The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter

By: Mark Seal

Narrated by: Erik Singer

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

A real-life Talented Mr. Ripley, the unbelievable 30-year run of a shape-shifting con man. The story of Clark Rockefeller is a stranger-than-fiction twist on the classic American success story of the self-made man - because Clark Rockefeller was totally made up. The career con man who convincingly passed himself off as Rockefeller was born in a small village in Germany.

At 17, obsessed with getting to America, he flew into the country on dubious student visa documents and his journey of deception began. Over the next 30 years, boldly assuming a series of false identities, he moved up the social ladder through exclusive enclaves on both coasts-culminating in a stunning 12-year marriage to a rising star businesswoman with a Harvard MBA who believed she'd wed a Rockefeller. The imposter charmed his way into exclusive clubs and financial institutions-working on Wall Street, showing off an extraordinary art collection - until his marriage ended and he was arrested for kidnapping his daughter, which exposed his past of astounding deceptions as well as a connection to the bizarre disappearance of a California couple in the mid-1980s.

The story of The Man in the Rockefeller Suit is a probing and cinematic exploration of an audacious imposer - and a man determined to live the American dream by any means necessary.

©2011 Mark Seal (P)2011 Penguin Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“Has all the pace and drive of a suspense novel.” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)

“No mystery writer would script this - it’s too unbelievable." (The Christian Science Monitor)

“Fascinating.” (People, four stars)

Narrator speaks way too quickly

Eric Singer speaks frenetically and too quickly. Had to slow it down to about seventy five percent to make him understandable.

Chilling story of an imposter!

Well-researched, written and narrated. It kept me fascinated from start to finish. Highly recommended if you like this type of non-fiction book. Truth can be stranger than fiction--that's for sure!

Such a amazing story

I have listened to this book over and over again and am amazed each time by the level of deceit this man was able to get away with. This is one of my favorite listens and I highly recommend it!

Very interesting

Overall this was a good listen. It did seem to drag on though and I had to force myself to finish it. I think it could have been much shorter and should be. The narrator was good and easy to listen to.

Listen to this book!

I loved everything about this book, and I told others to listen to it, too. The story is remarkable -- what this guy pulled off is incredible -- and the audio performance is excellent.

Don't hesitate -- listen to it!

Great book about a con man

I am writing this in 2014 so the story has evolved even further since 2011. This is a very fact based book starting with the story as he enters in the US and follows him through his trial for kidnapping his child. The book is well written. If this book intrigues you, then download "Blood Will Out" by Walter Kirn next which finishes the story.

Good background of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter

The author did good work with interviewing the relevant people from Christian's (Clark's) life providing a fairly solid 360 perspective on the context of this impostors world.

Real life is sometimes stranger than fiction

This story is unbelievable, yet true. What a colorful imposter this man is. I will be re-reading this book.

Well researched and written, but repetitive

The story follows a man who cons hundreds of persons in the same way. The book is well researched, but that becomes its greatest problem: the author did not want to discard any of the hundreds of incidents that he uncovered, so the reader is left with 10+ hours of variations on the same theme.

TIME WELL SPENT...

Well researched, well written and well presented. Chronology was organized and provided pertinent information without getting lost in irrelevant babel. Sparked my interest enough that I was motivated to do a bit of research on my own.