London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe

You may know Patrick Radden Keefe from Say Nothing or Empire of Pain, or maybe even his lesser known titles like The Snakehead, Chatter or Rogues. He's one of the best nonfiction authors active today, his books are eminently readable and the pages just fly bye. He's also a tremendous researcher and leaves no stone unturned when taking on a serious topic. He's written about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Opioid Crisis, the underworld, surveillance, and organized crime. This book isn't really out of character in either of those, but it's a story that ties many themes together.

The book is about a 19 year old named Zac Brettler. A 19 year old Upper Middle Class London kid that pretends to be the son of a Russian Oligarch with the name Zac Ismalov. He conned his way into the London Underworld and somehow wound up dead in the River Thames, before he was in the River Thames he was on the balcony of a London Underworld Drug Enforcer. Whether he was thrown, jumped, or fell is unknown. How he got there, who these people are/were is the fascinating story. If that doesn't hook you maybe literature is not for you.

The themes discussed in this book are many. Zac was a fairly well off kid, went to private school and had a well known reputable family. However, he was sucked into the world of megawealth from what he saw on Instagram. He watched movies like Eastern Promises and War Dogs and decided "boy that sure looks fun," and sought out the life. Now, we here at Cheers to This Reviews are all Unc or washed status. We're aware of youthful mistakes. We can understand how this life may seem appealing to a 19 year old, it's just that most of us don't have the gumption to go out and pursue it. This kid did. We also didn't grow up in an era where we could form parasocial relationships with the people on the computer that show this lifestyle. What does social media do to our kids?

Another theme is the City of London itself. The stories of the English hiding the wealth for the world's worst is well told. Books like Butler to the World, The Laundromat, and others tell the tales of how the megawealthy who wear out their welcome elsewhere find a home in London. What effect does this have on a city as big as London? What does that do to the people that live there, who were born there? Is this a net win for London?

The biggest theme is how well do we know our kids? Zac's parents had no clue this is what he was doing. They knew the kid was a bit of a bullshitter but had no clue that he had reached this level. He went to a private school and had a bit of a siloed home life, school life and social life. Do we really know each other is discussed at length. At the end of Zac's story there were three people all lying to each other and it ended in Zac's death. In a city with unimaginable wealth and neighborhoods that are world's apart it's hard to really know other people.