'The Escape Artist' delivers a real trip
May 31, 2026
Elisabeth Sherwin -- ensherwin@gmail dot com
Columnist
Ian Jarvis' memoir "The Escape Artist" (Armin Lear Press, 2026) is a compelling read that leaves you wondering, "Could this be true?"
Well, yes, according to his Estes Park publisher, Maryann Karinch.
"A colleague of mine and I both did due diligence," she said. "He's the real deal."
Karinch said Jarvis was introduced to her by a long-time client.
"Ian felt uncertain about his abilities to write the story, so he sought out this associate of mine who quickly said, 'You’re great. Just go for it. You don’t need my help. ' ”
So Jarvis did write about his life -- bouncing dangerously from criminality to conformity, from being unemployed to owning several businesses.
This is how "The Escape Artist" opens:
"Alice Schroth had just turned 58 the night her Cadillac Eldorado took a feathered slide off a slick Ohio highway. She died hypothermic, at the foot of a tree. The Schroth estate, nearly $2 million dollars, passed to adopted son, Rick, a college sophomore who took a semester off to grieve but became a junkie instead. Generous to a fault, he eventually turned most of his friends into addicts but no one saw that coming the night we met at his Cincinnati duplex: Rick's wedding party, his idea of celebration, an intro to the exotic bird, heroin."
That opening caught my attention. I wanted to know more about the narrator.
Jarvis grew up in New Jersey and went to Georgetown University (quit in his junior year) and later Goddard College. He applied to Georgetown specifically because his high school counselor told him he would never be accepted. That tells you a lot about him.
He was a drug user and dealer in his youth but escaped an FBI sting at the airport under thrilling circumstances. He ended up living in Europe and North Africa for eight years.
Along the way he had connections with Carl Bernstein (before Watergate), Robert F. Kennedy, Walter Chrysler, Chet Baker, the King of Morocco and Amanda Rothschild.
As I read the book, I imagined that Jarvis was something like Zelig in Woody Allen's 1983 movie of the same name: He turned up in interesting places at the right time and blended right in.
My quibble with the book is simply this: No dates appear anywhere. It's hard to anchor events in his peripatetic life.
But Jarvis and his publisher decided dates weren't necessary.
"We agreed that dates were distracting," said Karinch. "This is, in many ways, a timeless story as well as one rooted firmly in the hippie era. In this story, I prefer the fluid approach to time to the news-reporting approach that includes dates."
After living abroad for many years, Jarvis decided to return to the United States and face the charges against him. He was lucky once again. The judge was impressed with his candor and he served no prison time.
Life wasn't easy, however, and he needed a good job to support his 9-year-old daughter who had come to live with him. He didn't want to mess this up.
So he made up a fake resume and, speaking fluent French, talked his way into a job at Saint-Gobain in New York. This marked a turning point in his life and to me it's very easy to see why. He spoke French and promised to achieve an impossible goal. A year and a half later he was vice president of the American division. This would have never happened to a guy with a Jersey accent.
A successful business career followed.
Today, Jarvis has reinvented himself as a writer, actor ("Law and Order"), radio host, and business consultant.
Earlier this month he posted a message on his Facebook page saying he had written a new book, "600 Madison Avenue: A Story of Ambition." There were no details about publication.
His radio show, "Giving You the Business," airs 5-6 p.m. on Fridays on WBCR, Great Barrington, MA at 413-644-9797. It's a call-in show addressing career questions, business or office questions, and problem-solving in general. Wow, chutzpah.
That seems to be the secret to his ongoing success. He drills you with his bright blue eyes and speaks to you in French.
-- Reach Elisabeth Sherwin at ensherwin@gmail.com
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