Hollywood Con Queen The Hunt for an Evil Genius

"Although Johnson's obsessive investigation results in a penetrating picture of a sad, sick man, it is his portrayals of Harvey's vulnerable victims that prove more compelling. A grifter exposed in sordid detail." - Kirkus Reviews

"Gripping true-crime." - Booklist

"If The Con Queen of Hollywood were merely a rip-roaring international caper, it would already be deeply satisfying. But it's so much more than that: a probing of the nature of evil, in its banality and its flamboyance, as well as the moral quandaries of investigative journalism, from one of the best practitioners in the game." - Julian Sancton, New York Times bestselling author of Madhouse at the End of the Earth

"This book is as engrossing as anything by Agatha Christie, as unsettling as a novel by Stephen King, and reported with a vigorous empathy that leaves Truman Capote in the dust. Scott Johnson's courage, his relentless quest for the truth behind a set of brilliantly obscured cruelties, and his examination of the very fabric of psychopathy ultimately lead him to question how the appalling lies spat out by the Con Queen relate to the daily untruths required of us all. His narrative is further deepened by breathtakingly honest reportage about himself and his family, which led him to this radical investigation of a deformed mind. I cannot remember the last time I read anything with such breathless fascination." - Andrew Solomon

"In a twist-filled new book, writer Scott C Johnson tears back the layers of deception in a story of a scammer who wreaked havoc in the film industry . . . . Riveting." - The Guardian

"This portrait of one of the most creative criminal minds of the last decade is a jaw-dropping must-read." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Scott C. Johnson's book is a shape-shifter, morphing from true crime investigation to memoir to travelogue to an examination of mythology and linguistics and journalistic ethics . . . . And despite the thematic depths it mines, it is a rocket of a book that can and should be consumed in a headlong dash for maximum effect." - Los Angeles Times

"Fascinating . . . . Finding out just how this scheme transpired is the big fun of Mr. Johnson's book, which folds the official investigation of "The Con Queen of Hollywood" into Mr. Johnson's own deep reporting for the Hollywood Reporter." - Wall Street Journal

"A chilling study of deception and evil." - Library Journal

"Twist-filled. . . . Riveting." - The Guardian

"The Con Queen of Hollywood is a propulsive journalistic chase tale that creates a vertiginous sensation; you feel your feet leaving the ground as you read." - Boston Globe