The Hoax

by Clifford Irving

The author explains how he became involved in the plan to create a fake Howard Hughes autobiography and why the plan failed. Reprint. (A Miramax Film, directed by Lasse Hallström, releasing Spring 2007, starring Richard Gere) (Biography & Autobiography)

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Memoir, Audiobook, Crime

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Clifford Irving was the author of 20 published books & just released 12 of his works as Kindle/Nook eBooks; he was currently writing a memoir called Around the World in 80 Years.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being one of the most reclusive and inaccessible men of the time, Howard Robard Hughes was the ideal choice for a scan autobiography/biography. And Clifford Irving very cleverly spotted what he considered not only a gap in the market but an opportunity to make plenty of money. He recruited writer Richard Suskind to be his able and trusty lieutenant.

The plan was formulated on the island of Ibiza where Irving was living but bringing it to fruition involved travel all over the world, for Hughes was elusive and would only meet in out of the way places and in addition research had to be undertaken at very many locations. At least that is what Irving told publishers McGraw-Hill, chosen for they had previously published his works and he was very friendly with one of the executives, Beverley Loo.

On his first contact he was not convinced that Loo would fall for his tale but, to his surprise, after she had chatted to others higher up the chain of command, she went back to him to give him the green light. Expensive contracts were drawn up, in conjunction with the subject of the autobiography and Irving put into motion a complicated Swiss bank operation, with the, at first reluctant, aid of his wife, Edith.

During all the early stages of the work Irving and Suskind worked closely together but not too closely as to not allow the former to meet his mistress, Nina van Pallandt (of Nina and Frederick fame) and escort her to various locations where work could be combined with pleasure. Irving also found time to spend with a diving instructress as well, all of which caused plenty of friction between himself and Edith. Nina was later to be a witness for the prosecution at his trial.

Meetings with the various interested parties took place regularly and it was amazing to see how gullible such prestigious organisations could be; they fell hook line and sinker for Irving's patter. And even when they queried it, Irving sweet-talked his way out of any problems ... and the asking price was even increased (the subject of the book insisted!), despite McGraw Hill's initial objections.

The longer the scam went on the more Irving believed it all to be true, so at one point Suskind had to remind him, 'Don't get carried away by all this. It's fiction. We made it up. Don't forget that.' But Irving found it easy to do so. And that also applies to the reader, for it is easy to start believing what you are reading because Irving and Suskind worked it all so extremely well and were so convincing.

That is until cracks began to appear. Initially they were expertly covered up as the publishers and the magazines who were going to rake in money from serialisation all wanted to believe it to be true. Therefore, things went steadily ahead even though at times the duo could not believe the gullibility of others. For instance, after a particularly close call when the whole thing nearly fell through, Irving is saying, 'You know ... you know what it is that's so stunning? They're real. All those people we wrote about - they're real, they exist. They walk in clothes. They're flesh and blood. They speak. All these months I've been thinking they were people we created, characters in a novel ...' He need not have worried for everyone else believed it all to be real.

But then Hughes apparently heard of the project and his people started making noises about it all being bunkum. They denied everything and then, much to everyone's amazement, Hughes himself started making contact to stress that it was all a hoax, And when one of Irving's lawyers made the comment 'It doesn't hang together. You know, I've known you [Irving] a long time. I'll give it to you straight. I think you're full of s**t.' In the knowledge that he was alone with his advisor, Irving made the first move towards the truth when he said, 'You're right. It's a hoax.' But even so in public and in front of the executives from Macraw-Hill he still insisted that it was all legitimate.

Original letters (forged) from Hughes were brought forth and a hand-writing expert swore that they were from the man himself so the hoax continued. However, the walls were beginning to fall and when Hughes spoke to seven journalists over the telephone, suspicion heightened. And eventually, when various witnesses, such as Nina, were called in, the true story was exposed and Irving admitted, 'The relief of confession was sweet beyond almost anything I had ever known.'


Irving, two and a half years, Suskind, six months, and Edith, two years with all but two months suspended, were sentenced for their parts in one of the biggest hoaxes of the century. No wonder Irving at one point said to Suskind, 'Don't they know I'm "Con Man of the Year?"'

