London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth

by Patrick Radden Keefe

A spellbinding account of a family devastated by the sudden death of their nineteen-year-old son, only to discover that he had created a secret life which drew him into the dangerous criminal underworld that lies beneath London’s glittering surface

In the early morning of November 29th, 2019, surveillance cameras at the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s spy agency, captured video of a young man pacing back and forth on a high balcony of Riverwalk, a luxury tower on the bank of the river Thames. At 2:24 AM he jumped into the river.

In a quiet London neighborhood several miles away, Rachelle Brettler was worried about her son. Zac had told her that he had gone to stay with a friend, but then he did not come home. Days later, a police car pulled up and two officers relayed the dreadful news: her son was dead.

In their unbearable grief, Rachelle and her husband, Matthew, struggled to understand what had happened to Zac. He had his troubles, but in no way seemed suicidal. As they would soon discover, however, there was a lot they did not know about their son. Only after his death did they learn that he had adopted a fictitious alter-ego: Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a great fortune. Under this guise, Zac had become entangled with a slippery London businessman named Akbar Shamji, and a murderous gangster known as “Indian Dave.” As the Brettlers set about investigating their son’s death, they were pulled into a different and more dangerous London than the one they’d always known, and came to believe that something much more nefarious than a suicide had claimed Zac’s life. But to their immense frustration, Scotland Yard seemed unable—or unwilling—to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In a bravura feat of reporting and writing, Patrick Radden Keefe chronicles the Brettlers’ quest, peeling back layers of mystery and exposing the seedy truths behind the glamorous London of posh mansions and private nightclubs, a city in which everything is for sale, and aspirational fantasies are underwritten by dirty money and corruption. London Falling is a mesmerizing investigation of an inexplicable death and a powerful narrative driven by suspense and staggering revelations. But it is also an intimate and deeply poignant inquiry into the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent today, a portrait of a family trying to solve the riddle not just of how their son died, but of who he really was in life.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Audiobook, Crime, History, Mystery, Book Club

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2026

About the author

Patrick Radden Keefe is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of The Snakehead and Chatter. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Slate, New York, and The New York Review of Books. He received the 2014 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, for his story "A Loaded Gun," was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2015 and 2016, and is also the recipient of an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellowship at the New America Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

i would read patrick radden keefe write about laundry.

https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...

this book is so well-researched as to be daunting. when i first started it, i caught myself reading paragraphs over again, not out of any conscious reason or fact i'd missed but because each sentence is so rich in detail that i felt there's no way i got everything on the first read.

in spite of that, it grows consuming. i hate true crime, but this is such an emotional telling of a human story that it gripped me completely and guiltlessly. asides can go on a bit long or redundantly, but even those confusing or dry passages sometimes led to the reward of a shocking coincidence or conclusion.

i will now be reading patrick radden keefe's works.

full stop.

bottom line: whoa.

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't start London Falling, or any of Patrick Radden Keefe's books, for that matter, if you want to get anything else done. You will be handcuffed to the book, in thrall with Zac Brettler's story, until you turn the final page.

If Radden Keefe can make the Troubles both explicable and relatively easy to follow for a history novice like me, he can explain most anything. He structures his books in such a way that makes them compulsively readable, leaving the major revelations at the end so you finish the story with mouth agape.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody does nonfiction like Patrick Radden Keefe. London Falling is both a meticulously-researched descent into London's billionaire-fueled criminal underworld, and a deeply intimate family portrait of love and loss across generations. It's all handled with Keefe's usual skill and care, and yet another work of his that explores the hunt for justice in very unjust times.

Another book that I will be recommending to absolutely everyone I know (sorry in advance, absolutely everyone I know).

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In November 2019, a surveillance camera at MI6 headquarters along the Thames captures the silhouette of a young man standing on a brightly lit balcony across the river. After a brief hesitation, he jumps. Five hours later, his body is discovered face down on the riverbank.

This story seeks to answer the question: what would lead 19-year-old Zac Brettler toward such an unsettling and tragic fate?

Once identified as Zac Brettler, investigators begin piecing together who he was and what could have driven him to this devastating end. As the story unfolds, shadowy figures, questionable financial dealings, and the young man’s own hidden actions emerge, raising troubling questions about responsibility, manipulation, and truth.

