I think I will be saying the same thing about Keefe's latest book, "London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth." It's the story of 19-year-old Zac Brettler, who fell to his death into the murky water of the Thames River from the fifth-floor balcony of a luxury apartment building in London, in November 2019. What happened to Zac, and why? His grief-stricken parents, Matthew and Rachelle, began looking for answers. And the more they looked, the more questions they had -- and the more they realized how little they really knew about their son...
I don't want to give too much away, but this book took some pretty wild twists and turns, involving Russian oligarchs (plus a few Indians and Saudis), scammers and gangsters, inept (and possibly corrupt) investigators, complicit bankers and politicians, amazing coincidences and connections, the Holocaust, and long-hidden family secrets (among other themes explored). You almost need a "who's who/cast of characters" list to keep all the characters straight!
While the subject matter and place are clearly not within my frame of reference, I was struck by the realization that Matthew and Rachelle Brettler are about the same age as me (perhaps a few years younger?), and their older son Joe would be about the same age as my stillborn daughter would have been. I could also relate to the picture the book paints of the pursuit of wealth run amok, and the attraction that money and status can hold for an impressionable teenager: I live in a very affluent suburb where big McMansions, flashy cars, designer labels and Instagram-worthy weddings and other social events are something many people have or aspire to.
(I'm reminded of a party I attended a few years ago where a thin, tanned, well-dressed languid woman who -- I kid you not -- carried a small dog in her designer bag -- mentioned they had recently had to downsize their home because her husband lost it while gambling (!!). Thankful to (finally) have something I could contribute to the conversation, I said I could relate, because we too had recently downsized our home, from a 1400 square foot, three-bedroom house to an 875 square foot two-bedroom condo "Downsizing" for her meant leaving her 10,000 square foot home for one that was "just" 4,000 square feet. Ooooookaaayyyy.... I mean, I guess for her, that was downsizing, but still...!)
What I could relate to most (ALI alert here!) was the Brettlers' grief over the loss of their son -- and how sensitively the author handled the subject. Obviously, theirs is a very different kind of grief than mine (age of the child, the circumstances...) -- but so very similar in many ways too. There's a passage in Chapter 14 that sounded soooo familiar:
They did not know that Matthew had recently lost a child, and he did not tell them. "It's quite a lot to put on people," he explained. He often struggled with this dilemma of how much to reveal about the tragedy that had engulfed him. When he reconnected with old friends he hadn't spoken to in a while, they would ask, "And how are the children?" Matthew would hesitate, thinking, "I'm not going to lay this story on them." At first he wondered if he might be disrespecting Zac's memory somehow by opting not to tell people. But it's also not fair when people innocently ask and then feel awful for having done so, he thought. So often he would dissolve the awkwardness with humor, saying, with a gentle smile, "You're really going to regret asking that question..."
And in Chapter 22:
....since going public, the Brettlers had started to hear from other parents who connected in one way or another with what they had experienced with Zac... Rachelle liked the thought that something good might come from Zac's death. And it was less lonely knowing there were other parents our there contending with similar dilemmas.
Throughout the book, Keefe weaves in the Brettlers' family stories about surviving the Holocaust, and in Chapter 22, they reflect on that legacy:
"...I think it's a real challenge to live, when you have that weight on you," [Matthew] continued. "You've got to keep going."
"I would say that's what both our dads have done," Rachelle said... Rachelle seemed determined to do at least that much for Joe [their surviving child]. "She has made herself get out of bed and hae a full and active and interesting life," Gaby [Rachelle's sister] said. Rachelle and Matthew might not have realized it, growing up, or might not have thought they would ever need it, but the greatest gift they had received was this astonishing example, on both sides of the family, of how to live joyously in the face of loss.
"It's choosing life," Rachelle said.
And a little further down:
Grief might be a process, but it is not a problem that you solve.
(Amen to that!)
Kudos to Keefe for another absolutely riveting read. I could not put this one down.
(I've had "Empire of Pain" in my TBR pile for a while now; I think I will have to make that a summer reading priority too...!)
5 enthusiastic stars on both StoryGraph & Goodreads.
This was Book #15 read to date in 2026 (and Book #1 finished in July), bringing me to 38% of my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books behind pace to meet my goal. :( You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."
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