LA-based journalist Jesse Barron — a writer for the New York Times Magazine — has landed a major book deal with Penguin imprint Riverhead in a heated bidding war, sources tell Page Six Hollywood.
Barron’s upcoming book, “Transference,” is based on a 2023 news story that was first reported by The Post.
The true tale centers on a middle-aged hedge fund manager, Michael Pollack, who claimed in an explosive lawsuit that his female psychologist sexually abused him by manipulating him into believing he was “trapped” in his marriage, then seducing him. Their romps went on for a decade, with the traumatized Wall Streeter paying the woman at the end of each session with what the therapist-turned-lover called “mistress money,” according to his shocking court docs.
The hedge funder said he was a victim of what he called “erotic transference,” and alleged in his suit that he forked over $50,000 for the three years of therapy plus a quarter of a million in “mistress money” once their relationship became intimate. Pollack had survived the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai when he was there visiting his wife’s family at the time, and the father of two claimed that his shrink back in NYC “fostered” his emotional dependence on, and “idolization” of her, and romanced him, exploiting his PTSD from the attack.
Inspired by the 2023 Post story, Barron contacted Pollack via his lawyer and wrote a lengthy piece for literary mag Granta on the case that’s still ongoing years later. The therapist has denied the allegations in court papers.
Page Six Hollywood has reached out to Riverhead for comment on the book deal.
Barron previously penned a 2017 Esquire article, “The Girl from Plainville,” about a young woman from a small town in Massachusetts who stood trial for homicide after prosecutors alleged her calls and texts led to her boyfriend’s suicide. The magazine piece was turned into a 2022 Hulu series starring Elle Fanning and Chloë Sevigny, and Barron was a consulting producer.