Meticulously researched through police transcripts, emails, letters, and security camera records, Radden Keefe reconstructs the events leading up to that night with remarkable precision. The result reads less like straightforward nonfiction and more like a gripping literary thriller.

What makes the book especially compelling is not just the intrigue surrounding London’s murky financial underworld, but the deep sadness at its center. Zac’s parents, relentless in their pursuit of answers, provide the emotional heartbeat of the story. Their grief and determination continue to resonate even after the story concludes, especially as the reality of Zac’s life — and how little he ultimately possessed — comes into focus.

The book explores a darker side of London: one driven by wealth, secrecy, influence, and dangerous ambition. Readers may find themselves racing through the pages as though reading a suspense novel, while never forgetting that this is a real-life tragedy.

A dark, absorbing, and exceptionally researched true crime story that may leave more questions than answers — but will almost certainly leave readers riveted and unsettled by the hidden financial underbelly it exposes.

[Amy Biggart · Rating 5 out of 5]

goat narrative nonfiction writer

so different from his other books, yet it has all of the classic PRK greatness! This is a smaller and more intimate story, in part because it's told primarily through the eyes of grieving parents trying to get to the bottom of their son's mysterious death. To do so, PRK takes you through the political environment that facilitated post-soviet union era wealth to permeate London — and explains how one wayward teenage boy with dreams of being wealthy and powerful could get swept up into it. He is so excellent at weaving setting and relevant backstory into his character-driven nonfiction, and I think he gets better at this with every book.

What I love most about his nonfiction is the way he sweeps you into the story. You become so captivated by the people at the center of his investigations. He's also earned so much trust from his readers. When he veers off course to places like 1970's Uganda, you know that all of his roads will lead back to the central story he's telling. I just don't think anyone is as gifted as he is at making you care about a person's story, and then layering in context you need to better understand why their story happened the way it did.

I could rave about PRK for a decade and not have talked enough. I genuinely feel so grateful to be living concurrently with him publishing new books. I think he's one of the smartest writers alive.

This one didn't quite punch into the territory of Say Nothing or Empire of Pain, but I think that's just because it's smaller in scope. It's just as technically good and engaging as anything he's written recently. Anyway now that I've read all of PRK's work, I'm adrift. Drop nonfiction recs below, please.

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hype is real, and I love that Patrick Radden Keefe, much like Ronan Farrow, gets people into investigative journalism by finding a language that is engaging, but never flashy. So yes, this is true crime, but while the genre often bathes in the thrill of sex and violence, thus exploiting the suffering of victims, PRK writes with empathy without losing sight of his strife to get to the bottom of things. "London Falling" is an exploration into the death of 19-year-old upper middle class kid Zac Brettler, who wanted to become a big shot in the world of big money and tried his luck as an imposter: The naive college student, a descendant of holocaust survivors, posed as the son of a Russian oligarch and got entangled with con-man Akbar Shamji and gangster Verinder Sharma. In 2019, Zac jumped off the balcony of Sharma's apartment - was he suicidal or did he attempt to escape by jumping into the Thames?

PRK tries to solve this riddle, which leads him to questions regarding why Shamji and Sharma were never held accountable, the faultiness of the police investigation, the family background and possible motivations of everyone involved, plus what the whole incident says about the city of London and the money that circulates there. He apparently talked to everyone and their mother and the striped hamster of the cousin's neighbor, and I have to admit that when the ex-wife of someone's friend who choreographed "Cats" shows up, I felt like this report has a tendency to go overboard, but it is oh so absorbing, especially as an audio book, and it gains considerable speed towards the end.

Great journalism. I loved Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty even more, and I absolutely need to tackle Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland at some point.

You can now listen to the podcast gang discussing the German translation Der Sohn des Oligarchen: Über die globale Macht der Superreichen und den Niedergang einer Weltstadt here: https://papierstaupodcast.de/podcast/...

[Joules · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier this year, I read Raden Keefe's Say Nothing, which quickly became one of my favourite history books. This is to say - I went into his newest release with almost as much zeal as I had approaching David Grann's The Wager. However, London Falling didn't quite live up to my expectations. It started off very strong, sure, and I found the recent history of London and it's conversion onto a financial hub to be quite interesting (especially as one of the city's current residents). It seemed that Keefe was setting up his book in the same way he had with Say Nothing - using personal and social stories to gesture at larger societal nuance.