It's a roller coaster of a read, almost unbelievable in its simplicity and in the gullibility of those affected by it; they obviously wanted to believe it for the benefits that they thought they would gain. And who better to choose as the subject, someone who, in later life, would not appear in public under any circumstances. All credit to Irving for his ingenuity - and in fairness, many of those prosecuting felt much the same way.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clifford Irving is full of two things: shit and himself. And if you believe he didn't truly understand the ramifications of what he was doing or that he's remorseful for what he did, you've fallen for the hoax within The Hoax. Another con, told by the master.

Irving set the bar for fakers like Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and James Frey. He convinced his publisher, McGraw-Hill, that the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes authorized Irving to write Hughes' autobiography. And he used friends, family, and business partners alike, dragging them into his fantasy to keep the scam going.

Now, to be clear, the two stars I gave the book aren't a rating on the man himself (GoodReads doesn't allow negative stars anyway), but rather a rating of the book. I was really interested in hearing Irving's story, but in the first few chapters he kept insisting that this was all just an innocent spoof that got our of hand. He faked legal documents, forged signatures, stole money, and claims that it was all a harmless deception. It reeked of insincere BS and quickly became tedious. I also grew tired of the excessive descriptions - and if this is a representation of his non-fiction, I have no interest in reading his fiction.

Even the audio was difficult to listen to. The reader's female voices were even more ridiculous than the elaborate lie Irving was trying to pull off, especially his editor Beverly, who was represented by an unprofessional-valley-girl-type voice.

Ultimately, I was pretty happy when I returned this one to the library.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I read it, more as a stubborn act of perseverance than enjoyment though. I found it highly weird to read a book about a book that isn’t really a book! A good 4/5 of the book goes into intricate details of the fake meetings with Hughes, this felt a bit weird considering you know from the outset it isn’t real. Basically it felt like a waste of time rather than an enjoyable journey into flight of fancy.

Really what I had expected to get out of this was why he did it, but there was no substantial explanation offered. He obviously is highly egotistical and his supposed shame and guilt (when they finally arrive!) seemed very forced. Almost as though he were trying to imagine and write what he thought he should have felt.

In actual fact I may have liked this book a little more if I hadn’t read the Q&A section at the end (ahead of the movie release), he came across as extremely arrogant and I felt thoroughly annoyed with someone who seems to live totally outside normal behaviour with very few consequences.

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

insane story. insane. read this book.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put this on my “to read” list fairly recently and forgot to add the note why. The book was bumped to the top of the list when the author passed on December 22nd, 2017.

What an incredible tale! I kept wondering if it was really true, which it was. Cliff could have been likeable if it wasn’t for his unfaithfulness and lying to his wife. I have to admit there were fleeting moments I almost wanted him to get away with it. I snapped out of it.

It was a bit upsetting that he was so convincing to so many. There were times I was at the edge of my seat at his audacity. It makes you wonder how many con artists there are out there twisting the truth to serve their purpose. As PT Barnum may or may not have said,”there’s a sucker born every minute”.

I didn’t know this was made into a movie back in 2007. Now I have to see it....wonder what all those who were involved thought of the movie?

[Gary Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clifford Irving takes his skeleton out of the closet and rattles its bones. Irving employs self-deprecating humor to share the inside account of the most fascinating literary hoax of all time, his phony deal to write the authorized Howard Hughes autobiography. The event was so humiliating to the industry, it fought the publication of this book as long as it could, even though Irving had already served his time. And the author seemed to share a lot of potentially embarrassing information about himself as well. Here's a detailed confession filled with lively anecdotes about how it began, how it succeeded, how it failed and why it happened. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys books as well as true crime.

[Bettie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The opening paragrah about truths and lies is 'you protest too much'. Makes me wonder if I should have this as non-fiction.

By one hour in I had developed a visceral dislike of Clifford Irving and his amoral machinations.

TBR Busting 2013

[Lukerik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stupendously entertaining account of their attempted fraud. Two obviously intelligent men doing the stupidest things possible. If they’d been morons they could never have attempted anything on this scale, but their intelligence gave them the ability to encompass their own doom.

