This month’s book: London Falling: by Patrick Radden Keefe
You’re invited. Yes, you. Whether you’re a voracious reader, a casual skimmer, or someone who just enjoys books through the effortless means of audio, this is for you.
How is the book of the month chosen?
Our book club regulars nominate and then choose the book of the month. Join the club and suggest next month's book.
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Welcome - A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.
Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.
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London Falling: by Patrick Radden Keefe
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
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 AM 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, 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 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. -
If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.
The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)
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