Yet, if that's what he was trying to do with London Falling, the set up didn't exactly pay off. He gestured at conspicuous consumption, social media, and mistruths and how their echoes cause harm across our relationships with one another (and unwittingly mutilate our understanding of the world), but I don't think he went far enough in truly connecting the story to these larger themes, and the book started to majorly taper off towards the end. In addition, I don't think that the story of Zach Brettler, while important, was the right way to gesture towards these larger ideas (in the way, say, the murder of Jean McConville was to the themes of Say Nothing).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I lacked a clear WHY...why was this book written? Why am I reading it? I'm not sure what to take from it apart from entertainment and a few interesting anecdotes. And I don't think that's what Keefe, or the Brettlers for that matter, would want. I just couldn't help but be a bit disappointed by this one.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had a string of 5-star reads, and I am starting to worry that I am going to lose all credibility, assuming I had any to be lost. But I swear that it is just dumb luck that I have been reading a lot of stellar books, and that every star I award here has been earned.

I have never read a Patrick Raden Keefe book or article that I have not thought was exceptional, and that streak is not broken here. This is the story of the murder? suicide? of Zac Brettler, a 19-year old London boy with the analytical powers and decayed soul of Donald Trump. Zac was raised to believe he was the center of the world, and when he did not get one thing (admission into an elite school) it apparently turned him into a selfish person who always needed to be a person people envied, and as a result a compulsive liar. Zac was obsessed with wealth and position, and in his quest to be incredibly wealthy (he was raised with significant economic privilege, but that was not enough) he created a situation through his deceit and choice of companions in which he was going to die. And when he died, the only question was whether he killed himself before someone else did the job, or whether they did the deed. The story is jaw-dropping, and also very relevant to this historic moment where truth is reviled, obscene wealth has become our golden idol, and all sense of duty to the collective has been crushed. Yes, I was a voyeur here, but not entirely that. This raises meaningful questions and avenues for thought for the reader, and holds Scotland Yard and the economic structure of London up to the light.

The story is told in three pieces. First, we meet Zac and learn something about his story (though some of this is guesswork. The second piece is where we meet the grifters and thugs who caused Zac's death, and boy, is that colorful. Finally, we ride alongside Zac's parents as they try to get answers, and as they are introduced to PRK, they tirelessly work together to tell this story. IT doesn't seem like that structure should work, but it does.

My heart goes out to the Brettlers, and I appreciate their rigor in trying to find Zac's story and to find a way for some good to have come from their heartbreak. This is an extraordinary true crime story. This is how it is done.

[Henk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of a boy with a hidden life posing as an oligarch son is wild and investigates both what a parent can know about their child and how London is a mecca for dodgy money
London is to the billionaire what the jungles of Sumatra are to the orangutan - Boris Johnson

This story of excessive wealth in London corrupting an English boy (who is already very upper middle class with a father working in structured finance and a 2,000 sqft home in Maida Vale and private schools) is so recognisable for anyone who lived in London. It is intensely readable and has so many twist and turns; this would be an epic Netflix documentary.
More thoughts to follow but Radden Keefe had done a phenomenal job here of keeping me on my toes and weaving together interesting observations on modern day life in London.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zach Brettler was lucky. He came from a loving upper-middle-class family with parents who would do anything in their power to help him succeed in a conventional sense. Zach, however, was not interested in the university-to-career route. He wanted to become a member of the super-wealthy elite whose “glamorous lives " he witnessed regularly on social media. With considerable imagination, pzazz, and naivete, Zach passed himself off as Zach Ismailov, son of a super-rich Russian oligarch, who was in London looking for investments for his father. This charade brought him in contact with Akbar Shamji, a sham entrepreneur, and Verinder Sharma, a notorious gangster, drug trafficker, and “debt collector.” At 19, Zach’s lifeless body was found floating in the Thames. A surveillance camera showed him falling to his death from the balcony of Sharma’s fifth-floor apartment.

