Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for London Falling:
It’s a long way down.
Quick synopsis:
The mysterious death of a teenager in London.
Fact for Non-History People:
London is the world’s largest urban forest.
Fact for History Nerds:
Over 300 different languages are spoken in London.
My Take on London Falling:
Sorry, dear reader, this might be my vaguest book review of all time. Blame author Patrick Radden Keefe, who has once again written an amazing story that I don’t want to spoil for anyone. So, my TL;DR version of the review is this: read it.
Oh, you want a whole review? Okay. Well, as per usual, Keefe left me feeling things. Remember how at the end of Empire of Pain, where you wanted to go punch a member of the Sackler family? Oh, and remember how, at the end of Say Nothing, when you were just kind of sad and exhausted, but strangely relieved? Well, London Falling doesn’t evoke those particular feelings. Instead, I felt unmoored and just a little apprehensive about the future. To be clear, all these books are must-reads even if I made them sound like emotional rollercoasters…which they are.
London Falling is about a suspicious death right across from MI6 headquarters in 2019. A young man named Zac is the victim. All indications are he jumped from a balcony. Of course, it can’t be that simple, can it? What follows is two intertwined subjects: true crime and family drama.
The true crime portion of the book is hardly straightforward. For the sake of spoiler avoidance, I will say that London is a prime example of a troubling trend in real estate and the mechanisms of ownership. Sure, real estate related true crime isn’t the top of most lists, but Keefe turns this into a warning bell for societies that are not paying attention to who is living next door. Or, more specifically for this story, who is not living next door. (Yes, that last part seems strange, but you’ll know what I mean when you’re done reading the book.) Oh, and in excellent true crime fashion, trust no one.
The family drama is even more visceral. In fact, as the father of a pre-teen daughter, it might be more accurate to call this a horror story. Zac has secrets. He’s also not the only one. His family wants to know what happened to him, but they realize they might not even know the most basic things about him.
This was a book I had to sit with after I closed it. I was more than satisfied as a reader, but as a person who must live in this world, I was left with more questions than when I started.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by Doubleday Books.)
Verdict:
Another must read from Keefe. Buy it here!
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