It’s a confession, but there’s a catch. It’s written like a novel. It has direct reported speech, pacing, tension etc. The book appears to be the same text that was previously published as ‘What Really Happened: His Untold Story of the Hughes Affair’ and ‘Project Octavio: The Story of the Howard Hughes Hoax’. There it’s credited to ‘Clifford Irving with Richard Suskind’. Suskind’s name has been removed from this edition for reasons that are unclear to me, but Irving mentions him in the Author’s Note, saying “many of the passages in this book which deal with shared experiences have been written by him from my point of view.” Well, we call that fiction, don’t we? I think this may technically be a novel. I think Irving is playing a game with the reader. He comes off rather badly and makes no attempt to justify himself or portray himself in a good light. Or rather, there are no passages that do so transparently. He talks about the Autobiography (which I haven’t read) as being a mixture of facts and also lies made of ‘whole cloth’. If the lies here are also made of whole cloth then it’s very difficult to tell where they begin and end.

[Richard Bartholomew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although some hoaxes may be reprehensible, the word "hoax" in itself is neutral and can even carry positive connotations of satire and virtuosity. This is why Clifford Irving's book was not titled The Scam, although a term that puts the reader in mind of fraud and duplicity is very appropriate for a scheme that involved setting up bogus Swiss bank accounts, betraying the trust of numerous friends and associates and, had all gone to plan, ripping off the public with a sensational fake autobiography of a public figure.

Having said that, though, it would be humbug to deny that the tale of how Irving tricked the publishers McGraw-Hill and Time-Life into believing that he had been authorised to ghost-write Howard Hughes’s autobiography is both entertaining and instructive. Irving's caper memoir is written up in the style of a first-person novel, complete with reconstructed dialogue, but although this implies that the narrative may have been shaped "for dramatic purposes", his story comes across as a credible account of what actually happened. This is even though some of the twist and turns are quite incredible, such as when purely by chance Irving and his accomplice Richard Susskind get hold of an unpublished memoir by one of Hughes' former business associates, which Irving then pillages for details unknown to the world. Although Irving's pseudo-autobiography of Hughes contains much that is false (including childhood memories transposed from his own life), the manuscript is not simply a work of imagination: the two men went to some trouble to research a document that would convince. In those far-off pre-internet days, this included Irving stealing a volume of old Senate hearings from the Library of Congress (he writes that he intended to return it anonymously later, although we’re not told if he ever did).

Irving also appears to have had a natural talent for mimicking Hughes's handwriting, and his efforts at forgery – including a nine-page letter to Harold McGraw, the head of McGraw-Hill – passed muster both with people who had known Hughes as well as handwriting experts. Irving offers a psychological explanation for this, after describing how Life editor Ralph Graves declared that a textual error by Irving was actually "characteristic" of Hughes's writing: "It was only later, thinking about it under more private circumstances, that I felt I understood. Like the others, he was all-too-human. He wanted to believe". Towards the end of the story, as the authenticity of his manuscript comes under doubt, Irving accidentally maneuvers himself into having to take a lie-detector test – he never discovered the results, and it is reasonable to wonder whether by this point McGraw-Hill was so invested in his story that they disregarded the results. Even the voice of Howard Hughes himself at the end of a phone denying all knowledge of Irving wasn't enough to blow the gaff: Irving persuaded listeners that the voice was an impostor, or else that Hughes was trying to back out from his book deal for some Machiavellian reason.

However, Irving’s undoubted skill as a raconteur and his disarming candour about his personal failings as a husband and as an honest dealer do not mean that we should just accept his self-presentation at face value. Despite sending his wife to Switzerland with false documents to set up a bank account in the name of "H.R. Hughes", Irving wants us to believe that he didn't think that he was really committing a crime – his rationalisation seems to have been that Swiss banks aren't genuinely interested in the authentic identities of their depositors. He also points out that his publisher would have done very well out of the fake autobiography, and in a couple of places he raises the idea (which he rejects, after seeding it in our minds) that the company may have suspected what he was up to but decided to go along with it. In this, the world is interpreted in the narcissist's image.

There is a wronged woman in this book, but it's not his long-suffering wife and accomplice Edith Sommer, nor his mistress Nina van Pallandt, whose actions once the fraud was exposed Irving apparently resented. Rather, it's his long-time contact at McGraw-Hill Beverly Loo, a consummate publishing professional who worked hard and loyally in good faith to bring the project to fruition. Early in the book, Irving describes himself as feeling squeamish about lying to her, saying to Susskind that "I don’t stab my friends in the back". But he does exactly that, justifying himself on the specious and self-deluding grounds that decisions about the book would be taken higher up in the company, and that he "can’t have loyalty to a company". Loo (the daughter of Hollywood actor Richard Loo) appears numerous times in the story, each time being duped and betrayed by Irving’s stream of lies; towards the end, once the jig is up, he writes: "I wanted to call Beverly Loo – but what was there to say? The personal apology I had to deliver would also be a confession of guilt; and the moment for that, our lawyers pointed out, had not yet arrived." That’s the last reference to her, and one wonders (as with the stolen library book) if the right time ever did arrive and how she felt about his portrayal of her; according to her 2010 obituary , she "rarely spoke" about her "pivotal role in McGraw-Hill's acquisition of Clifford Irving's biography of Howard Hughes". I haven’t seen the 2005 film, but from the cast list is seems she was substituted with a fictionalised character.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hoax by Clifford Irving
8 out of 10


Clifford Irving writes about his access to fame, when he got involved in The Hoax and offered the public a false biography of Howard Hughes, a phenomenon depicted in The Aviator https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/... by Leonardo Di Caprio, directed by Martin Scorsese

The main character is a writer, and seems to be off to a good period when the publishing house McGraw – Hill seems to be ready to get his new book to print, they have some arrangement with Life Magazine (was it, or am I mixing things) but then another outlet destroys the novel, saying it is a very bad knock off, or worse
Philip Roth https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is the one mentioned, and in the view of that harsh critic, Clifford Irving was just offering the readers a lamentable version of the Autor, and hence the project is shelved and the protagonist is mortified and rather desperate

He was at a party, bought a Mercedes, convertible – I just hope it was not of the same line as Coppola’s, he had something like a bet, connected with The Godfather https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/... which said that if a threshold is passed, he would get a Mercedes car
Then the dealer called the producers to ask about it, and they said yes, only to find that it was one of only three, the other two were for the pope and some dictator, maybe from Pakistan, however, the novelist had a less opulent, if luxurious vehicle, and he awed his spouse with it, there was tension there though

Edith Irving does not trust he husband, he had had an affair with Nina Van Pallandt – spoiler alert, he would cross the line again – but then how could you rely on someone of this type, we would ask, with hindsight, knowing what he is able to invent, how he could manipulate so many people, just like Orange Jesus
Seeing that his novel was first accepted, then rejected, we could see some attenuating circumstances – at least I did – and it could have been a way to get back, or have some revenge, oh, so you tell me the work is good, we expect sales and then I get into this expense, only to find that there is nothing coming and I am out

That is not justification, he was not right to do it, I am just trying to understand the workings of that mind, and generally, those of this genre – we have a worse case, the one I keep referring in these notes, because I cannot believe it, and then it is such a menace, Orange Felon, the ultimate fraudster, author of the biggest lies

Clifford Irving walks into the publishing house, where he is waiting to see Andrea Tate, who appears to be an editor, somebody important, only to find that there is a secretary to talk to him, and then breaks into a meeting, and announces that he has the book of the century for them, and they will meet tomorrow, at a bowling alley!
His friend and future (reluctant at times) partner in crime, Richard Suskind, asks ‘why did you say the book of the century, couldn’t you make it the book of the decade?” and then they try to find the subject for this triumph, revelation he had announced and they have various ideas, from Charlamagne to other dead or living celebrities

We have had some notion up to now, because Howard Hughes was present, at a hotel, they evacuated all the guests, just because the foolish, hypochondriac, lunatic tycoon wanted everybody out, he had phobias, a peculiar, then sick way of dealing with people, otherwise not communicating with the press, sending outré materials
Just like Orange Jesus, only the latter has none of the achievements of Howard Hughes, who used to have a brilliant mind – for some years – he made some fabulous motion pictures https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/... but also innovated in aviation

