Catherine Raynes: London Falling and Click

About this episode

Catherine Raynes discusses the themes of identity and tragedy in 'London Falling' by Patrick Radden Keefe.

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe   In the early morning of November 29th, 2019, surveillance cameras at the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s spy agency, captured video of a young man pacing back and forth on a high balcony of Riverwalk, a luxury tower on the bank of the river Thames. At 2:24 AM he jumped into the river.  In a quiet London neighborhood several miles away, Rachelle Brettler was worried about her son. Zac had told her that he had gone to stay with a friend, but then he did not come home. Days later, a police car pulled up and two officers relayed the dreadful news: her son was dead.  In their unbearable grief, Rachelle and her husband, Matthew, struggled to understand what had happened to Zac. He had his troubles, but in no way seemed suicidal. As they would soon discover, however, there was a lot they did not know about their son. Only after his death did they learn that he had adopted a fictitious alter-ego: Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a great fortune. Under this guise, Zac had become entangled with a slippery London businessman named Akbar Shamji, and a murderous gangster known as “Indian Dave.”  As the Brettlers…

People in this episode

Host: Jack Tame

Guest: Catherine Raynes

Topics covered

• crime
• investigation
• grief
• identity
• London
• suicide
• family

Keywords

• London Falling
• Patrick Radden Keefe
• MI6
• suicide
• investigation
• identity
• crime
• grief
• family

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MI6, Scotland Yard

Books & works: London Falling

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