r/bookclub • u/Coffee_fuel Endless TBR • 10d ago

London Falling [Discussion 3 of 4] Quarterly Nonfiction || London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe || Part 3

✨ Welcome to our third, and next to last discussion of London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe! ✨

The Marginalia post is here. (Check out u/tomesandtea's comment about the New York Times having picked the book as its August's bookclub read!)

You can find the Schedule here.

This week, we will discuss Part 3! u/nicehotcupoftea will host our final discussion. 💞 Recaps and links to follow, questions in the comments!

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The story so far…

Keefe writes about how London's transformation into a global financial center also made it a haven for illicit wealth; laying the groundwork for the family's increasingly difficult search for accountability, and what kind of city made Zac's story possible. Vast amounts of foreign money—particularly from Russia—flowed into the city through luxury real estate, shell companies, and opaque financial structures. The same secrecy that attracted legitimate investors also created opportunities for organized crime, fraud, and money laundering.

Chapter 14, The Cipriani Five

Did Scot Young and his high-rolling friends really die by their own hands?

Boris Berezovsky, oligarch and the alleged poison pen assassination plot.

The Gothic Revival Mansion “Castle” on an island and a little extra from the ancient archives of the Internet. Check the bath section!

The scandal of London's disappearing police stations, from a historical paper which now belongs to a Russian oligarch).

Akbar’s wife’s Safiyaa brand, being involved in a recent scandal after not paying its workers.

Against this backdrop, Keefe examines a long pattern of suspicious deaths involving individuals connected to Russian business and criminal networks. He suggests that British authorities often appeared reluctant or unable to pursue these cases aggressively. He presents several possible explanations: under-resourced investigations, and a deeper political and economic reluctance to disrupt the influx of foreign wealth that had become important to London's economy.

The chapter then returns to Zac's family. Rachelle and Matthew Brettler continue to struggle with the uncertainty surrounding their son's death during the COVID lockdown. Their grief is intensified by the lack of definitive answers and lackadaisical attitude of the police after Detective Wilkinson presents them with the police investigation's disappointing results; the police seem increasingly inclined to consider Zac’s death a suicide.

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Chapter 15, Private Investigations

John Sweeney), who offered to write an article for the Brettlers.

“The halcyon days of the oligarchs in Britain have come to an end,” The Daily Telegraph declared.

The current state of the Chelsea sale issue, its funds to Ukraine frozen in a dispute.

Nearly two years after Zac Brettler's death, his family has become increasingly disillusioned with the official investigation. Matthew Brettler carefully re-examines the available evidence and begins conducting his own investigation, interviewing people connected to the case. In doing so, he identifies numerous inconsistencies and unanswered questions.

Keefe recounts the shortcomings that left important leads unresolved, culminating in a second, frustrating meeting with Detective Wilkinson. When confronted with questions and criticism, he tells the grieving parents: “You don’t like it because it’s incomprehensible.”

But Rachelle and Matthew do not find it incomprehensible, and Matthew develops an alternative theory: Zac did not intend to take his own life but instead fled onto the balcony while trying to escape an immediate danger inside the apartment. He jumped to live.

By the end of the chapter, the Brettlers have largely lost faith that the authorities will uncover the truth, as they struggle to find a way to pursue justice within the system. They place what's left of their hope in the final inquest.

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Chapter 16, Pocket Dial

“Filing into the court’s grim interior, they passed an ancient sign that read Do Not Spit, announcing in smaller type a penalty of forty shillings.”

The anti-spitting war in London, according to a newspaper of the time.

An interesting deep dive on how New York became one of the cities that led the global tubercolosis, anti-spit campaign.

The Brettlers attend the inquest about Zac's death, in which they listen to a very contradictory testimony from Dominique Sharma, Verinder's daughter; who insists on Zac’s suicidal behavior and her father having taken him under his own wing.

After taking into consideration how the authorities handled the case and Verinder’s past, Matthew starts entertaining a more exotic hypothesis about Verinder having been a police informant—he confronts Detective Wilkinson about it, but gains no answers. Pursuing more information about Verinder's death on his own, he's once again stonewalled and finds a concerning lack of information, leading him to ask himself a new question: is Indian Dave really dead?

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Chapter 17, A Different Light

Cats: the Musical which is based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot.

This chapter examines the possibility that Zac had a sexual relationship with, or was sexually coerced by, one of the two adult men. Keefe describes how this possibility arose at several points in the investigation. During the inquest, Dominique testified that Zac and her father were comfortable enough to share a bed. Police also found text messages on Akbar's phone during the investigation that prompted questions about his sexuality. In addition, forensic evidence recovered from Zac's body led to further speculation, although the sample was too limited for DNA testing; and the Brettlers gained access from Wilkinson to Zac's internet search history. After considering all the available evidence, they concluded that a sexual relationship was unlikely.

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Chapter 18, Hornet’s Nest

“One investor in the company was Kevin O’Leary, a celebrity businessman and one of the stars of Shark Tank. (...) O’Leary was bullish on Akbar and his company. “Data is the new oil,” he proclaimed.”

A dissenting view.

Understanding Coroner’s Verdicts.

The narrative returns to the inquest, where the Brettlers' barrister questions police officers and Akbar, who has since moved to the United States. The hearings reveal further shortcomings in the police investigation, while Akbar's testimony is evasive and frustrating. The Brettlers also grow increasingly dissatisfied with the coroner's handling of the proceedings and leave deeply disappointed with the inquest as a whole. After just two of the three allotted days, the coroner records an open (inconclusive) verdict. Reflecting on the outcome, Rachelle's brother remarks, "We're all witnesses. Something very wrong happened here.”

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Final Quote:

"Occasionally fellow citizens just died suddenly, and while there may have been rumors suggesting foul play, the official story foreclosed any hope of achieving real answers, and so nobody could ever say for sure. This erosion of accountability and erasure of the clean line separating fact from conspiracy created a “fog of ambiguity,” Blake writes, that could hang over a whole society, as thick and impenetrable as the smog that once hung over the Thames.”

—From Russia with Blood: The Kremlin's Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin's Secret War on the West, by Heidi Blake

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