While the investigation of Zach’s death is central to London Falling, the book is more than a true crime story. Patrick Radden Keefe examines the societal and familial roots and consequences of this tragedy with great skill. He analyzes the decades of deregulation and shifting attitudes that led to a transformed London, one that included a criminal underworld operating under the guise of the super-wealthy's glitz and glamour. He also probes the causes and impact of Zach’s tumultuous adolescence and death on his family. In addition, he questions Scotland Yard and the justice system’s reluctance to explore certain aspects of the case.

London Falling is a well-written, comprehensive work of non-fiction that says a great deal about the world we inhabit. It paints an ugly picture we can’t afford to ignore. Highly recommend

[Jane Scarfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is an interesting story here, certainly, but it is buried under a meandering process of absurdly long diversions into very tangential topics and side stories which, rather than painting a bigger picture of the incident at heart or bringing a big conspiracy together, mostly serve as dead end titbits the author found interesting, and you must know how smart Mr. Radden Keefe is.

These issues are coupled with an almost sycophantic affection for the poor parents of the victim, and really he never once asks the question of what those parents were doing when their son was staying overnight in the hotel bed of a criminally connected millionaire and boasting that he was making hundreds of thousands of pounds in dodgy trading. The book was written because of Radden Keefe's affection and relationship with Zac's parents and, despite portraying himself as a kind of investigative journalist uncovering lesser spoken about truths, he also demands the reader take his work as a narrative from the point of view of those parents.

Speaking of sharing beds, Radden Keefe is quite interested in a possible "gay" angle to this story, possibly because he finds it makes his story more "complex" but the fact that a consensual sexual relationship between a 17 year old boy and a much older, wealthier man isn't possible, doesn't particularly occur to him.

As a side note, why does Radden Keefe never mention when a character is white? We're always told when a character is Black or Asian (and when women or young girls are beautiful and have big eyes), but he never feels the need to mention when a person is White. Odd that.

[Barbara K · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be successful in writing narrative nonfiction, first and foremost an author has to know how to tell a story. And no one is better at this than Patrick Radden Keefe.

How much detail is necessary to make the story come alive, and not to cause the reader to doze off? How many digressions enhance the story without distracting from the main theme? What’s the best order of presentation - where do you start? And what tone do you use?

Keefe has once again proved his chops tackling all these questions. I’d read his original piece in The New Yorker about these events, and listened to two interviews with him about the book, so I was pretty familiar with the overall story and even some of the digressions.

Still, once I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it down. The bare bones of the story are these: The teenage son of an affluent family in London becomes fascinated by the lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy who have established homes there. He wants to be part of this life, and leveraging his charm and gift with accents, he passes himself off as the son of a Russian oligarch. It all comes to a disastrous end.

In addition to his storytelling skills, Keefe demonstrates his abilities as an investigative journalist in London Falling. For various reasons the story was never made public and never properly investigated by the police. Through his connections with the boy’s family and his persistent pursuit of everyone and anyone who might know something helpful, he reaches what appears to be a satisfactory explanation.

If you haven’t read Patrick Radden Keefe before, this would be a great place to start. And if you are familiar with his writing, rest assured this is another winner.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Radden Keefe writes like no one else, deeply researched reportage that reads novelistically. This would explain his appeal. And this audio version, read in his own voice, is further example of his brilliance with his empathy shining through. Here we have a beloved son who feels the need to create an entirely new personna designed to impress thus getting in way over his head, and following his death his parents' efforts to learn the truth. Along the way the reader learns about London's underworld, also its society as driven by the river, its theatrical history, and shocking revelations about Scotland Yard. Highly recommended.

Addendum: The April 2 New York Times has an article on Radden Keefe that is well worth the time. Gives more insight not only into him as a person, but his relationship with this book and its development in particular.

[David Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

London Falling definitely caught my interest right from the beginning, as Patrick Keefe described the mysterious death of Zach Brettler, a 19-year old Londoner from a privileged background. The story became even more fascinating as Keefe unraveled Zach’s secret life, where he rubbed shoulders with dangerous gangsters who mistakenly believed that he was the fabulously wealthy son of a Russian oligarch. From that point, the book segued into London’s dark criminal underworld, as well as the frustrating inefficiency of Scotland Yard.

