The author and columnist’s top recommendation …
When I first met Patrick Radden Keefe, he mentioned he was investigating the death of a troubled London teenager, but I didn’t take much notice because he also said he was in town to work on FX’s adaptation of Say Nothing, his seminal tome about the IRA’s murder of Jean McConville. Since I was, at that very moment, writing a funny, angry novel about a hapless American venture to make a worthy show about The Troubles, I spat out my pint, terrified he would think I’d nicked his life for the subject of Prestige Drama. Much breathless explaining followed, in which I may even have showed him old emails and contracts.
Three years later, I’ve just finished London Falling, the superb and riveting book which resulted from his investigation. Tracing the tragic story of a teen seduced by London’s oligarch wealth and criminal underbelly, it’s a masterwork of form and tact; gripping, enraging and deeply humane. Non-fiction written with the pace and heft of a premium-grade crime thriller. I now realise I could have gone into this book armed with insights on how it was written, and a thousand tiny details that didn’t make its final draft. Thankfully, my self-obsession earned me the right to read it entirely cold, and its magic worked on me entirely unspoiled. @seamasoreilly1
Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly, €16.99.
