Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson - Hardcover

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.

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