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.
'A new book by Keefe means drop everything and close the blinds; you'll be turning pages for hours' Los Angeles Times
'Patrick Radden Keefe [is] one of the top narrative nonfiction authors of his generation' TIME
'A phenomenal book that will stay in your soul long after the last page . . . it captures how easily a life can go wrong in the shadows of a city bankrolled by billionaires' Emily Maitlis
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.



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