When it was reported that Michael Jackson had collapsed on June 25, 2009, millions of fans around the globe were shocked. After confirmation of his death many of them gathered at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, at the Jackson family homes in Los Angeles and Gary, Indiana, and in cities all over the world to grieve a star whose music is universally recognized as timeless. Jackson was the most talented, richest, and most famous pop star on the planet. But the outpouring of emotion that followed his death was bittersweet. Dogged by scandal for over fifteen years and undone by his own tendency to trust the wrong people, Jackson had become untouchable in many quarters, a fact that wounded him deeply. Now, drawing on unprecedented access to friends, enemies, employees, and associates of Jackson, longtime Rolling Stone contributing editor Randall Sullivan delivers an intimate, unflinching, and deeply human portrait of a man who was never quite understood by the media, his fans, or even those closest to him.Beginning with his final departure from Neverland, Untouchable takes readers through Jackson's final four years, as he shuttled from California to the Middle East, Ireland, Asia, the East Coast, and Las Vegas, planning to recapture his wealth and reputation with a comeback album that included collaborations with Will.i.

am, Kanye West, and Carlos Santana, as well as a series of fifty megaconcerts in Paris and London for which he was rehearsing until the day before his death. Sullivan has delved deep into Jackson's past and illuminated his inner circle, and the Jackson that emerges is both naive and deeply cunning, a devoted father whose parenting decisions created international outcry, a shrewd businessman whose successes blew up in his face and whose failures nearly brought down a megacorporation, and an inveterate narcissist who wanted more than anything a quiet, solitary, normal life. Sullivan has never-before-reported information about Jackson's business dealings and the pedophilia allegations that irreparably marked his reputation, and exclusive access to inner-circle figures including Jackson's former attorney and business manager. The result is a remarkable portrait of Michael Jackson, a man of uncountable contradictions who continues to reign as the King of Pop.