The huge Hercules airplane was created by Howard Hughes, who was also a pilot, he broke the speed record of his time, and was an outstanding visionary, if we read the fantastic Intellectuals https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/... by Paul Johnson, we understand better
Luminaries like Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen, Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Jacques Rousseau have had mesmerizing contribution, nevertheless, they were heinous in private and quite often, Jean-Jacques Rousseau has abandoned his children (and he had a few) at the door of the orphanage, at a time when nine out of ten died there

Clifford Irving speculates the bizarre character of Howard Hughes, the fact that he does not call, communicate and thinks, well, I will give you his autobiography, he authorized me, I have papers from him, which he forged, and played this game to near perfection, and I will compare him again with Orange Felon
At least Clifford Irving was just selling a fake book, while this monster has tried to steal elections, cheats on statements to banks – there is a court sentence on that – and has made the elections so close, indeed, he is the favorite, that we can have a calamity on November 4


Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Jolene Kendry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clifford Irving is a competent writer and the book was engrossing. But make no mistake, Clifford Irving is a douchebag. He lies to his friends to play what he continuously refers to as a hoax, but it's just his way of covering up for himself, as he lies, cheats and steals from everyone he's ever known in order to further his career and rip off McGraw-Hill and Time Life for an enormous sum of money. His justifications throughout the book are sickening, and I only read through to the end to get to the part where he gets what he deserves, but of course he ends the book before that point, so it isn't even satisfying although he did get some jail time.

At one point he begins to cast aspersions on the character of his baroness girlfriend Nina by saying that her new career aspersions in Hollywood make her seem opportunistic and it's unattractive, while the man himself is neck-deep in defrauding two of the biggest publishing corporations in the world for money and fame he didn't earn.

He's a shitheel womanizer, a morally bankrupt jackass with no regard for anyone but himself, and I can only wish he'd gotten more jail time than he did. I hate the man, and since it's an autobiography I can barely separate the man from his book, so I hated the book. I gave it two stars because he somehow convinced me to read to the end and the writing isn't horrible.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of an almost perfect literary crime. Irving's undoing came in the form of a press conference that consisted of several reporters gathered around a telephone speaker. Several experts stated that the voice on the other end was indeed the reclusive Howard Hughes, who proceeded to lay into the book and "this man Irving". What is interesting is that prior to this, several other experts also verified that documents forged by Irving were certainly written by Hughes. Oh well, so much for the experts. This book is written as a confession, and Irving lets it all hang out. I am very split on his character. While I love the side of Irving that is all trickster and literary rogue, I was rather dismayed by his descriptions of his own marital infidelity and how is wife also ended up serving time in jail for her role in the hoax. Fabrications are great, but it's not cool to take others down with you. I would also advise to stay away from any hoaxes that involve large sums of money and possibly law enforcement types. If consequences exist, they should be more along the lines of an Oprah tongue lashing.

[Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars = good read. What a crazy read. This is the true story of the the author Clifford Irving, who tricked most of the world into thinking he was meeting with Howard Hues and writing his autobiography. There are parts of the account where he agrees if "The Hoax" had been a novel that the things he got away with would be to unbelievable and people wouldn't like the book.
"The Hoax" is a longer book and can drag alittle at the beginning but once things get going you can't put it down, the unfortunate thing is this book is an account of what actually happened, so you don't necessarily get a happy ending. The book started out as a 2 star book, turned into a 5 star book and ended as a 3 star book.
If you like interesting true stories this book is for you. Be warned the guy is an unfaithful jerk, but don't worry no details that would make you blush.

I rate this a hard PG - 13 for language

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really engrossing for the details of the hoax perpetrated and how Irving and Suskind became passengers on a runaway train of their own invention. Along the way, some amazing luck happened for them (I suppose, can I trust the admitted hoaxter?) but one amazing thing was the proof of the old adage about criminals that they often seem to have the drive and energy to be legitimately successful, if only the put their energies to legal ventures. In this case, the pair could have done a very good unauthorized biography, if it wasn't for greed and vanity, that is hubris. The nemesis of American and Swiss law eventually comes down on them and in all Irving seems modestly contrite for his betrayals and lies, but he really seems to over no self-analysis on why decided to burn so many bridges and why he went so far...

