R
eporter White (Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut
) was a longtime friend of Dana Giacchetto, a smooth-talking, A-list financial adviser who counted David Copperfield, Michael Ovitz, Tobey Maguire and Phish among his clients, and famously partied with Leonardo DiCaprio at Moomba and other high-profile clubs. When Giacchetto was arrested for money laundering and other financial improprieties in April 2000, White stuck by him, visiting him in prison and collaborating with him on his memoir, until she discovered that she, too, had been taken in by the “Scammer to the Stars.” Of the $100K that White and her husband entrusted to Giachetto, $80K disappeared for good. White paints a vivid picture of Giaccheto’s family, but readers looking for salacious celebrity dish will be disappointed. White spends too much time exploring his childhood in depressed Medford, Mass., instead of the story of his rise and sensational fall. Her alternately sympathetic and angry tones are distracting, and she’s too much of a character in her own story. Finally, her uncertainty about whether Giacchetto’s a con man or a misunderstood, charismatic fame-chaser who got in over his head keeps her story balanced but unsatisfying. (June)
