Review of London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

Patrick Radden Keefe took a subject I wasn't initially captivated by and crafted another work of his signature masterful narrative nonfiction. He hooked me with details, then astounded me with the order he was able to impose upon the chaos of secrets, lies, and the still-unknown elements of the story.

I shared in a recent book talk that this book topic wasn't inherently a hook for me, but that in my view, Patrick Radden Keefe can do no wrong, so I dove in.

London Falling is about the disappearance of a young man, Zac. Zac’s dogged parents won’t give up on finding out the truth of what happened to their son, and when the reactions from London police feel disappointing and lackluster, Zac’s parents approach the media directly. Then Patrick Radden Keefe crafts this nonfiction work that reads like a novel.

The book delves into Zac's astounding, long-held personal secrets; into the implications of the increased presence and power of Russian oligarchs in London; into the pressures and alternate universe of high society and extreme wealth; and into the many sinister tendrils crisscrossing the city’s dark underbelly.

“[Bob Dylan] created all sorts of elaborate tales about himself.” He was a trickster who confected a mysterious persona that may have been ridiculous but ultimately served him well. If you mentioned those adolescent fibs to Dylan today, he would probably “laugh about it,” Matthew ventured. “But there are lots of people out there who have created a fantasy existence for themselves...."

Keefe shares incredible key details of the disturbing circumstances of Zac's disappearance, such as an MI6 camera that happened to be positioned across the river and captured a crucial moment in Zac’s life. He also unravels a complicated web of lies and discovers the extent of Zac’s alter ego, including a sometimes-Russian accent that apparently fooled grown men and made them believe he was the son of a Russian oligarch. Later, Keefe explores the actions of depraved, horribly evil, destructive individuals that Zac was unlucky enough to become involved with--as well as mounting evidence that their lack of prosecution is linked to their secret informant status.

As he always seems to do, Patrick Radden Keefe takes a complex, tangled situation and shapes it into intriguing narrative nonfiction that you can latch onto. There are so many branches of this story, and so many complicated implications of the main players’ actions, lies, and secrets, I can’t imagine anyone but Patrick Radden Keefe successfully imposing this much order on so much chaos and so many unknowns.

More Patrick Radden Keefe and Other Nonfiction Gems

Patrick Radden Keefe is also the author of the powerful Empire of Pain and Say Nothing, one of my favorite nonfiction books.

For more nonfiction titles I've reviewed, please check out the books at this Bossy link.