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hoax actually turned out to be pretty interesting. The line between fiction and reality, what's real and unreal and what really happened becomes blurred. Irving and Susskind created a character purportedly meant to be H.R. Hughes but was really a well researched and well crafted figment of their imaginations. They became so immersed in Hughes that they planted causal incidents that led to Hughes latter eccentricities. An author has the power to create a life, to select and structure and form a character projecting their own rationale onto a minimum structure. They also had some sort of obsessiveness (and megalomania) that kept reality at bay.

[Emma Al-Hussaini · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think i am not a big fan of this type of novels; however, i was impressed by Cliff’s boldness & smartness. In case you’re wondering about the content of this book, well, it’s about forging information, signatures, fake meetings, an unauthorized copying of confidential documents, lying to friends and family, being stupid enough to have to face legal consequences later on!! All .. for just publishing a false autobiography of someone’s personal life and secrets. In the end, he had to go to jail and enjoy his life writing this novel in prison. LOL. Lucky guy: published 1- a fake autobiography & 2- a novel of regret and confession. Do you guys think he has written it as per request of some authorities?
Recommend? Maybe.

[Robert P. Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written unsparing account of how and, to a lesser degree, why Clifford Irving undertook the hoax. I was surprised that what was the decisive event that caused the hoax to unravel was not the press conference Hughes gave but was instead the money deposited in the Swiss bank by Irving's then wife.

An excellent discussion of how relatively easy it was to fool some top executives at the publishing house and others in the media. But the media didn't really have much chance to investigate things since once the book was announced things fell apart quickly.

Well worth reading.

[Mary E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was fascinated by two accredited authors hatching a plan to sell a book based on a relationship with Howard Hughes that didn't exist to an established publishing house. It was fun until it wasn't. Around 47% percent of the way through the book, after listening to the extensive research done by Clifford and Suskind, the writing started to flag and the story telling got WAY bogged down. I didn't finish the book. There's spousal cheating, (LOTS of spousal cheating) and the recounting of the events leading up to the discovery of the hoax started to bog down. It's a fun romp for the most part.

[Quinn Lavender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clifford Irving perpetrated one of the greatest hoaxes of the 20th century ... and I'd never heard anything about it before this book. Irving convinced a book publisher, a magazine publisher, a host of lawyers, other authors & reporters, a polygraph administrator, and 2 sets of handwriting experts that he met with reclusive Howard Hughes and had written his authorized biography.

The lengths Irving went to to do this, and the seeming ease with which he did it, will amaze you.

[william r nielsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the story of an arrogant, egotistical man who spends most of the book talking about how great he is by researching Howard Hughes. Then writing a false "autobiography" of Hughes which he convinces Life Magazine and McGraw-Hill to almost publish. His description of how he bamboozled the publishers all revolves around his "ability" to "make himself" Hughes. Claiming that he was a genius for pulling this off. The beginning with the development of the plan and the end where it fails is interesting. But the majority of the book about the research I found to be too long and self-centered. It got very tedious as you waited for the end of the story to begin.

[David Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an audacious idea almost ridiculous; Clifford why did you do it? I guess his answer might have been that he liked to take risks.
I enjoyed Clifford Irving’s writing and subject matter; it such a shame that he couldn’t write a biography of the real Howard Hughes.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: the story behind Clifford Irving's literary hoax - his 1972 attempt to fake Howard Hughes autobiography.

[Michalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars

[Iona · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, that was fascinating, but on the other, omg the author is utterly insufferable

[Vic]

rwr review

[Susan Visser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned of this story from the Revisionist History podcast by Malcolm Gladwell. The episode is something like "Howard Hughes, you idiot".

Apparently, author Clifford Irving, decided it would be fun to write an official autobiography of the recluse Howard Hughes. Irving figured that Hughes would never come out of hiding to dispute the book, so it would be published and accepted.

