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Sign up todayThe Hoax
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Learn moreNovelist Clifford Irving’s “autobiography” of Howard Hughes was the literary hoax of our time. This no-holds-barred confession by the author was first published in Great Britain in 1977, where it became a bestseller. But no American hardcover house would touch it until now. Why? The answer is implicit in this ultimate caper story of daring, treachery, and corruption.
As fast-paced and exciting as any spy novel, The Hoax involves the reader at every devilish turn. Irving describes how the hoax developed, like a Chinese puzzle, from its madcap beginning to the final startling confession—a witty and nail-biting story of international intrigue and beautiful women, of powerful corporate executives and jet-set rogues, of cover-ups and headlines.
Clifford Irving was born in New York City and attended Cornell University. After his infamous hoax came to light, Time magazine dubbed him “Con Man of the Year.” Since serving his time in three different prisons for The Hoax, he has continued to write books. Irving now lives in Aspen, Colorado.
Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five in the basement of his family's home in upstate New York. He has gone on to play many stage roles, both on and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters from Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis to Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. He has appeared in films and television, both prime time and late night, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials. Joe has narrated over two hundred audiobooks. He has been an Audie Award finalist eight times, and his narration of Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman won the 2013 Audie Award for Original Work. AudioFile magazine has granted Joe fourteen Earphones Awards, including for James Salter's All That Is and Donald Katz's Home Fires. Regarding Joe's narration of John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, AudioFile said, "This moving book comes across like a concerto . . . with a soloist-Owen's voice-rising from the background of an orchestral narration." Joe is married to actor Andrea Wright, and together they have four very grown children.
Reviews
“Deserves to sell a million, because the fact is more weird than any fiction and the story is carried like a time bomb through the pages. Nothing can detract from Irving’s superb skill as a writer.”
“Narrator Joe Barrett is remarkably convincing as the determined author…as hair-raising, breathlessly paced, and suspenseful as any spy novel.”
“Barrett’s voice, tinged with cynicism, world-weariness, and a complete lack of guilt about the lying and deceit he is describing, captures Irving perfectly.”
“A story which reads like the best thriller fiction and which contains the seeds of a dozen movie scripts. Mysterious meetings, false passports, a beautiful Danish baroness, Swiss bank accounts…Alfred Hitchcock would handle the whole thing perfectly.”
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