Despite enjoying most of the book, I felt that Keefe too often meandered far away from the central point of the story. For instance, the author’s deep dive into the earlier battles and vendettas among London’s various criminal elements seemed to have little relevance to Zach’s strange fall from a luxury tower. Likewise, the pages spent on the experience of Asians in Uganda, as well as detailing the history of Zach’s long-deceased grandfather provided little insight into the story. Even so, regardless of the intermittent rambling passages, this was certainly an interesting read.

[Louis Muñoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars: WOW. I have meaning to read one of Patrick Radden Keefe's previous masterworks, "Say Nothing" about the Troubles, for the longest time, but ended up reading this first. (Spoiler Alert: Loved both books!) This hit hard, touching on so many interesting topics, but always coming back to the tragedy at the center. It's NOT a spoiler to say that this has to do with the apparent suicide of a 19 year old from a luxury building, and the devastating effects of that death on his family. But the book is about so much more, and THAT I also won't spoil for anyone. Suffice it to say, this is not a light story but a powerful one, shared in such a compelling and suspenseful way that I finished this book a lot quicker than I could have ever expected. Strongly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again Keefe has written an extensively researched nonfiction story that unfolds and unfolds and unfolds as if it's a thriller. There are twists and curves. What at first looks quite simple gets quite complicated.

I had some doubts on this one because I wasn't sure that there was a way to tell the story of this one very young man's apparent suicide in a way that wouldn't feel exploitative. I often feel that way about true crime. But you would be hard pressed to find ways that Keefe exploits the living family left behind. It's clear that Zac's parents trust Keefe deeply and have confided a lot in him. Of course, what Zac's parents want isn't what everyone wants, and Zac isn't here to speak for himself, but then we just get into the typical pitfalls of nonfiction writing that you get in memoir.

I also wasn't sure if this story would be a big enough story, but I was wrong there, too. If anything by the end it's clear that there's still more there, that it's impossible for every question to be answered, and that you could go much farther down.

Keefe is just so good at this, it's so well-constructed as a book. More interesting than a lot of fiction I've read. He is quite good at making you feel like you really understand something and then giving you a surprise that doesn't feel cheap or manipulative.

I hope he writes books forever.

[Sofia Fuentes · Rating 5 out of 5]

patrick radden keefe does it again

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most true crime books ask, “Who did it?” London Falling is more interested in a stranger question: “Who was this person, really?”

Patrick Radden Keefe begins with a death and ends up excavating an entire ecosystem of illusion. A teenager invents a glamorous identity, wealthy men perform versions of themselves, and a city built on money and status becomes a stage where everyone seems to be acting. What fascinated me wasn’t the mystery itself, but the layers of reinvention and self-deception surrounding it.

Keefe has a remarkable ability to turn reporting into narrative without sacrificing nuance. The book reads like a thriller, yet its emotional center is a family’s desperate attempt to understand a son they loved but never fully knew. Some of the detours into history and background occasionally slowed the momentum for me, which is why this lands at four stars rather than five.

Still, few writers can make a story about grief, fraud, privilege, and modern London feel this compelling. Long after the details of the investigation faded, I kept thinking about the book’s larger idea: how easily people can become trapped by the stories they tell others—and themselves.

A haunting, deeply human read that lingers well beyond the final page. This is my third book by this author and I cant wait to see what he produces next.

[Tell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gutting. A moving true story that purports itself to be about a crime, but is actually a meditation on grief, parenthood, shadows, double lives, and the changing nature of a city rotting from the inside out.

The true throughline of this book is the Brettler's love for their son, not just haunting the narrative but permeating it. Keefe's ability to weave together multiple threads, bringing in random asides before fully landing the plane is his signature, and his investment in the story and the history of London is apparent.

There's one portion in the middle that gets a little convoluted, but I appreciate Keefe's love for giving people all the information they need to make conclusions on their own.

If you're interested in moving nonfiction, genuinely fascinating London tea, and a story of parents struggling with a son who was lost long before his death, I recommend.

[Peter Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my money, Patrick Radden Keefe is the best non-fiction writer around, and I had the pleasure of listening to him talk about his latest book in Trinity College Dublin last night. He held the audience captive as he discussed this sad, strange tale of death and duplicity in a London that will be unfamiliar to most.