Irving and his partner go to extreme lengths to research every aspect of Hughes' actual life and to mimic his voice and style. And they set up secret meeting points where Iriving is supposedly meeting Hughes. It's really incredible the amount of work they went through to write the book.

Just before it publishes, the publisher McGraw-Hill sends out a press release about the coming book. Someone in Hughes' organization comes out and disputes that Hughes was involved. Experts check and double-check and the hoax is almost pulled off.

So, the official autobiography was never published. In Gladwell's opinion, Hughes should have read the draft as he would have likely liked it and approved it despite not being involved.

This book gives all the details on how the hoax was conceived, how they did what they did, and how they were ultimately caught.

A very interesting story even if you don't care about Howard Hughes.

[Laura Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The drama of this tale makes it a page turner (or in the case of an audiobook a long-listener). Yet it is, at its center, somewhat unsatisfying because the author and main character seems blissfully unaware of how his behavior might affect others. As he flies around the world on his mad adventure, enjoying his extramarital affairs with seemingly little reflection as his wife is committing bank fraud for him at home, he lies to friends and business partners as if the whole matter were out of his control.

The amazing coincidences, strokes of luck and close calls are the stuff of great fiction. As the author writes himself into his own movie, his fictional autobiography and the fiction he must create for the people at McGraw Hill become simply two parts of one elaborate writing project. As you see him encounter one close call after another, you want him to get away with it, yet you know that there is only one possible outcome. He's going to be caught.

The book becomes much less satisfying as it moves into Irving's downward trajectory as his hoax is unraveled and the consequences loom, as it certainly was for the author. The pain inflicted on his wife through both the legal ramifications of the hoax and the revelation of Irving's affairs are difficult to read. Irving does express remorse for that and for lying to one or two friends, but in general he seems to view his hoax as a victimless joke.

McGraw Hill is a corporation done in by greed in his tale, and the people who were duped and whose reputations surely took a beating, most likely would find that compounded by this book. Their crime was believing Irving and standing behind him, and for that the author says at one point that he sometimes thought he should cheer about what he had done-- that he had exposed the limits of corporate greed and stupidity.

I was especially bothered by way one of the editors, a woman who he chose as his first patsy because she had been loyal to him throughout his career, was voiced in the audio book edition. While it is difficult for an actor to differentiate between all the character's voices, I found it distracting that this publishing professional spoke like a bubble-headed valley girl. She may not have come across as quite so unintelligent and easily fooled in the Irving text, as she did in the audio version in which she spoke like an un-reflective teenager discussing the latest MTV reality show. This seemed particularly unfair to this listener.

So why were the McGraw Hill team so easily hoodwinked? I do not believe it was a simple case of greed and corporate stupidity. There was certainly some group-think and excitement over possibly having the coup of their careers might have clouded their judgment. But they were fooled for the same reason the story fascinates the reader-- who would have the audacity to claim to have written the autobiography of a living person and think they could get away with it? Only someone truly crazy would think that the living person and his organization would ignore such a thing. The unlikeliness of such a scenario is bound to make people believe. The lie is more credible than the truth.

In the end, I was left with the feeling that the damage his caper caused to other people (with the exceptions of his wife and children) was more fictional to the author than the Howard Hughes he created in his mind.

When he is asked if he would do it again, he says he would not. But his remorse is not for others. He says he would not repeat his fraud because "I have lost too much."

I was taken by the audacity and cleverness of the hoax, and propelled by the drama, I would like to have had a more sympathetic main character. Of course, that is a lot to ask from a book by someone with the personality to pull such a thing in the first place.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hard to fit into a category. It's the story of a scheme to write a functional autobiography of Howard Hughes, without Howard's knowledge. The pure moxy of Clifford Irving and Dick Suskind is amazing. They did an astonishing amount of research in order to get a true sense of the Howard Hughes the man, and that is the only way to explain the number of people that they fooled into thinking that they were meeting with the real Howard Hughes. They mystery surrounding Hughes helped of course. He was already becoming a legend for his reclusiveness and the lengths he would go to maintain his privacy. Irving played on that whenever the people at his publisher, McGraw Hill started to question the authenticity of his claims.

