• Unmasked

  • The Final Years of Michael Jackson
  • By: Ian Halperin
  • Narrated by: Richard Allen
  • Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
  • 3.3 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)

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Unmasked  By  cover art

Unmasked

By: Ian Halperin
Narrated by: Richard Allen
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Publisher's summary

In late December 2008, New York Times best-selling author 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 a planned concert series at London's O2 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 advisers 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, Halperin uncovers the real story of Michael Jackson's final years, a suspenseful and surprising thriller.

©2009 Ian Halperin (P)2009 Tantor

What listeners say about Unmasked

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Don't waste your credit!

This was rubish. Ian had an axe to grind with Michael Jackson, and he filed it down to the wood with this book. A lot of time was spent on the reading of court transcripts verbatim from Jackson's trial, what easy way to waste ink and make a buck at the same time. Save your credit, this book is a waste of time. I skipped through it after a point while thinking how foolish I was to waste my money on it.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Save your money

This book made me wish we could return audiobooks for a refund. It should have been called "Michael Jackson May Be Weird But He Isn't A Pedophile - Really!" We hear a lot about the molestation charges but not much else...except, that is, for The Adventures of Ian Halperin, Undercover Journalist Extraordinaire! Ian goes undercover inside the Church of Scientology! Ian becomes BFFs with Ava Gardner! Ian smokes pot with Liza Minnelli! Ian gets hit on by Michael Jackson in a pizza parlor! The book even begins with Ian's feelings about the alleged child molestation that Jackson was charged with. Combine the Ian-centric narrative (a big fat journalistic no-no) with a glaring lack of fact-checking and a lot of unsupported innuendo (Michael was gay! Michael wanted to die! Mysterious "unnamed sources" said so!), and you get...well, you get a waste of $12 and 9 hours, is what you get. Richard Allen is mediocre as the narrator, and I confess to gritting my teeth every time he changed accents to read the alleged words of, for example, a gay French porn star, a Latina maid, or Jackson himself. Don't even bother with this waste of time and money...I wish I hadn't.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

First Title I've Ever Asked for a Refund

The narrator sounds like he's learning to read outloud. Awful.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

listen to preview first!

oh, how I wish I would have listened to the preview first! the narrator's voice is so
melodramatic and nauseating! yikes! i want a refund!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Sensationalist Garbage

This book is horrible, I was very upset by the time I got through it. I don't believe a word of it either. The things that this author claims about Michael are really terrible, and honestly I wish that I had never purchased it

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Lies

Most of the "facts" in this book are straight out lies. Don't waste your time.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The last days

That was so sad, but he’s in a better place. He was pressured so much til it took him away.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

More like UNASKED. Nobody Needs This Crap

Trash, Swill, BULL
A poorly researched money grab offering nothing new or noteworthy. Even mispronounced Jackson's managers name, simply wretched.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Insightful for the Discerning Reader

I downloaded this audiobook not as a obsessive, "Michael can do no wrong" fan (although I am a fan), but as a concerned and interested person after Michael's untimely death, and can honestly say that this book is getting an bad rap, unfairly. The bulk of the book is devoted to an exhaustive investigation into the child abuse allegations, which is supported by extensive, credible information and sources. It also contains, rather unfortunately, a few chapters of rather extensive speculation as to Michael's sexuality, Lisa Marie Presley's motivation for marriage, and some general conspiracy theories, which are developed through a serious of "unnamed sources", "Jackson employees", and other "insiders" who are less than credible, and can be safely ignored.

It is important to keep in mind that the author originally set out to find the truth behind the pedophilia charges against Michael (which he ultimately discovers are, without question, untrue), and that only after that investigation did he decide to add additional, less credible thoughts and speculation about other details of his life, based on his various conversations throughout the investigation. In the end, the author clearly is sad, frustrated, empathetic, and angry about the people and circumstances surrounding Michael and his life, as you will be through this read.

Yes, the editing is a bit poor, probably due to the rush to get it published shortly after Michael's death. And yes, the reader can be a bit melodramatic (although not painfully so), but this book brings forth so many of the missing pieces and such insight into the destruction of Michael Jackson that it simply cannot be ignored. I highly recommend it, especially in combination with J. Randy Taraborrelli's excellent work.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

0 STARS! Charging way to much for this garbage!

Perfect example of what MJ used to tell his fans to NOT read! Garbage! I learned a lesson. Please read reviews and listen to sample before you buy anything. I want a refund. Total trash! Don’t waste your time, or money!

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