The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter [Hardcover]

Mark Seal (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 2, 2011

A real-life Talented Mr. Ripley, the unbelievable thirty-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 seventeen, obsessed with getting to America, he flew into the country on dubious student visa documents and his journey of deception began.

Over the next thirty years, boldly assuming a series of false identities, he moved up the social ladder through exclusive enclaves on both coasts-culminating in a stunning twelve-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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating. ["The Man in the Rockefeller Suit"] is a brisk narrative that has all the pace and drive of a suspense novel."
-"The New York Times"
"Riveting."
-"O, the Oprah Magazine"
"A tailor-made riveting read.... Forget fiction. Pop this jaw-dropper in your beach bag."
-"USA Today"
"[An] impeccably reported and fascinating book."
-"Los Angeles Times"
"This spectacular story is all in the entertaining details."
-"Newsweek/The Daily Beast" (One of 10 Must Read Summer Books)
"Fascinating."
-"People Magazine" (4 stars)
"Highly diverting."
-"Salon"
"A tasty souffl? of deceit. THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT is a terrific read, well-reported and well-structured."
-"Portland Oregonian "
"[A]n intense and compellingly told tale of a self-made man, in every sense of that term."
-"The Washington Times"
"In striking detail, and at a rapid clip, the writer unravels theT

About the Author

Mark Seal is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where his piece on Gerhartsreiter was a finalist for a 2010 National Magazine Award. He is also the author of Wildflower. He lives in Aspen, Colorado.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st Printing edition (June 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670022748
• ISBN-13: 978-0670022748
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY RIVETING June 4, 2011

By Robin Simmons VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I think the last non-fiction book that I literally couldn't put down was "THE LOST CITY OF Z." Now comes Mark Seal's true-life account of German born Christian K. Gerhartsreiter's metamorphosis through several identities until he adopted the lock-jaw, Boston Brahmin accented Clark Rockefeller. He dressed the preppie part and charmed people along the way with his wide knowledge and wit. He was clearly an eccentric but people longed to associate with a "Rockefeller" even if he was vague about the family connection.

I was kind of sympathetic to "Clark" because he was a self-made man who actually was able to get several prestigious jobs on Wall Street. He also got married to a high-powered business consultant and had a daughter.

Oh yes, he may have also killed two young people in San Marino and drove their truck to the East Coast where he tried to sell it. The book alludes to a third missing person.

If, after the bitter divorce (his wife finally had him investigated), he had not kidnapped his daughter and made international headlines, he may have been able to continue his serial impersonations.

Today he is being held on murder charges as well.

What amazes me is the incredible ability of "Clark" to make up stories people eagerly "bought." I wonder if he had chosen a fiction writer's life, would he have been as successful conjuring stories as say Stephen King, who obviously has a compulsion to create artificial lives.

This is a terrific book. Seal has put together many missing pieces with over 200 interviews. There are many unanswered questions that remain. Perhaps a revised edition after the murder trial?

Far beyond what a master of fiction might conjure, this incredible story will leave you slack-jawed.

We are indeed a wild and crazy species.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Perplexing. Could this con man have fooled us? June 7, 2011

By Jesse Kornbluth TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

People can be so stupid.

And I don't mean politicians who don't know enough to use throwaway cell phones when communicating with women who aren't married to them.

I mean the citizens of Milford, Connecticut, who met a 17-year-old German exchange student named Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter in the fall of 1978 and believed him when he said his father was an industrialist who had something to do with Mercedes-Benz.

And I mean the citizens of San Marino, California, who believed that Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter ---- now Christopher Chichester --- was related to Lord Louis Mountbatten, cousin of the King of England.

And I mean the citizens of Greenwich, Connecticut, who believed that Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter --- now Christopher Crowe --- was the same Christopher Crowe who produced the Alfred Hitchcock television series.

And I mean Stan Phelps, who was once smart enough to have given the young Mike Milken his first job, and who now hired Crowe to trade bonds, never checking the Social Security number that Crowe provided, which actually belonged to David Berkowitz, the serial killer known as Son of Sam.

And I especially mean Sandra Boss, a 26-year-old in her final year of Harvard Business School, who met Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter --- now operating as Clark Rockefeller --- in 1993. She believed his parents had died in a car crash. That he started Yale at 14. That he lived, alone, in a townhouse on Sutton Place. That he settled a $50 million lawsuit, leaving him broke, so that she wouldn't be at financial risk if they got married. And that, on the eve of their wedding, he disinvited his distinguished family.

In fact, it wasn't until shortly before "Clark Rockefeller" assaulted a social worker and fled with their young daughter that Sandra Boss --- now a management consultant making a fortune as one of the youngest partners ever at McKinsey --- began to wonder who her husband was. Until then, she thought it was merely eccentric that her husband had no Social Security number and no checking account. Why, he was just about to be named to the board of the Federal Reserve Bank!

All this and more is presented in Mark Seal's exhaustively researched "The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter." Seal did 200 interviews on two continents for this book, and it shows. He did not get to interview Sandra Boss and Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, and it also shows. But still, the record is vast, the story a jaw-dropper --- this is a book that true-crime and high society buffs will devour like crab cakes at a yacht club cocktail party.

How did Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter fool Sandra Boss? Many say he was charming and brilliant, that he looked and dressed like the Real Thing. And Sandra Boss --- could she have been so bright at work and so blind in her marriage? Or did she put up with her husband's "eccentricities" because his name gave her a business advantage?

"The Man in the Rockefeller Suit" is a perplexing book. After the fact, "everyone" knew Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter was a fraud. Before he was unmasked, he fooled almost everyone. I'm sure I would have seen through him. And you're sure you would have. But if we're honest, we have to wonder if a con man using a fancy name might not have fooled us too. And then we have to ask ourselves.... why?

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Detailed account but still left me wondering July 10, 2011

By Scott Yanoff

Format:Hardcover

I don't see a way to give half-stars so let me start by saying that this is at the high-end of a 3-star review. Other reviewers have deftly recapped what the book's content is about -- a German student who comes to America and takes on several identities and eventually gathering the gumption to take on the Rockefeller moniker. The book ambles a bit at the beginning with so much detail, but it never gets too deep that it becomes boring. The book slowly picks up steam and after the half-way mark really begins to become a page-turner once the Rockefeller identify is assumed. The story is always interesting and spans somewhere between two and three decades, so a lot of ground is covered in this person's life.

This is an interesting story and it was a fun read. What kept me from rating it higher were a few things. First off, there's a lot of second-hand information in the book. The author never had access to the main character, but he does a serviceable job of interviewing everyone who ever seemed to have come in contact with "Rockefeller". Second, a couple of things just seemed unexplained to me. For example, the author mentions a packet of detailed information they are given early in the book. It's glossed over so quickly that the reader is left wondering about the veracity of the information. Why did this all just land in the author's lap? Similarly, there is a part at the end when the author is presented a basement-full of "Rockefeller's" personal belongings with little explanation as to how he found them nor how the new owner came upon them. Either way, though, the book was a fun read and kept my interest throughout.