Can money really buy happiness? Not according to John Pearson. In his wonderfully researched five-star account of the infamously wealthy J. Paul Getty and his tormented offspring, Pearson connects family tragedies and opinions to conclude that the riches of the Getty family were "probably the most destructive major fortune" and "brought only misery and havoc to the heirs."

The enigmatic J. Paul Getty, born to working class devout Christians in Minnesota, joined his father's oil business, Minnehoma (named for Minnesota and Oklahoma) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Being an only child (J. Paul's sister died prior to his birth), it was taken for granted by his father that Paul would succeed him in the management and ownership of the rapidly expanding and highly successful family oil business.

Believing that his financial future was securely in front of him, J. Paul "let loose" his uncontrollable sexual desires, traveling throughout Europe and the United States seeking his next conquest. "Not only did he like young virgins, but being very rich he could afford them. They flattered his ego, kept him young, and were far less exacting in their expectations than were older women. (Living life exactly as he wanted, Paul was never very sympathetic to the emotional demands of others.) An important factor in his sexuality, this taste for Lolita-style nymphets, was also a cause of many subsequent dramas and disasters in the family."

It was this demonstration of character that led Paul's father, George, to effectively disinherit him and give control of the Getty oil interests to the executors of his estate. This shocking blow was a grave setback to Paul and precipitated a lifelong quest to gain his dead father's approval. Pearson, quoting sources, believes it was this insatiable desire that motored the engine of the J. Paul Getty Enterprises.

The business side of J. Paul Getty was no less unorthodox. He managed his multinational companies not from a sleek, well appointed office, but rather from hotel bedrooms and through switchboard operators. Later, after his business interests had established him as the richest living American and one of the wealthiest men in the world, J. Paul hired the infamous, Claus Von Bulow to manage and direct the companies as his new Chief Executive Officer.

In 1957, the children had reached an age where J. Paul felt that they could now be useful to the family business. One son, George, was placed as vice-president of the Getty owned Tidewater Oil. Another son, J. Paul Junior, married and with the namesake child, J. Paul Getty III, asked his half-brother, George, who he barely knew, for a job. George responded with a job of pumping gas at a nearby Tidewater station. George could now drive by and see his unwelcome 26 year old half-brother, in his crisp white trousers, neat white hat, and shiny black bow tie servicing cars.

Paul Jr.(nee Paul II) received an unexpected phone call from his father in 1958 and shortly thereafter, ascended from Tidewater "pump jockey" to general manager of Getty Oil Italiana. Paul was "an unsuitable young man to place in charge of anything, particularly with no experience of management. But none of this counted with his father. Paul was his son, and any son of his should find running a company a picnic."

The legend of J. Paul's pecuniary beliefs are well documented with the telling of the tragic kidnapping of his grandson, J. Paul Getty III. Bandits demanded $17 million in ransom from J. Paul. He would have "none of that" and refused to get involved. Only after five months of negotiations, that included an ear, J. Paul agreed to pay $2.2 million, the tax deductible (a casualty loss) part of the ransom. The remaining $1 million of ransom he loaned to the boy's father, his son, at the 1973 preferred rate of 4%.

Decadence. Greed. Dysfunction. Combine a successful business with a family rich in avarice, anger, lust, jealousy, and a "gluttonous appetite for booze and drug addictions." Throw in a supporting cast that includes the likes of Mick Jagger, Queen Elizabeth, and Jack Dempsey, and you have the material for a first-rate crossover between People magazine and a non-fiction business history book. John Pearson will not disappoint as you turn the pages of Painfully Rich