The Walk with @praddenkeefe
The investigative journalist points up to the balcony where 19-year-old Zac Brettler fell to his death in 2019. Keefe heard the story of the young man who pretended to be a Russian oligarch’s son by chance.
On a walk along the Thames Embankment, the setting of his latest book, London Falling, the investigative journalist tells Basia Cummings how the online world and Trumpist nihilism led the young man at its centre to his death.
With his exacting eye for detail, Keefe brought to life the Riverwalk apartment complex, the Brettlers' tragic case and Zac's entanglement with wealth. He shares why this is the most intimate story he’s ever written and his journey to cultural celebrity and New Yorker writer.
Read more at the link in bio - and in this weekend's paper.
Photographs by @aolmosphoto for The Observer
Illustration by Ellie Wintour
Patrick Radden Keefe (@praddenkeefe ) is OFD — “Originally from Dorchester” — but he went to school in neighboring Milton. “The strangeness was that it was 10 minutes geographically, but it was a world away. Those two environments were very different,” Keefe says on #SayMore.
Listen to the episode through the link in our bio, or wherever you find your podcasts. #GlobeOpinion
Award-winning investigative journalist, bestselling author, and staff writer at The New Yorker PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE joins us to talk about the years-long reporting process behind his new book ‘London Falling’. We discuss how a chance encounter led Patrick to the story of Zac Brettler, and the challenges of investigating a mysterious death tied to hidden identities and extreme wealth in modern London 🍒
Get-rich-quick schemes have been blowing up on the internet lately, but the quest for a shortcut to wealth is a tale as old as time.
This week on “This is Uncomfortable,” host Reema Khrais is joined by author Patrick Radden Keefe to talk about his new book and the obsession with making money, fast.
Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
What do you do when your child gets caught up in hustle culture?
On a new episode of “This is Uncomfortable,” Patrick Radden Keefe, the bestselling author of “London Falling” talks with host Reema Khrais about how his latest book changed him.
Listen to the full episode now, wherever you get your podcasts.
@praddenkeefe , author of “London Falling,” offers advice for writers and journalists, reflecting on A.I. and what excites him as a reader.
#Colbert #LateShowBookClub #PatrickRaddenKeefe #LondonFalling
London Falling is a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller! Team @praddenkeefe took a group trip to @piccadillywaterstones to see the window takeover and celebrate 👏👏👏 Thank you for all the support for this incredible book so far, and we hope to see lots of you in person for Patrick’s UK tour in May.
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From the Baillie Gifford Prize-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing comes a riveting story of wealth, violence and deceit at the heart of a glittering city.
In 2019, a London teenager, Zac Brettler, fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the Thames. On a desperate quest to understand how their son had died, his grieving parents made a terrible discovery: Zac had been leading a fantasy life, posing as the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.
Patrick Radden Keefe follows Zac’s parents on a dark journey to find out what brought him to the balcony that night – and how a teenager’s life of make-believe drew him into the city’s terrifying underworld.
Investigative, immersive, and impossible to put down—@praddenkeefe opens up about the stories behind his six books, sharing the mysteries, twists, and real-life adventures that inspired them.
His new release, London Falling, leads our new The Conversation Starter series—monthly nonfiction picks designed to spark discussion long after the last page. Discover more at the link in bio.
During the pandemic my editor alerted me to this crazy fraud case in New Orleans involving a Hollywood stuntwoman turned personal injury attorney, her ex-con fiancée, and people deliberately getting into high-speed car accidents with 18-wheelers. I’ve been trying to get the story going ever since and “Slammers” is finally out in @newyorkermag this week. I realize I just published a book on Tuesday. Read ‘em in whatever order you like. But please read ‘em!
@praddenkeefe ’s journalism has taken him into the unscrupulous world of big pharma, back in time to the land of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and, in his latest book, ‘London Falling,’ deep into the city’s criminal underground. But one of his very first published pieces was about food — specifically the rise of offal in upscale restaurants at the time — and, he says, “there probably could have been some happy alternative career path in which I became a restaurant reviewer.”
Living in Westchester County doesn’t allow for many culinary expeditions these days, but he enjoys the quiet, especially as he’s in the midst of closing another piece for ‘The New Yorker.’ “I’m surprised by how much the suburbs agree with me,” he says. “I’m a monk. A monk with two teenagers and a yard.”
Read his #GrubStreetDiet at the link in our bio.
Illustration: @margalitties
