What do you think?
Rate this book
The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men
Not yet published
Expected 1 Sep 26** AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW **
The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and the award-winning BBC podcast Things Fell Apart moves to Penguin for his first book in eleven years, a darkly comic true crime mystery set within the masculinity crisis, The Castle.
I honestly have no clue what is going on.
This is very weird.
We left. Was completely fucked. All good now.
When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts after his son Joel had been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England under false pretences late one evening, it set Ronson Sr. off on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men on a desperate search for purpose, whatever the cost.
Why did the wealthy scion of a gilded age tycoon entice Jon’s son to his castle on the pretext of a party, when the reality was something else entirely? Could Jon uncover what was really going on inside that strange castle? Why was a popular online lawncare influencer wrongly implicated in a bizarre plot to traumatize millions of unsuspecting children? And, more pressingly, why are two recently paroled murderers on their way to pay Jon an ominous visit?
Against the backdrop of the sometimes moving, often disturbing masculinity crisis, Jon follows the trail of those men who are acting out, checked out or just plain out of time. Drawing on his trademark brand of humour, psychological insight and unrivalled prescience, and told in the riveting style of a true crime thriller, The Castle marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page in his darkest and most wildly enjoyable journey yet – deep into the recesses of the Castle and the secret lives of men.
PRAISE FOR JON
‘Simultaneously frightening and hilarious’ The Times
‘Funny and compulsively readable’ Louis Theroux
‘His scalpel-sharp journalistic mind comes wrapped in disarming, diffident warmth’ Miranda Sawyer, Guardian
‘Ronson is one of our most important modern-day thinkers’ US News & World Report
‘Funny and thought-provoking . . . original, inspired journalism’ Financial Times
‘Gutsy and smart’ New York Times
‘Simmering with humour, weirdness and pathos’ Sunday Times
‘A diligent investigator and a wry, funny writer, Ronson manages to be at once academic and entertaining’ Boston Globe
‘The belly laughs come thick and fast – my God, he is funny’ Observer
The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and the award-winning BBC podcast Things Fell Apart moves to Penguin for his first book in eleven years, a darkly comic true crime mystery set within the masculinity crisis, The Castle.
I honestly have no clue what is going on.
This is very weird.
We left. Was completely fucked. All good now.
When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts after his son Joel had been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England under false pretences late one evening, it set Ronson Sr. off on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men on a desperate search for purpose, whatever the cost.
Why did the wealthy scion of a gilded age tycoon entice Jon’s son to his castle on the pretext of a party, when the reality was something else entirely? Could Jon uncover what was really going on inside that strange castle? Why was a popular online lawncare influencer wrongly implicated in a bizarre plot to traumatize millions of unsuspecting children? And, more pressingly, why are two recently paroled murderers on their way to pay Jon an ominous visit?
Against the backdrop of the sometimes moving, often disturbing masculinity crisis, Jon follows the trail of those men who are acting out, checked out or just plain out of time. Drawing on his trademark brand of humour, psychological insight and unrivalled prescience, and told in the riveting style of a true crime thriller, The Castle marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page in his darkest and most wildly enjoyable journey yet – deep into the recesses of the Castle and the secret lives of men.
PRAISE FOR JON
‘Simultaneously frightening and hilarious’ The Times
‘Funny and compulsively readable’ Louis Theroux
‘His scalpel-sharp journalistic mind comes wrapped in disarming, diffident warmth’ Miranda Sawyer, Guardian
‘Ronson is one of our most important modern-day thinkers’ US News & World Report
‘Funny and thought-provoking . . . original, inspired journalism’ Financial Times
‘Gutsy and smart’ New York Times
‘Simmering with humour, weirdness and pathos’ Sunday Times
‘A diligent investigator and a wry, funny writer, Ronson manages to be at once academic and entertaining’ Boston Globe
‘The belly laughs come thick and fast – my God, he is funny’ Observer
- GenresNonfictionTrue Crime
336 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication September 1, 2026
About the author
Jon Ronson
31 books5,848 followersJon Ronson is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker. He is known for works such as Them: Adventures with Extremists (2001), The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004), and The Psychopath Test (2011).
He has been described as a gonzo journalist, becoming a faux-naïf character in his stories. He produces informal but sceptical investigations of controversial fringe politics and science. He has published nine books and his work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, City Life and Time Out. He has made several BBC Television documentary films and two documentary series for Channel 4.
He has been described as a gonzo journalist, becoming a faux-naïf character in his stories. He produces informal but sceptical investigations of controversial fringe politics and science. He has published nine books and his work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, City Life and Time Out. He has made several BBC Television documentary films and two documentary series for Channel 4.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 23, 2026
I waited 11 years for a new Jon Ronson book and it was WORTH THE WAIT.
Macabre as it sounds, it’s good news for narrative nonfiction when strange things happen to Jon Ronson. In this case, his son is lured to a mysterious castle in suburban Connecticut where a wealthy older man is recruiting young women to be his “princesses.” Alarmed by the situation and drawn to deviant characters, Ronson does what he does best: follows the thread until it leads somewhere much darker and indicative of a cultural underbelly.
The result is a portrait of several men—the castle owner, a town historian, a lawn-care influencer, a culture-war YouTuber—who share a common predicament. They are all searching, perhaps destructively, for purpose.
The Castle raises questions at the root of the manosphere: How does the 21st-century man go from being a little lonely to dangerously uninhibited? What happens when once-tolerated behavior is no longer tolerated? And what is a man’s worth when the thing that once gave him value—money, innovation, authority, expertise—becomes the thing that alienates him from society?
In his trademark style, Ronson inserts himself into the narrative, scrutinizing his own motivations and facing his mortality. Throughout, he acknowledges his maniacal compulsion to work, and how he’s a razor’s edge away from being like the subjects of our scorn:
“Everyone I met for this book had, I think, a similarly dysfunctional relationship with purpose, hunting too desperately for it. And now there’s a generation of men, unanchored from society and going it alone.”
Ronson is also disarmingly aware of the uncomfortable boon his son’s encounter provides his reporting. He ruefully notes that the danger his son faced “had, after all, given me something to do.”
And what a thing he’s done. Ronson, who has made of career of embedding himself with the fringes of society (extremists, psychopaths, cancel culture’s outcasts), has now dipped a toe into the manosphere and exposed the privilege-to-disenfranchisement-to-disinhibition pipeline only as he could tell it.
It’s illuminating, unsettling, and genuinely funny. I only wish there were more of it.
Macabre as it sounds, it’s good news for narrative nonfiction when strange things happen to Jon Ronson. In this case, his son is lured to a mysterious castle in suburban Connecticut where a wealthy older man is recruiting young women to be his “princesses.” Alarmed by the situation and drawn to deviant characters, Ronson does what he does best: follows the thread until it leads somewhere much darker and indicative of a cultural underbelly.
The result is a portrait of several men—the castle owner, a town historian, a lawn-care influencer, a culture-war YouTuber—who share a common predicament. They are all searching, perhaps destructively, for purpose.
The Castle raises questions at the root of the manosphere: How does the 21st-century man go from being a little lonely to dangerously uninhibited? What happens when once-tolerated behavior is no longer tolerated? And what is a man’s worth when the thing that once gave him value—money, innovation, authority, expertise—becomes the thing that alienates him from society?
In his trademark style, Ronson inserts himself into the narrative, scrutinizing his own motivations and facing his mortality. Throughout, he acknowledges his maniacal compulsion to work, and how he’s a razor’s edge away from being like the subjects of our scorn:
“Everyone I met for this book had, I think, a similarly dysfunctional relationship with purpose, hunting too desperately for it. And now there’s a generation of men, unanchored from society and going it alone.”
Ronson is also disarmingly aware of the uncomfortable boon his son’s encounter provides his reporting. He ruefully notes that the danger his son faced “had, after all, given me something to do.”
And what a thing he’s done. Ronson, who has made of career of embedding himself with the fringes of society (extremists, psychopaths, cancel culture’s outcasts), has now dipped a toe into the manosphere and exposed the privilege-to-disenfranchisement-to-disinhibition pipeline only as he could tell it.
It’s illuminating, unsettling, and genuinely funny. I only wish there were more of it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Castle is a strange, unsettling, and ultimately fascinating book and I mean "strange" as a compliment, mostly. Jon Ronson has always had a gift for walking into the darkest corners of human behavior and coming back with something that makes you laugh, wince, and think all at once. This one is no different, though it goes to darker places than I expected.
The book circles around the ways advertising, social media, and online culture have hollowed out and distorted the male ego, producing men who are disconnected from reality, disinhibited, and increasingly dangerous to themselves and others. Chris Marks is the most vivid example at the center of the narrative, and Ronson renders him with the same careful, non-cartoonish empathy he brings to all his subjects, even when they're clearly unwell. Other conspiracy-minded individuals orbit the story as well, each one illuminating a different facet of the same troubling phenomenon.
Structurally, the multiple threads took some getting used to. This isn't the lean, propulsive narrative of The Psychopath Test or So You've Been Publicly Shamed. It sprawls, it doubles back, it follows seemingly strange tangents. Honestly, it's not the kind of book I would have naturally gravitated toward. But here's the thing about Jon Ronson: he's such a compulsively readable writer that I found myself completely engrossed anyway. His voice carries you through even the weirdest detours.
If you're a Ronson fan, go in knowing this one is darker and more diffuse than his earlier work. If you're new to him, maybe start with The Psychopath Test first. But either way, The Castle is asking genuinely important questions about where all these unmoored men are headed, and that alone makes it worth your time.
The book circles around the ways advertising, social media, and online culture have hollowed out and distorted the male ego, producing men who are disconnected from reality, disinhibited, and increasingly dangerous to themselves and others. Chris Marks is the most vivid example at the center of the narrative, and Ronson renders him with the same careful, non-cartoonish empathy he brings to all his subjects, even when they're clearly unwell. Other conspiracy-minded individuals orbit the story as well, each one illuminating a different facet of the same troubling phenomenon.
Structurally, the multiple threads took some getting used to. This isn't the lean, propulsive narrative of The Psychopath Test or So You've Been Publicly Shamed. It sprawls, it doubles back, it follows seemingly strange tangents. Honestly, it's not the kind of book I would have naturally gravitated toward. But here's the thing about Jon Ronson: he's such a compulsively readable writer that I found myself completely engrossed anyway. His voice carries you through even the weirdest detours.
If you're a Ronson fan, go in knowing this one is darker and more diffuse than his earlier work. If you're new to him, maybe start with The Psychopath Test first. But either way, The Castle is asking genuinely important questions about where all these unmoored men are headed, and that alone makes it worth your time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews