Patrick Radden Keefe's books: a guide

Tom Rowley introduces the work of writer and investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, from the Sackler exposé Empire of Pain to new book London Falling.

An orange and yellow background with book jackets overlaid, all by Patrick Radden Keefe: London Falling, Rogues, Empire of Pain and The Snake Head.

At my independent bookshop, Backstory, readers often ask me for ‘non-fiction that reads like a novel’. They want to find out more about the world around them, but they don’t want it to be a slog. They want a true story, but they don’t want to feel like they’re back at school, staring at a whiteboard with fact after fact.

Of course, I always try to come up with a new recommendation, just for them. But try as I might, I come back to the same name time and again. Patrick Radden Keefe is the best writer of narrative non-fiction or true crime out there. No, I will not be taking questions.

The New Yorker writer’s books have won just about every award going, including the Orwell Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction. His fans range from Barack Obama to Dua Lipa and Gillian Flynn, who knows a bit about writing a page-turner herself.

If you love Ben Macintyre or The Rest is History, you will gobble down a Radden Keefe. They are a perfect gift, too, for history, politics or current affairs buffs.

They are also a great gateway drug if you only ever read novels and are perhaps a little bit scared of non-fiction. Lots of books claim to ‘read like a thriller’ but these ones actually do. If your shelves are groaning with books by Mick Herron or Robert Harris, pick up a Radden Keefe. Trust me, you won’t regret it.