“Robert Kerbeck has mastered the art of social engineering, or what he calls ‘rusing’, and taken it to a whole new level.”
“Kerbeck has a very compelling writing style and can pull off humor, too, which isn’t easy. I really enjoyed RUSE.”
“RUSE exposes the dark, greedy, narcissistic side of Wall Street and Big Business in general. Kerbeck out-cons the top con-artists—sophisticated CEOs. And he does it over the phone. Wow! In my day I had to fly around the world!”
“With honesty and verve, Robert Kerbeck delivers an irresistible portrait of actors and grifters in the work-a-day world of corporate espionage.”
“I loved RUSE! What a crazy story, and believe me, I know crazy. Successful spies are great storytellers, and Robert Kerbeck ranks up there with the best of them.”
“Robert Kerbeck’s memoir, RUSE, is a riveting tale of desire and deception in a world where lies are necessary currency and where con artists can end up convincing everyone, even themselves.”
“In RUSE, Robert Kerbeck reveals himself to be a scoundrel, a raconteur, and a masterful storyteller. In the course of becoming an unlikely spy, his various masks are so seamless that readers are swept along. Sometimes memoirs forget to give readers a good story. Not here. What other book features a narrator attending a soiree at Paul Newman’s Manhattan apartment, and appearing in an O.J. Simpson exercise video? And that’s just for starters. This compelling page-turner is an absolute hoot.”
“The best kind of nonfiction – so visceral it feels like fiction.”
“A lucky break for any reader: an honest-to-god writer dropped in the center of the Malibu fire. Thrilling, well-researched, and occasionally light-hearted, this is a unique and special book.”
“Robert Kerbeck puts a human face on the type of tragedy that grabs headlines but then fades from our collective memory all-too-soon. Blending personal narrative and investigative research, Kerbeck shows us the real story of what happens when a community faces down disaster.”
“The name ‘Malibu’ has a lot of baggage-playground of the rich, birthplace of Gidget – but what Robert Kerbeck shows us is the real Malibu: a small town much like any other across America, economically diverse, and in the instance of the Woolsey Fire, betrayed by the very entities that were supposed to defend it. What you also see rising up out of the ashes is community, a new generation of leaders, and hope. Riveting and heartbreaking, but also inspiring.”
“A personal journey through the most traumatic firestorm in recent years, Kerbeck gives us a unique insight into the stories of the men and women who were at the forefront of this life-changing, community-alerting event.”
“Through vivid firsthand accounts of survivors, drawn from more than two hundred interviews, as well as his own near-fatal confrontation with the fire, Kerbeck guides us through the disorienting and often terrifying experience that was the Woolsey fire of 2018. Cinematic and rich with detail, with characters and scenes that will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book, this investigative memoir reads like a well-written novel. One of the first books to be written about the Woolsey Fire, it is unflinching as it asks the hard questions that haunt many of the survivors.”
“Kerbeck´s writing is so organic…so emotionally intimate…that it is impossible to not be pulled in.”
“Rather than focus on the enormity of Los Angeles County’s largest wildfire in recorded history, Robert Kerbeck takes a much more personal and thoroughly riveting approach, allowing the reader to see the Woolsey Fire through the eyes of individuals who lived through it. Each chapter tells a different story, and together they provide deep insight into the fire’s effect on one community.”
“A collection of 22 essays of both heroism and tragic loss presents Malibu’s 2018 Woolsey Fire from angles many people haven’t seen before.”
“It’s about strength, and healing, and re-building. This is an important book…”
“Malibu Burning is a poignant memoir that shows every indication of a well-researched work. The author weaves his personal experience of the tragedy into the narrative and gives readers an understanding of the pain of survivors and the loss that many experienced…”
“An engrossing, thorough, and revealing portrait of a beloved beachside community confronting disaster.”