Customer Reviews

The Deadly Sins Of Aristotle Onassis

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I enjoyed the book because It contained several pages about two of my cousins, and because it is very interesting to get more of an inside account as to the lives of Aristotle Onassis (whom I've never cared for, and this made me feel even more dislike for the man) and Jackie Kennedy Onassis,( giving me a different perspective of her as well ,it made me feel that she was overly interested in money.)

It took me awhile to get thru the first few chapters as there was a great deal of technical information. Good information, but a little deep for someone not entirely interesting about planes and boats at that level. Again, further into the book there was lots of technical stuff that slowed me down.

If you have an interest in Aristotle Onassis and family and Jackie Kennedy Onassis this would be an interesting book and if you wanted to know the depth cause and result of his son dying in a crash, THIS is the book to read.

The Deadly Sins Of Aristotle Onassis is the true-life story of the famous Greek shipping tycoon who married Jackie Kennedy. He was the penultimate 20th century con man, able to charm the press even as he spun ever more elaborate frauds, from the illegal acquisition of war-surplus ships by falsifying ownership records to bribing Saudi Arabian officials for oil concessions to slaughtering whales in violation of international agreements to hiring Howard Hughes' hatchet man for wiretapping and intimidation, tax evasion, and more. Yet his life of deceit and control caught up with him, robbed his children of their happiness. The Deadly Sins Of Aristotle Onassis reveals how his boastful behavior and charade of invincibility ultimately trapped his son Alexander aboard his fatally defective personal airplane; how the guilt from his son's death caused him to end his own life prematurely; and how his legacy of criminal behavior lived on in his daughter, who tried to cheat Jackie Kennedy out of her rightful widow's share of his estate. A tragic true story of wicked deeds reaping grim rewards.

This book is an overall disappointment. Although the author sets out to tell his legal tale about his successful lawsuit against the Onassis estate for his client (who was accused of manslaughter in the plane crash and death of Ari's son Alexander in 1973) -poor writing hampers this story. Mr. Speiser would have done well to have hired a good editor to weed out endless repetions of 'as we have seen...' when describing a person or situation and 'some serious juice' when he refers to money in the first chapter of the book more than a few times. A fact checker would have told Mr. Speiser that Kathleen Kennedy was not known as 'Kit,' rather she was well known as 'Kick.' I also believe that the author is off about a month when noting the date of the death of Tina Onassis Niarchos. Mr. Speiser's tome is compelling only because his client finally received justice, not because of how this story is written or because it offers anything but speculation about Aristotle's guilt over Alexander's actual death. Other books, most notably 'Greek Fire' and 'Nemesis' make much more interesting reading if one is interested in the tragic Onassis legacy.

The author has written an in-depth report on Onassis' life, not a sugar-coated fairy tale like some other books on this subject. Aristotle didn't die of a broken heart, he died of guilt, knowing he was directly responsible for his son, Alex's , death. Brings to light a clearer picture of the relationship between Ari and Jacki . A great read !