In November 2019, a passer-by noticed the body of a young man washed up on the bank of the River Thames. The victim turned out to Zach Brettler, who had been reported missing by his parents a couple of days earlier. The ensuing police investigation turned up some surprises - CCTV footage showed that Zach had come off the balcony of a luxury apartment owned by a dangerous gangster named Verinder Sharma. Zach also had a broken jaw, which the coroner stated was inconsistent with the fall. Questioning of Sharma and his business associate Akbar Shamji revealed further twists: Zach had been known to the pair not as Zach Brettler, member of a sensible, upper middle-class family but Zach Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a £200m fortune. So why had this young man been living a double life and how did it lead to this awful tragedy?

In trademark dogged yet compassionate style, Radden Keefe burrows deep into the heart of this mystery. He uncovers the story of a troubled boy, searching for identity and ending up in a perilous situation, way over his head. But it's not only the tragic tale of a needless death and a devastated family searching for answers. It's also a social history of London, pulling back the curtain to give us a picture of a city we don't always see - a haven for the uber-wealthy who play by a different set of rules to the rest of us. Radden Keefe's verdict on what really happened to Zach may frustrate some readers in its ambiguity, but the reality is that we may never know the whole truth. It's a fascinating, troubling piece of work from a master storyteller.
 

[Greekchoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Banger but Say Nothing’s throne is intact….

[dspageplace · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wild story, but a bit of a slow detailed drag. I was totally unfamiliar with Zac Brettler’s case, and the mix of "Russian oligarch" deceptions and the London underworld is genuinely fascinating. The author is an excellent researcher and journalist.
However, the pacing dragged for me. While the investigative detail is impressive, it felt like it overstayed its welcome in book form. This probably would have worked much better as a fast-paced true crime documentary. 🇬🇧🕵️‍♂️💰

[Mel || melodrama_musings · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Patrick Radden Keefe, so I can’t speak to whether we are simply misaligned, but having meandered my way through London Falling over the course of the past month, I can’t help but think that perhaps this expansion of Keefe’s earlier New Yorker article was largely unnecessary. The crux of the story and the mystery surrounding Zach’s death is ultimately not all that complex a web to unravel, and is filled with conjecture - largely due to the death of a key player (Dave Sharma), and the unreliable nature of testimony assembled from a motley crew of pathological grifters. We will never truly know what happened on the night Zach jumped from the balcony, into the depths of the Thames below. I struggled with a lot of Keefe's tangents, particularly those pertaining to the intricacies of the London upper class Jewish hierarchy. I'm still perplexed as to why Keefe chose to delve into the lies and half-truths told by Zach's famous rabbi grandfather, other than to invite the reader to draw a correlation- if not at least an eerie parallel between the two. Yet Keefe never real critically analyzes this familial pattern of falsehood and complacency in the face of inconsistency. The narrative feels so committed to giving voice to Zach's parents, that little interrogation is ultimately done. To my mind, the book ultimately functions best as a form of catharsis for a grieving family, rather than as the propulsive and illuminating work of investigative journalism I had expected.

[Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/3.2.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Audio format 🎧

Patrick Radden Keefe is always a go to when I’m looking for a bit of nonfiction in my life.
I've loved other books written by him such as Say Nothing and Empire of Pain.

I think London Falling is well written and still has the same amount of research that he puts into his books.
His investigative journalism is great!

I think where this one fell short for me was not being invested in the plot after the 20-30% point

London Falling centers around a 19-year-old kid who is a compulsive liar and got in way over his head.
Slight spoiler and tagging it just in case:
It also involves deception, the ultra-wealthy always evading justice with bloody everything, and a police force that’s either apathetic or overworked (maybe a little of both?!).

I’m still glad I got to this, but this is my least favorite by Keefe.

[Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book of the year so far. If reading this book doesn't make you angry, then you're not paying attention. Through the apparent suicide of one teenage boy, Keefe expertly allows the narrative to unfold, peeling back the layers to expose the lies, corruption and criminality at the heart of the city, the country and the world of the rich. It's rare to be so engaged with a story of which there is little sympathy for anyone involved. Yes, of course there is empathy for parents who have lost a child, but their naivety, gullibility and mostly their desire to chase ridiculous wealth (including sending their children to the awful private schools of the mega rich) tempers this feeling. But beyond them, the corruption at the heart of government, police, business is staggering, as officials and authority turn a blind eye in thrawl to money and power. An astonishing book that reveals a world beyond the normal one most people live in - and one that will seemingly never be subject to the same laws the rest of us live by.

