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.
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES No.1 BESTSELLER
'A defining book of our time' - The Times
'The master of the non-fiction narrative' - The Sunday Times
'A masterpiece' - The Observer
'Compulsive' - The Guardian
'Breathtaking' - Jon Ronson
'Completely engrossing' - Louis Theroux
'Phenomenal' - Emily Maitlis
'More addictive than any box set' - Sathnam Sanghera
A book of the summer in The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times, Financial Times and The Atlantic
Our Bookseller says
'I’d already read Patrick’s long form New Yorker article about Zac Brettler so I was surprised by how much this book gripped me. It was beautifully written and well researched. It handled sensitive topics with care and tackled some really interesting, relevant tangents (Indian Ghanaians' expulsion in the ‘70s for example!). Give it a read, you won’t regret it.'