On Location
Since I'm lucky enough to live in London I went walking along the Thames to the actual location where this book begins. Across from the MI6 building is the luxury apartment complex Riverwalk which is the location of the tragedy at the centre of Keefe's investigation. This book reads very much like a true crime story which is extremely thrilling as it relays a very specific mystery before expanding out into a much larger story about how London has transformed, especially over the past few decades.
The Case at the Center
In November 2019, 19-year-old Zac Brettler was caught on CCTV footage falling from the balcony of an apartment in Riverwalk. The mystery surrounding his death, and the circumstances that led him there, are explored within the book through Keefe's journalism: extensive records, video footage, and interviews with many people connected to the case, especially Zac's parents and their long search for justice and answers. It's an account full of twists and turns — there were individuals surrounding Zac that I felt sympathetic to at first but who became more suspicious as the story revealed more, and questions kept being raised right through to the end.
A City Transformed
What makes this book all the more gripping is that it's entirely true, and happened very recently in the city I've lived in for over twenty years and love deeply. The book gave me a genuinely different perspective on London, revealing a darker underside to how it's changed and transformed over the past couple of decades. Keefe grounds the story in London's shift from an industrial and maritime city to a financial and technological hub, a place where wealthy people buy up expensive property purely as investment, treating it almost like a security deposit box. He notes at one point that the more expensive a property in the city is, the more likely it is to sit empty, held purely as capital for very wealthy owners — a genuinely revolting fact to sit with, given how difficult it is for so many people to find housing here while some of the city's grandest residences stand completely unoccupied.
Zac's Story
These economic transformations have reshaped the culture and the kinds of people the city draws in, and Zac is an example of a young man who became fascinated by wealth and power. He came from a comfortably well-off, middle-to-upper-class Jewish family in London, but spun an elaborate web of lies, posing as the son of Russian oligarchs to gain access to privileged social circles and pursue his own financial ventures. As a teenager, he watched films like The Wolf of Wall Street and, rather than viewing it as a cautionary tale about a man transforming into a monster, he idealized its high-powered businessmen and wanted to become one himself. The book charts his journey into that culture and how it drew him into a far more nefarious London underworld, ultimately leading to the tragic circumstances of his early death.
Meticulous, Compelling Research
I found this such a fascinating, meticulously researched book, with information released carefully over its course as things are revealed: what the parents uncover about their son and the case, questions around aspects the police didn't pursue, and the deeply questionable backgrounds of some of the figures surrounding Zac. There's a probable case and sequence of events that emerges, but so much will always remain unknown, partly because the people at the center of this story, Zac included, were serial liars who'd fabricated so much about their lives and backgrounds that real certainty may never be possible. Even so, this book is compelling from start to finish. I woke up in the middle of the night at one point still thinking about aspects of the case, and found myself getting up to keep reading because I needed to know what happened next.
Zac himself comes across as a deeply conflicted figure, someone who sadly bought into the lie, glamour, power, and wealth the city seemed to be offering. I felt sympathetic toward him to a heavy extent, while also being critical of the path he chose, and it feels like this is a culture that's been building in the city and across the UK for decades, culminating in this tragic story as only one example. Keefe's skill in compiling this case and all its surrounding information, working toward some probable truth of why and how it happened, is genuinely excellent journalism. I also loved his earlier book, “Empire of Pain”, about the pharmaceutical industry and the family behind it, and what it revealed about our larger culture. He has a real gift for focusing on a specific story that ends up saying something much bigger about society, especially its darker, more nefarious workings.
Verdict
I'd highly recommend this book. If you've read it, I'd love to know what you think, and what conclusions or theories you drew from the evidence presented. Reading it inspired me to take this walk along the river myself, past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, on a beautiful sunny day that reminded me what a gorgeous city this is to live in. At the same time, this book, alongside other reporting I've read on the case, made me aware of a criminal underworld operating alongside it, with some very powerful, wealthy people at the center taking advantage of the system in ways we should stay vigilant about. There's a double-sidedness to this beautiful city that I've come to love, and this book brought that into sharp focus for me.
