No one breathes in a Patrick Radden Keefe book without it being cited in the footnotes. I learned this after finishing Empire of Pain, his account of the Sackler dynasty. In London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, this once again proves true. Through the author’s extensive research, court records, and interviews with legends of London’s criminal underworld, Keefe explores the mysterious death of Zac Brettler, who was captured jumping out of a balcony and into the Thames via MI6 surveillance camera in 2019. His death was considered a suicide, but as his parents launched their own investigation, inconsistencies and questions added up, leading to the mystery at the heart of the story: what made Zac jump?
In many ways, this is a typical true crime tale — an unsolved death mishandled by the police, a double life, and shady characters who have escaped justice all culminating in a story that is somehow stranger than fiction. But in a very critical way, London Falling escapes the trap of being just another exploitative true crime read to pick up at the airport: the real focus of the story is on Zac’s family and their efforts to find the truth, even as Scotland Yard lets them down at every turn.
Zac’s parents, Rachelle and Matthew, are Keefe’s co-investigators in the book, and I would make a solid case that they could be considered co-authors. Before the story starts, the book lets you know that there are long stretches of verbatim conversations included throughout, because Rachelle and Matthew recorded their conversations with everyone who was even tangentially involved in their son’s death. They were on the case for years before Keefe met them by happenstance, and their involvement grounds the story in the very real cost of a tragedy and keeps the book from veering into the exploitation of the true crime industry. As the subtitle of the book suggests, this is as much an investigation into Zac’s death as it is a chronicle of the Brettler family’s struggle to find answers—let alone justice—in a system designed to protect London’s ultra-wealthy.
There were several points in the story where I set the book down and put my face in my hands, wondering how a case could be so mismanaged, how people could hide in plain sight, and how one family could do better detective work than trained professionals. At the time of writing, the social media accounts of several of the players in this book are still public, and the general public seems to have no idea about their involvement. This led to a disorienting effect for me after finishing the book — I’ve been counting down the days until London Falling is published and something close to hell breaks loose. Because, to be clear, this is some of Keefe’s finest reporting, and he brings to light the people involved and London’s law enforcement. The interviews he conducts, the connections he uncovers, and the story he builds about the night of Zac’s death is masterful and handled with an appropriate amount of respect. Unlike Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, the story of Zac’s death is more intimate due to his status as a normal kid instead of IRA revolutionaries or pharma giants. A less masterful reporter could write a book rooted in the shocking details and cut the family out to make a quick buck—the true crime Youtuber route. Instead, Keefe humanizes Zac and stays in lockstep with Rachelle and Matthew, leading to a story that shows the true cost of a sensational death.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that this book drew genuine emotional reactions from me while reading. While I am a self-admitted crybaby, it’s hard to imagine that this book about a son who desperately needed help, a genealogy with its own secrets, and a family that loves each other in the face of devastation would leave someone walking away completely dry-eyed and unmoved. When Keefe finally puts forward his own conclusion as to what led Zac to leap into the Thames, I found myself gasping and unable to turn the page for several moments.
While it feels wrong to point to Keefe and say ‘this is what good true crime looks like,’ I want to shake every podcaster who will inevitably make a 40 minute episode based on London Falling by the shoulders and remind them that the key to Keefe’s story lies in meticulous original research and the care his writing demonstrates for the subjects. Toward the end of a book filled with twists, reveals, secrets, and revelations, there is one final, intimate truth that is publicly unearthed for the first time, and it is done with the full blessing of those closest to it. Perhaps it is this that sets Keefe apart from his contemporaries and will make London Falling no doubt one of the best books of the year — the truth must be unearthed at all costs, but we should never forget the people at the heart of it.
