First published 2020
Investigative journalists Alana Goodman and Daniel Halper examine the circumstances surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's death in a Manhattan jail cell on August 10, 2019. The billionaire financier was found unresponsive while awaiting trial for sexual crimes involving minors. Officials ruled his death a suicide within hours. The authors interview Epstein's victims, their attorneys, medical professionals, financial industry sources, and law enforcement personnel. They uncover troubling inconsistencies in the official account. Security cameras malfunctioned the night Epstein died. His cellmate had been moved out and never replaced. Guards removed him from suicide watch despite his high profile status and left him alone for eight hours. The book explores whether powerful figures in Epstein's network, including politicians and celebrities who had flown on his aircraft and visited his properties, had motives to silence him permanently. Goodman and Halper present evidence and testimony that challenges the suicide verdict, allowing readers to evaluate whether Epstein was murdered to protect those who feared exposure of their connections to his criminal activities.
Genres: crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, true-crime, investigative-journalism, political-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Manhattan, New York
Period: 2019
256 pages · Hardcover · Sentinel
Content warnings: death, sexual-assault