The Spider
Inside the Tangled Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Who was Jeffrey Epstein? Donald Trump has called the ongoing interest in the details about Epstein’s web of clients and enablers a “hoax.” But in this book, a Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist delivers the most comprehensive account yet of the disgraced financier’s life and death, revealing a criminal enterprise that stretched over decades.
“An exhaustively detailed look at the life, death, and alleged crimes of Epstein, along with his years-long friendship with Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s—and how Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency ultimately helped expose Epstein.”—Forbes
An ID Book Club Selection • Featured in the Peacock original documentary series Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell
By now, the basic contours of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrendous crimes—his decades-long serial abuse of young women and underage girls—are familiar. But for all that has been written about Epstein since his shocking death in a lower Manhattan jail cell, an astonishing amount remains unknown. A shy Brooklyn kid turned renegade financier, Jeffrey Epstein never wanted to play by the rules of polite society. He was elusive in life and he has remained just as elusive in death.
What is known is that he had amassed nearly $600 million by the time of his death. That fortune allowed Epstein to pursue a privileged, secretive life, jetting between his fortress-like homes in Manhattan, New Mexico, and Little St. James, his private island. Behind these closed doors, Epstein socialized with scientists and world leaders and preyed on powerless young women.
In The Spider, Barry Levine shines a light into the darkest corners of Epstein’s world, including
• Epstein’s young adulthood and earliest accusations of sexual misconduct
• the murky sources of Epstein’s fortune and business dealings
• Epstein’s circle of confidantes and employees, particularly the nature of his long relationship with socialite Ghislaine Maxwell
• his ties to powerful men, including Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump
• Epstein’s last hours as a free man in Paris and the secret operation to arrest him at a New Jersey airport before he could flee
• details on Epstein’s final days in jail and the mystery surrounding his death
Featuring rare and never-before-seen photographs, The Spider exposes how Epstein operated and evaded justice for so long—and how he drew so many others into his criminal web.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Investigative reporter Levine (All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator) provides a thorough if largely unrevelatory survey of the criminal career of Jeffrey Epstein (1953 2019) and who he calls Epstein's main accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. He begins with Epstein's childhood in Coney Island before covering Epstein's rapid rise in the world of finance, which led to him becoming fabulously wealthy and an associate of celebrities including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew. Levine details Epstein's endemic child abuse and Maxwell's alleged role in procuring underage girls for his sexual needs. Epstein was charged with various sex crimes in Florida, but was given a sweetheart plea deal in 2008 by U.S. attorney Alex Acosta that allowed him to avoid a lengthy prison sentence; Levine's analysis makes clear that Epstein's 2019 arrest for the sex trafficking of minors may not have happened had President Trump not nominated Acosta as labor secretary, a choice that put the plea deal under the microscope. While there are a few new tidbits, such as Epstein, who hanged himself in jail awaiting trial, having been on suicide watch, the arc of the narrative will be familiar to anyone who has followed the story. Major questions about Epstein's long run as a sexual predator remain unanswered, including why his powerful enablers justified sticking by him, even after his 2019 arrest. Maxwell's upcoming trial is expected to provide further revelations about her dealings with Epstein, leaving a definitive look at the full sweep of Epstein's crimes for a future book.
