Fall: Portrait of a monster who made the media bend to his will

John Preston’s biography of the late tycoon Robert Maxwell is impressively researched and thoroughly readable

Robert Maxwell emerges in this biography as a fundamentally sad character, someone who bullied the weak because he didn’t know how to have a proper relationship with anyone. Photo: Getty

BIOGRAPHY

Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell

By John Preston

Penguin Viking, €17.99

Robert Maxwell could never get enough of the James Bond films. During stressful times, he would lie on his bed and watch 007 videos over and over again while consuming vast amounts of Chinese takeaway food. He wasn’t to know that six years after his death, the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies would feature a villain inspired by him – a crazed, ...