Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91252 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Ian Halperin is also a former winner of the Rolling Stone magazine Award for Investigative Journalism. He is the author or coauthor of five books, including the bestsellers Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Story, and Celine Dion: Behind the Fairytale, as well as a number of exposes on the modeling industry. He coauthored Who Killed Kurt Cobain? with Max Wallace. Ian is a regular correspondent for Court TV and has contributed to 60 Minutes 2.

Customer Reviews

Waste of money. Not factual
This book is not well written - a fact that various professional reviews I have seen have pointed out. The same information is often repeated throughout the book and there are many factual errors - information that could have been checked easily with a little effort.
the book is not factual in many areas, and often not truthful. As I said in a previous comment in the discussion forum, Ian Halperin is not a source to be trusted because his style is to introduce tabliod-like rumour and innuendo about aspects of Michael Jackson's life that are just not backed by any evidence and cannot be verified. He claimed to be an insider in Michael Jackson's camp but it has been proven that he was not at any time.
Michael Jackson did not require a lung transplant, did not have MRSA, did not have skin cancer, and was not blind in one eye. These are just some of the ridiculous claims that this guy has written about over the past few months in an attempt to publicise this book. He was not an insider in Michael Jackson's life and I cannot believe anybody would give this guy a book deal to publish this stuff.

Just about the only good thing he does say in this book is that he doesn't believe Michael Jackson was a criminal. As he was found not guilty of all charges in 2005 and because I have read the court transcripts I would have to agree. Michael Jackson did not commit any crimes. as for the rest of this book, it's not worth the money. If you want a more accurate account of Michael Jackson's life or a more grounded book about Michael Jackson, there are several out there to choose from. Avoid this book.

Doesn't quite stack up: Good in parts, not in others
Despite spending some time researching this book, Halperin seems to have rushed it out following Jackson's death.

Unlike some reviewers, I got the impression that Halperin was doing his best to remain neutral and report the facts as he found them. Unlike some of Jackson's critics in the media, Halperin largely allows his research to help him form his opinions, not fit the research to his prejudices. Halperin goes to great pains to provide "the other side" of the abuse allegations and just how corrupt and cack-handed the prosecutors, media and accusers were. This was well worth reading, espeically as I was never truly sure about whether Jackson had abused any of the boys in his care.

However, mid-way through the book, Halperin states, with complete confidence, that Jackson was gay. Someone's sexual preferences make no difference to me whatsoever, and I wouldn't care either way if Jackson was gay. However, the accusation is not really backed up at all. According to Halperin, two of Jackson's former lovers had confirmed this to Halperin, but neither was willing to go on record. Others who state that Jackson was certainly gay cannot offer one shred of evidence. This amounts to the same thing as accusing him of being a molester - without evidence, why should we believe it?

One bizarre notion is that Jackson was meeting with a gay lover in a run-down motel because he couldn't afford anything fancier. This, at the time when Halperin says that Jackson was struggling to put food on the table for his children. He may have been broke, but was he ever that poor? Considering he still employed a small army and was renting a very expensive apartment in California, it doesn't stack up.

Again, I wouldn't care if he was gay. I just think that the case has not been made in this book, and so neither should the accusation have been.

Halperin makes a connection between Jackson's marriage to Lisa Marie Presley and her affiliation with Scientology. The more I learn about Scientology, the more sinister a cult it seems. This part of the book seems rather neat, but also a little fantastical as once again, there is no hard evidence to prove this - just a few secondhand reports of off-the-cuff remarks - nothing approaching proof. Interesting hypothesis, but not fact. Halperin's got previous with Scientology. I'm sure he knows a lot about Scientology and what they are capable of, but there is no concrete connection between his assertions and the evidence he has.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the final months of Jackson's life is the role the Nation of Islam played in his affairs. This is something worthy of more investigation. Halperin paints a desperate and truly saddening portrait of Jackson's final days where he was left feeling helpless, exploited and totally out of control of his own destiny. One can only feel sympathy for the man and his children upon reading this and I hope that more work is done in the future to unpick the Nation of Islam's role in this.

Ultimately, this book really feels like it was rushed out. Where Halperin has had time to piece together his evidence and corroborate it, he has done a decent enough job. In other parts, it seems he should have held off. But then he'd have missed the chance to be the one to break the news and to cash in on MJ - it seems he has that in common with so many other people he writes about. Jackson was hounded by people who felt they had a right to own a piece of him and his vast wealth, and were shameless in getting it.

I don't want to dismiss Halperin completely, but some parts of this book are simply conjecture without hard evidence.

unmasked ian halperin
A disappointing read. So much seems to be based on hearsay and his own opinion. Hardly factual. Trying to cash in on someone's vulnerability.