From Publishers Weekly

Celebrity biographer Sandford (McCartney, etc.) tackles the life of director Roman Polanski. Born in Paris in 1933, Polanski, with his family, moved to Poland in 1936 on the eve of World War II. His mother died in Auschwitz and his father was imprisoned for the duration of the war, leaving Polanski to fend for himself in the Kraków ghetto. He later attended Lódz's National Film School and began attracting attention for themes that would become his trademarks: voyeurism, sexual tension and latent violence. Polanski took full advantage of the swinging '60s in Paris, London and later America, and developed a reputation as a lothario with an eye for younger women. His life and career in America, which included the classics Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974), were marred by two pivotal events: the 1969 slaying of his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, by members of Charlie Manson's Family and Polanski's own arrest in 1977 for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. (Sept.) ""
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From Booklist

It’s hard to accept that erstwhile enfant terrible Polanski is now a hoary, Oscar-toting elder of the cinema, which exalted status Sandford shows he has gone through hell to achieve. Polanski escaped the Krakow ghetto at 10, and his mother was murdered in Auschwitz. After several critically acclaimed arthouse films made in his native Poland and Britain, he emigrated to the States, where he launched a successful mainstream career (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown) that was interrupted by the gruesome murder of his wife by Charles Manson’s followers and derailed by his 1978 conviction for statutory rape. Fleeing to Europe to avoid imprisonment, he scored a decisive comeback in 2002 with the acclaimed Holocaust drama The Pianist. Sandford generally avoids sensationalizing the lurider aspects of Polanski’s life, coming off as an unabashed fan. Readers not similarly disposed may feel he overpraises Polanski’s lesser films and lets him off too easily for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl. Fans, of course, will feel Polanski’s harrowing life and filmic accomplishments warrant such sympathetic treatment. --Gordon Flagg

Acclaimed biographer Christopher Sandford draws on dozens of interviews with actors who have worked with Polanski, as well as previously sealed transcripts of his criminal hearings following accusations that lead to his exile.  There are also personal reflections on the murders of Sharon Tate and other friends of the couple by Manson.

Christopher Sandford has published acclaimed biographies of Kurt Cobain, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen.  Rolling Stone has dubbed Sandford  “the pre-eminent author in his field today.”  Sandford divides his time between England and Seattle.