London Falling

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
[Keefe] has a real gift for storytelling, an ability to unfurl the narrative in a way that is completely engrossing -- Louis Theroux
I've barely left the house since starting Patrick Radden Keefe’s superbly gripping London Falling . . . it will become a defining book of our time -- Johanna Thomas-Corr, chief literary critic, The Times and Sunday Times
He is a master — perhaps even the master — of the non-fiction narrative, and has an enviable knack for telling complicated stories with perfect clarity -- Craig Brown * The Sunday Times *
A compulsive tale of money, lies and avoidable tragedy . . . a scrupulously researched work of narrative nonfiction . . . London Falling, grimly absorbing from start to finish, opens a window on to a world of financial dirty work and Walter Mitty-like fantasies of aspirational wealth -- Ian Thomson * The Guardian *
Magnificent . . . London Falling is partly – and brilliantly – about the way London affects its young, forcing them to grow up so fast within sight of corruption . . . riveting and powerful . . . [Keefe] has a dramatist’s gift for structure and a novelist’s fascination with human character and motive . . . [An] enthralling masterpiece, by one of the world’s great non-fiction writers -- Laura Cumming * Observer *
Engrossing . . . In deftly unpicking [the story], Keefe makes it terrifyingly clear what dangerous company Zac had got himself into . . . rigorous and thoughtful -- James Walton * The Telegraph *
Fortunately for him and his family, Zac Brettler came the way of one of the finest, and most famous, magazine writers in the English-speaking world, Patrick Radden Keefe . . . When Keefe flies into Heathrow, he comes to knock on the conscience of a nation . . . such a richly plotted maze, as twisting and interconnected as a nervous system . . . full of such extraordinarily rich scenes -- Nicholas Harris * New Statesman *
London Falling is a parable of a 21st-century global city’s moral decay . . . I was intrigued by whether an American writer could capture the nuances of the city’s metamorphosis. Keefe does so admirably . . . Through masterful narration and exhaustive research, Keefe leaves the reader with little doubt as to why Brettler jumped -- Edward Luce * Financial Times *
Keefe's mastery of timing makes this investigation a page-turner . . . we are fortunate to have him pounding the pavement to expose real-life darkness . . . in London Falling, the Brettlers' private story points to a larger one of a city changed by money . . . like all of Keefe’s work, the book makes for propulsive reading -- Mia Levitin * The Irish Times *
A masterclass of evidence-chasing, narrative clarity and authorial empathy . . . unputdownable -- Martin Vander Weyer * Literary Review *
As this dark book makes clear, the city’s “glitzy, mercenary, aspirational culture” allows grifters and gangsters to thrive * The Economist *
Magnificent -- Alexandra Shulman * Daily Mail *
Patrick Radden Keefe has published some of the most memorable nonfiction books of the last decade . . . [he writes] about emotionally complex, morally fraught subjects with sensitivity and skill -- Jennifer Szalai * The New York Times *
A gripping real-life thriller that takes you on a deeply researched tour of the city’s criminal underground. It broke me out of a can’t-seem-to-finish-a-book rut -- Melissa Kirsch * The New York Times *
London Falling is, it goes without saying, a masterpiece . . . perhaps the finest work of non-fiction about the London criminal classes * The Fence *
Gripping . . . he has penned another classic in London Falling -- Richard Fitzpatrick * Irish Examiner *
His most gripping book yet. . . As always with Keefe the pages turn themselves, and he sidesteps the exploitative pitfalls of the true crime genre by finding thrills in the margins . . . For all the praise Keefe receives for the depth of his reporting, the graceful humanity with which he approaches his subjects in London Falling is what ultimately leaves an impact -- Chris Stanton * New York Magazine *
Another blockbuster feat of reportage . . . I sprinted through this addictive book in three days and gasped more than once at the true story’s twists and turns -- Adam Morgan * Esquire *
The best true-crime stories use a particular event as a key to unlock a world, and Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest work of investigative nonfiction, London Falling, does just that . . . Keefe finds, in the death of one teenager, both a private loss and a parable of the decay of a once great city -- Laura Miller * Slate *
How an American writer has managed to capture the nuances of London, its mores and class structure, is extraordinarily impressive . . . As ever with Keefe, the narratives are spliced masterfully, history is condensed tightly and characters are introduced (and then reintroduced) with an almost cinematic flourish . . . London Falling has a novelistic intimacy -- Charlie Baker * Spear's *
[Keefe] brings his capacious literary toolbox to a true-life tale . . . [His] stylish, suspenseful prose shines a light onto the seedy underworld beneath an international capital * TIME *
[The book is] written with Keefe’s customary and compelling flair . . . He is that rarest of reporter birds, a deeply thorough investigative journalist who can actually write and tell a gripping human story . . . his mastery of the cliffhanger and suspenseful storytelling is what gives his non-fiction books their novelistic feel . . . Keefe’s relentless drive to get to the bottom of the story [and] distaste for the excesses of capitalism . . . drives the compulsive energy of London Falling -- Ian Brown * The Globe and Mail *
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
I found it both completely riveting and heart-rending . . . it haunted me -- Sarah Jessica Parker
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-openingabout 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
Gripping, beautifully written, incredibly researched and deeply humane, it is a masterpiece of modern London -- Tom Parker Bowles
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) *
Gripping . . . Keefe is a master at using true crime as a vehicle for exploring social and political pathologies * NPR *
A propulsive true-crime story and surgical critique of the city’s glamorous façade and dark underbelly . . . His reporting is broad and agile, his prose sharp-edged * Boston Globe *
A very fine writer and reporter . . . he has made a highly readable book . . . The first part of the book reads like a thriller. But the story that ends up being told is sadder and more intimate than the mystery first promised -- James Palmer * Foreign Policy *
Keefe, the author of some of this century’s finest nonfiction, has crafted another masterwork . . . Keefe might be our sharpest chronicler of the intersection of criminal opportunism and institutional fecklessness . . . This is powerful reporting, a potential classic about the dangerous allure of a city remade as ‘a twenty-four-hour laundromat for dirty money.’ An exemplary account of naïveté, wealth, and menace, impeccably told by a top-notch journalist * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *