--- description: Journalist Gay Talese has admitted to having serious reservations about the veracity of his upcoming nonfiction book. title: Gay Talese Renounces His New Book 'The Voyeur's Motel' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e1de55ee5438b7/69889a505f570f3111b21913/ap_071022030929.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Gay Talese Renounces His New Book _The Voyeur’s Motel_ by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 1, 2016 3:18 AM CUT  Author Gay Talese arrives at the third annual Quill Awards, honoring books and authors, in New York, Monday, Oct., 22, 2007 Author Gay Talese arrives at the third annual Quill Awards, honoring books and authors, in New York, Monday, Oct., 22, 2007Stuart Ramson—Associated Press by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 1, 2016 3:18 AM CUT Gay Talese is vacating _The Voyeur’s Motel_. In response to an [investigation by the _Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/author-gay-talese-disavows-his-latest-book-amid-credibility-questions/2016/06/30/1fede2b8-3e22-11e6-84e8-1580c7db5275%5Fstory.html "undefined"), the pioneering author and journalist has admitted to having serious reservations about the veracity of his upcoming nonfiction book, which profiles a Colorado innkeeper who allegedly spied on his guests’ private moments for several decades. Although the book’s subject, Gerald Foos, claimed to have carried out his peeping at the Manor House in suburban Denver from the late 1960s through the mid-’90s, the _Post_ discovered property records indicating Foos didn’t actually own the motel for the majority of the ’80s, having sold and later reacquired it. “I should not have believed a word he said,” Talese, 84, told the _Post_. He added, “I’m not going to promote this book. How dare I promote it when its credibility is down the toilet?” The stunning admission comes as the latest twist for the buzzy book, which is to be published July 12 by Grove Press. The story first caused a stir in April, when a [lengthy excerpt](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/gay-talese-the-voyeurs-motel "undefined") was published in the _New Yorker_, and within days DreamWorks [snapped up the film rights](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/14/sam-mendes-voyeurs-motel-gay-talese "undefined"), with Sam Mendes on board to direct and Steven Spielberg to produce. Foos, for his part, told the _Post_, “Everything I said in that book is the truth.” Morgan Entrekin, the chief executive of Grove/Atlantic, told the _Post_ the company would consider adding an author’s note to future printings of the book. A DreamWorks spokesperson did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment. Read the full report at the [_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/author-gay-talese-disavows-his-latest-book-amid-credibility-questions/2016/06/30/1fede2b8-3e22-11e6-84e8-1580c7db5275%5Fstory.html "undefined"). [_This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly._](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/30/gay-talese-renounces-voyeurs-motel-book-credibility "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4390809/gay-talese-book-voyeurs-motel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4390809/gay-talese-book-voyeurs-motel/"},"headline":"Gay Talese Renounces His New Book The Voyeur’s Motel","datePublished":"2016-07-01T03:18:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:00:13.712Z","description":"\"Its credibility is down the toilet\"","url":"https://time.com/4390809/gay-talese-book-voyeurs-motel/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e1de55ee5438b7/69889a505f570f3111b21913/ap_071022030929.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e1de55ee5438b7/69889a505f570f3111b21913/ap_071022030929.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gay Talese","caption":"Gay Talese","creditText":"Stuart Ramson—Associated Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4390809/gay-talese-book-voyeurs-motel/","name":"Gay Talese Renounces His New Book The Voyeur’s Motel"}}]}] ```