The closer the book came to the release date, the more he had to up the ante to keep McGraw Hill satisfied with this claims. However, it reached a point where the McGraw (and Time/Life) people started to believe their own baloney and even began making excuses when holes appeared in Irvings story. Irving and Suskind had many lucky breaks as well. They found a treasure trove of previously unreleased interviews and information about Hughes at Time/Life. They got a sneak peak at an unpublished book from someone who had known Hughes personally for many years. And maybe most unbelievable, Irvins imitations of Hughes handwriting were cleared by handwriting experts three different times.

While the excitement and money that surrounded the scheme were certainly enticing, I don't fully understand Irving's motivation for carrying out the hoax. He was already a semi-successful author. He lived in a fine house in the Spanish countryside. He was married with two young children, and seemed well established. But there were signs of his restlessness. He had continued a long-term affair with another woman, even after his wife had discovered it. Throughout the book he professes his love for his wife, but in addition to his long-time mistress, he has another affair with a random women while he's one one of his research trips. Is he a chronic risk taker, or just an irresponsible thrill seeker. I had mixed feelings about Irving by the end of the book.

A very well paced and written book, I do sometimes wonder if the man who came so close to publishing a stack of lies as the autobiography of one of the most famous men alive is actually telling the truth about his own story. We may never know, but it's a good story along the way regardless.

[Erica Verrillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clifford Irving certainly knows how to spin a yarn. Once you get into this book, it's hard to put it down, even if you know the outcome. In fact, it's even more difficult to stop reading when you know exactly what's going to happen. During the last few chapters, as Irving is plummeting to his doom, the tension is almost unbearable.

I originally picked up this book because after I had seen the movie I was left with a lingering question. What motivated Clifford Irving to pull the biggest literary hoax of the century? Lack of success, as implied in the movie, simply didn't seem to be enough reason to concoct such an elaborate far-fetched scheme--one which would require forgery, fraud, larceny, a year of research, false passports, fake Swiss bank accounts, numerous trips to the Caribbean, infidelities, lies, the ruination of long-standing friendships, and the loss of his marriage and family. Irving put everything on the line in order to pull a fast one on McGraw-Hill Publishers, not to mention Time-Life Corporation, the mass media and, of course, Howard Hughes, the multi-billionaire recluse whose autobiography Irving faked.

The answer to that question was not, as his friend and co-hoaxter, Richard Suskind put it, to perform an "act of anarchy." While a desire to sow chaos may well have inspired Suskind, what motivated Irving was something more profound. Clifford Irving simply could not live the humdrum life of "cutting along the dotted line." Towards the end of the book, Irving says, "The whole Hughes affair had been a venture into the unknown, a testing of myself, a constant gauntlet of challenge and response." Getting caught was both the danger and the beauty of the hoax; it made Clifford Irving feel alive.

In spite of everything, it is hard not to admire the man. In another day and age he would have conquered the world, or stolen it. Perhaps he would have started a revolution or a religion. The fact of the matter is that the modern world has no use for a person who must test himself by challenging the foundations of society. Laws are there to protect us from renegades like Clifford Irving. Nevertheless, deep in our hearts, a lot of us wish we had the chutzpah to pull off a hoax of such "reckless and artistic splendour."

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard Hughes is one of the most intriguing personalities of the 20th century. Successful industrialist, moviemaker and aviation pioneer he was always going to garner attention but even when he became a hermit billionaire controlled by his phobias he was still featured on the cover of time magazine and one of the most talked about men on the planet. Enter Clifford Irving to add yet another strange chapter in the strange life of this iconic man. This book tells the story of how Clifford Irving scammed the publishing industry in believing that he had been contacted by Howard Hughes and been commissioned to write his biography; warts and all. It was all a hoax- as the title suggests- but it certainly took Mr Irving on a fun ride. A writer by trade Irving keeps the story moving and kept enthralled and entertained his scam unfolds and he is finally exposed by the infamous telephone conference when Hughes denounces him. One of the best books I've read concerning Howard Hughes and a great heist story to boot