Description

From the Baillie Gifford Prize-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing comes a riveting story of wealth, violence and deceit at the heart of a glittering city.

‘Gripping, rigorous, smart . . . breathtaking’ – Jon Ronson

‘A phenomenal book that will stay in your soul long after the last page . . . it captures how easily a life can go wrong in the shadows of a city bankrolled by billionaires’ – Emily Maitlis

‘More addictive than any box set, London Falling will break your heart, instil you with cold rage, and make you see London in a completely new light’ – Sathnam Sanghera

In 2019, a London teenager, Zac Brettler, fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the Thames. On a desperate quest to understand how their son had died, his grieving parents made a terrible discovery: Zac had been leading a fantasy life, posing as the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.

Patrick Radden Keefe follows Zac’s parents on a dark journey to find out what brought him to the balcony that night – and how a teenager’s life of make-believe drew him into the city’s terrifying underworld.

Publisher Review

Gripping, rigorous and smart, London Falling takes a terrible mystery with an extraordinary cast of characters and somehow manages to make it perfectly encapsulate the weirdness of how London has mutated these past decades . . . breathtaking — Jon Ronson Mesmerizing. More addictive than any box set, this book will break your heart, instil you with cold rage, and make you see London in a completely new light — Sathnam Sanghera Patrick Radden Keefe has done it again – a phenomenal book that will stay in your soul long after the last page. London Falling is a tale of money and fantasy, fear and deception – that leads a deeply loved teenager to his death. Haunting, harrowing, and rich with empathy – it captures how easily a life can go wrong in the shadows of a city bankrolled by billionaires. A grieving parent’s questions go unanswered; a vital clue is met with an official shrug. And the crimes of the capital are swallowed up beneath a gleaming corporate veneer. This is a chilling story – told with humanity, curiosity and quiet outrage. It’s one that simply will not let you go. Put the phone to airplane mode, turn on the out-of-office: I guarantee you won’t want to be disturbed — Emily Maitlis Monumentally good. Patrick Radden Keefe is the finest non-fiction writer we have: a born storyteller with a fluent mastery of structure who marshals exceptional reporting with unsentimental compassion. London Falling tells the story of a family tragedy and of a city in flux, while also tracing a lineage of generational trauma and the human capacity for reinvention. I will never look at my city in quite the same way again — Elizabeth Day Troubling, humane and gripping, a journey across London’s dark heart and the murky death of a young man – part thriller, part psychological journey, part modern morality tale, Keefe is a literary non-fiction great and he’s done it again — Philippe Sands A gripping, heartbreaking and unsettling book about my city – a city, it turns out, I don’t know at all. Patrick Radden Keefe’s X-ray vision exposes the hidden networks, the dirty money, and our depressing surrender to malevolent billionaires. London Falling is important and brilliant — Nick Hornby Nobody writes like Patrick Radden Keefe; nobody makes achieving something so powerfully complex and difficult look so easy. It’s a form of intellectual generosity and, I think, a form of genius. London Falling is a book everyone should read; it grips like a steel trap. To finish it is to be furious at the corruption, criminality and brutality hidden behind the facades of London’s wealth – but the warmth of the authorial voice, and the grace of the Brettler family, keep you from despairing — Katherine Rundell Fabulous. Humane, rigorous, utterly fascinating and a page-turner — Mark Haddon Absolutely incredible. He simply can’t write a bad book — Josh Widdicombe Another tour de force, as gripping and compulsive as Say Nothing and Empire of Pain . . . Keefe beautifully interweaves the broader tale of London’s historical descent into stench and corruption with a painfully humane family story. As with all his books, there’s a quiet but deeply moral purpose behind the bravura storytelling. I found the book impossible to put down and many, many times I found myself burning with rage — Dr Rachel Clarke Eye-opening about a city you may think you know, enraging, and profoundly moving. Patrick Radden Keefe has done it again, showing he is one of the finest investigative journalists and non-fiction writers of his generation — Kavita Puri Keefe’s approach is profoundly humane, particularly in his intimate interviews with Zac’s parents, Matthew and Rachelle, who convey a deep desire to understand their late son. Despite the murky material, Keefe arrives at an artful and clarifying explanation. It’s a remarkable new turn for the celebrated author * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *