London Falling
A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth
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4.4 • 306 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling, prizewinning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, 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
“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.”
—Esquire
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR
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 a.m., 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 for the weekend, 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 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A teenager’s mysterious death turns into a searing indictment of modern London’s darkest impulses in this gripping true crime story from award-winning writer Patrick Radden Keefe. In 2019, 19-year-old Zac Brettler fell from the balcony of a luxury Thames apartment. His grieving parents soon made a disturbing discovery: Zac had been living a secret life, posing as the heir to a Russian oligarch’s fortune. That dangerous fantasy pulled him into the orbit of shady businessmen and violent criminals, and when his parents began demanding answers, they found Scotland Yard increasingly unhelpful. Keefe’s meticulous reporting illuminates both the intimate tragedy of a family trying to understand who their son really was and the rot beneath London’s glittering billionaire culture. The slow-building revelation of just how far Zac’s deception had taken him hits like a gut punch. London Falling is an essential portrait of grief, ambition, and the dark side of wealth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The truth is, everybody lies," observes New Yorker staff writer and National Book Critics Circle award winner Keefe (Say Nothing) in this gripping investigation into a young man's mysterious death in 2019 London. Surveillance footage shows Zac Brettler, 19, jumping from a fourth-story apartment balcony into the Thames, apparently fleeing for his life. The man living in the apartment, a middle-aged gangland enforcer named Verinder Sharma, died a year later, stymieing Scotland Yard's criminal investigation. The only other witness, a businessman named Akbar Shamji, was caught lying to the police and offered no help beyond an initial bombshell revelation, disclosed to Zac's grieving parents shortly after his death, that Zac had for some reason fooled him and Verinder into thinking he was the son of a Russian oligarch. In between piecing together the facts, Keefe zooms out, vividly portraying the morass of the modern London underworld, a "twenty-four-hour laundromat for dirty money... full of crooks with pretensions to legitimacy and businessmen who seem a little crooked." 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.
Customer Reviews
Another great one!
Intriguing and well narrated by Mr. Keefe. All the components are there- family, betrayal, temptations and good v evil.
Great Story
But I feel like the author lost their way on the story. I’m not even sure what it’s about anymore.
Brilliant
An extraordinary story full pf complexity and very well told.