The Mysterious Death of Michael Jackson
by Rob Simone
Lulu, 39 pages, 2009. $10.88 paperback, $5 ebook
It's very possible that Rob Simone's book, "The Mysterious Death of Michael Jackson" is the first publication on the pop star's death. Rather than being a retrospective of his life, Simone has written a 39-page tome on why he thinks Jackson died.
Under most circumstances, such observations or thoughts would be irrelevant. After all, the coroner has yet to speak. The toxicology reports haven't come back.
Rob Simone is a Los Angeles talk show host. He discuss all subjects on his show, including the unexplained. Leonard Nimoy, Janeane Garofalo, Charlie Sheen, and former CNN anchor Cheryll Jones have appeared on his program. Simone has connections in Hollywood, and he's outside the mainstream media. Not a bad thing these days.
Simone alleges that Jackson had a condition called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder which can show up in young adulthood. It can cause early-onset emphysema. If it becomes severe, it may require a lung transplant.
Though he says his source is a doctor who treated Jackson, Simone is not the first person who made this claim. Ian Halperin made similar statements in an interview with In-Touch magazine. The Jackson camp denied that Michael had a health condition.
After further describing the disorder, Simone pieces evidence together media reports of Jackson's doctor visits. He believes that Jackson wore a surgical mask in public because he had this genetic disorder.
Simone believes that this deficiency, along with an addiction to prescription painkillers, is what caused Jackson's demise.
Considering the fast turn-around time of this book, anybody would have low expectations. Perhaps Simone is just trying to make a quick buck off a dead man. But there are two things that Simone does well: He doesn't disrespect Jackson and he shatters the veil of silence. For too long, people around Jackson were silent. If he was addicted to painkillers, then that silence only enabled him to continue.
The people around Jackson were doing him a disservice. Many times, family and friends of addicts would prefer the addiction to continue. Stoned and drunk people are far easier to manipulate and control. Like many other cash-cows and idols, Jackson had far too many leeches glued to him.
I strongly suspect that Simone has had pieces of this booklet in his back pocket for a while.It feels more like a radio show than a book. That's not a bad thing. After all, the guy is a radio show host. And this booklet might help satisfy grieving fans who are beginning to crave answers. If Simone is right about the genetic disorder, it will cast a whole new light on the life of Michael Jackson.
wtf..the book was published on June 24, day before Michael died! How can that be explained?
Posted by: God Bless MJ | August 16, 2009 at 09:20 AM
Yeah, if anything qualifies as a WTF, it is that publishing date. I fully agree.
I suspect that parts of the book were written in advance, before MJ's death. I remember theorizing after I read it that the book was probably going to be an expose on his alleged illnesses and addictions. When he died, the author might've decided to write the book with that in mind. His death was something of an afterthought, despite the title of the book. In the age of ebook, it is easy to crank something out fairly quickly, especially if it was already in the pipeline.
Posted by: Laura A. | August 16, 2009 at 08:12 PM
Hey, one last thing:
I would love to hear what people think about this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWZoYZUSCbA
Posted by: Laura A. | August 16, 2009 at 08:17 PM
Maybe the pub. date is because of time difference?
The first review on Amazon is June 26. So the change in the posted pub date doesn't make sense either. And the beat goes on...............What next.
Posted by: Cate | August 17, 2009 at 08:53 PM