[Kate Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so admire PRK’s exhaustive research and crystal clear writing style. Had high hopes for this book after loving Empire of Pain but ultimately, unlike Zac, found that I’m not all that interested in modern day gangsters.

Down with billionaires (and oligarchs) !!!! And lying 🫠

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Radden Keefe is a gifted storyteller and this story is true crime at its finest. This book's premise surrounds the mysterious death of Zac Brettler, a teenager who plunged into the Thames in London in 2019. It uncovers his secret life, where, unbeknownst to his parents, he was posing as the son of a wealthy oligarch.

It's a gripping and fascinating look at London's criminal underbelly, offering insights into Russian oligarch investors and a growing dark underworld.

Another timeline follows his parents, Rachelle and Matthew Brettler as they come to terms with Zac's secret life, and attempt to investigate his death and uncover the police's botched inquiry.

I was mesmerized by this fantastic non-fiction. I could not put it down, and plan to seek out his other stories. Recommended!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

LONDON FALLING
By Patrick Radden Keefe
Narrated by Patrick Radden Keefe

True Crime That Reads Like a Mystery Thriller

Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the mysterious 2019 death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler, a tragedy that exposes the dark underbelly of extreme wealth, deception, power, and criminality in modern London. After his death, Zac’s parents discovered an alternate life he had fabricated, claiming to be the son of a billionaire Russian oligarch.

Since the synopsis already gives away much of the story, I’ll avoid sharing any additional details. Patrick Radden Keefe was able to gather valuable information through interviews with Zac’s parents and others to write this fascinating and compelling account. I especially appreciated the backstories of Zac’s family and friends, which shed light on his life. We also learn that the police investigation was handled with remarkable carelessness and negligence.

This is a powerful read, but it is also an intimate portrayal of a parent’s love for their son and their desperate need to understand who he truly was.

I have not read any of Patrick Radden Keefe’s previous books, but after finishing London Falling, I’ll definitely be checking them out, along with anything else he writes. His prose is clean and effortlessly readable, drawing readers into the story without relying on overly descriptive or ornate language. The combination of carefully presented facts and personal interviews creates a deeply moving and lasting emotional impact.

Patrick Radden Keefe also narrates the audiobook, and I found his narration engaging and well suited to the material.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Radden Keefe always kicks it out of the park. Narrative non-fiction at its spectacular best. The pacing, the voice, the research, the storytelling, it’s all pitch perfect.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I travel at least once a year to London. After reading this book I will never see the city in the same way. This is the Best Book of 2026 I've read--I sincerely doubt that any other book fiction or non-fiction will take it our of my number 1 spot.

This story begins when Keefe happens upon a tip while in London filming the Hulu special for Say Nothing--his book about the Irish Troubles that became a TV serial. Keefe is often getting various stories presented to him so listens but few actually fit his needs. This story intrigued him enough that he began to investigate and turned up various avenues that made this an event that he wrote first for an article in New Yorker and then expanded into this book.

It begins in 2019 and concerns the death of a 19 year old teenager who died when he jumped or fell from the 5th story balcony of a luxury apartment building overlooking the Thames. The young man had been posing as the son of a Russian oligrach and had gotten himself involved with the underbelly elements of this group. His death was suspicious but ruled a suicide by Scotland Yard. His parent's did not believe this totally explained his death. When they began their own investigation several questions arose not only about the death, but the investigation carried out.

It is most interesting story that reads more like a crime thriller than a non-fiction expose. There is so much that can be learned about in these pages: the changing finances of the city of London since 1950's, the influx of Russian oligarchs, various crimes perpetrated by the Russians, the private schools in London, the underbelly of crime that is often not well investigated as it would present more questions than answers and lead to many dead ends.

It is a rich story in so many ways. I found it fascinating.
If you are interested but not yet ready to spend the money for the print or the audio I would recommend this podcast with Keefe that presents much of the summary of his research and avenues of investigation.

https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/pa...

I used the Audible recording read by the author for this reading. I was not able to get the print at the time of the reading but do highly recommend the audio.