London Falling

Keefe’s nonfiction often reads like a thriller, even when we know how the story ends. How did that shape your reading experience? Did London Falling feel more like true crime, a family story, or something else entirely?

Zac built an entirely new identity for himself. What do you think he was searching for, and what did he believe that persona could give him that his real life couldn’t? Were you surprised that he was able to pull this off?

Zac grew up with real privilege, yet he was surrounded by people far wealthier than his family. How did that constant comparison shape him? Is it possible to feel poor even when you’re not?

The book raises hard questions about how well we can know the people closest to us. What did it make you think about parenting, and about the parts of ourselves we keep hidden from family?

Matthew and Rachelle each search for answers in their own way. What did you make of how they coped with Zac’s death? How did your view of them change over the course of the book?

How did your impressions of Akbar Shamji and Verinder Sharma evolve as Keefe filled in their backstories? Did understanding their pasts change how you judged them?

Nearly everyone in this story is hiding something. Which deceptions felt understandable to you, and which were hardest to forgive?

How did you feel about the way the Metropolitan Police handled the case? Where do you think the investigation fell short, and why?

Keefe presents this as a London story as much as Zac’s story. What portrait of the city emerges, and how central do you think London was to what happened?

Keefe can’t answer every question raised by Zac’s death. Where did you land on what happened that night? How did you feel about being left with some uncertainty?