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 [...]

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 f [...]

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

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 t [...]

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 substa [...]

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 unfort [...]

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 hi [...]

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 [...]

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.

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 [...]

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 cou [...]

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 h [...]

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, fami [...]

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 [...]

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 sc [...]

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 go [...]

I listened to this book on cd. I loved it!! I was so intrigued because it was all true! just when I thought Clifford & Dick were going to be caught, the book takes another turn and kept on going. It was amazing how long he kept the "hoax" alive without any actual investigations into his work. Clifford Irving is brilliant. He realized once his initial autobiography of Howard Hughes had failed, he could write a book about the book he wrote and still make money! The book was a little confusing [...]

I remember the intrigue about Howard Hughes in the 70's. I was out of the country for a couple of years when Clifford Irving's "autobiography" of Howard Hughes hit the media and I only read about it as an historical event. But in 1974 I met a daughter of one of Howard Hughes's Mormon Mafia assistants. Her father treated his job like it was a top secret assignment for the government. That sparked my interest and for a while I paid attention to everything Howard Hughes.The story by Clifford about [...]

I substitute taught a yoga class in Zihautenejo, Mexico and this attractive older man came up to me afterwards to ask some questions about the poses. We talked for quite awhile, then my husband and I ended up having cocktails on their balcony at sunset. During the course of the evening we discovered that he had written several books, one about living in Ibiza, Spain and coming up with the idea to write an autobiography of Howard Hughes. Cliff Irving is a great storyteller and when I got home I f [...]

A bizarre tale in which the author recounts his experiences writing a fake autobiography of famous recluse Howard Hughes. Irving fools the world to the point where McGraw Hill nearly publishes the book he’s written.This is a great read looking into a fascinating chain of events. It’s also a cautionary tale about how quickly things can get out of hand, and the power of kidding yourself.You can look into the details of the debacle and find out what happens, but the way Irving tells the story m [...]

I was listening to this on audiobook, but the book is so piss-poor that I am giving it up. And that's saying quite a lot as I spend close to 10 hours a day (my whole workday plus my workout time) listening to my ipod and I still couldn't find the time or energy to devote to this. While it's a fascinating concept, the writing is tediously descriptive and the author loves to include information about aspects of his personal life that must, for him, give the book an especially melodramatic flair an [...]

This is one of those 'stranger than fiction' stories. Irving and Suskind decide to write an autobiography of Howard Hughes knowing they would never have access to him. Assuming that no one else would have access to the reclusive millionaire, they could make serious money in writing Hughes' story. So they sell the story to a publisher, Irving's wife impersonates a "Hughes" to deposit Hughes' cash, he has an affair with an entertainer and Duchess, and is then surprised that there were problems wit [...]

I'm interested in the story behind the early 70s hoax by Clifford Irving, wherein he successfully peddled and very, very closely came to publishing an "authorized autobiography" on the reclusive Howard Hughes. Irving's a very self-satisfied writer, going so far over the deep end of pathos as to compare his guilt as the same punishment of a war prisoner.Essentially a midrange beach read, I mostly tackled it as a primer for the upcoming film version. From what I can tell from the trailer, the Rich [...]

The movie is good but the book is much, much better. The nerve of Irving is pretty awe-inspiring. Deserves a longer, better thought out review, which I'm sure someone else has posted on . Maybe I'll attempt one someday. After reading this, I wanted to see excellent Altman version of The Long Goodbye again as the idea of watching Nina VanPallandt and Jim Bouton in the same movie had a new kind of weird 70s pop culture stunt casting appeal to it (although both are great in movie, as is Sterling Ha [...]

This book is one that did entice me from beginning to end.It is a fascinating tale of how Clifford Irving fooled Time magazine to fund his book, the autobiography of Howard Hughes.The Hoax was written by Clifford Irving as an apology to the world, for committing the crime of conning money from Time magazine to write his book about a man he never did meet.I do advise this book for anyone, who does like a good suspense story, as you would not believe how Clifford managed to find evidence that need [...]

A thrilling non-fiction book telling the fantastical story of Clifford Irving's hoax of writing the authorized biography of Howard Hughes. Most American publishing houses will not even touch this book which was originally published in the 70s. Irving's story is exciting and unbelievable, and his style of writing is so amusing, intimate, and cohesive. I would definitely recommend.

Irving's story was a fun, falling-into-fame sort of tale. His personality as narrator is companionable at best, and he sounds like he fancies himself a little cleverer than he actually is. I liked this book, but have no motivation to read anything else by Irving, especially fiction.

A really good book about the guys who faked the Howard Hughes autobiography. Written by the main guy who did it. A fascinating read , and it is unusual to have a criminal write about his own crime, and even more unusual when he is a professional writer.

A movie was made based on this book.From :In what would cause a fantastic media frenzy, Clifford Irving sells his bogus biography of Howard Hughes to a premiere publishing house in the early 1970s.

Fascinating read of derring-dowell, the kind that ultimately can land you in jail for a few years. Very colorful characters and an engaging read. Hard to believe someone could get away with something like that--but, it was back in the '70s before internet/cell phones, etc.