Hoax

This blockbuster "confessional" by the author of the greatest literary hoax of our time--the "autobiography" of Howard Hughes--was published in Great Britain in 1997 but remained untouched by American publishers until now. When Clifford Irving and his researcher Dick Susskind hatched a plot to write a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire, they embarked on a cataclysmic year of double-dealing, corruption, sex, lies, and forgeries. Narrator Joe Barrett is remarkably convincing as the determined author, who finds himself in over his head. Barrett even manages to "sound" fat as Irving's rotund partner-in-crime, Susskind. The surprise scene-stealer is Irving's foreign-born, conniving, money-laundering wife, an impeccable portrayal. No matter what the world thinks of Irving, con man extraordinaire, Barrett makes this book about a bogus book as hair-raising, breathlessly paced, and suspenseful as any spy novel. M.T.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine