u/BRiNk9

4.5/5 (320p, Non Fiction)

A surveillance camera on MI6's headquarters captures that around 2:30 am, November 2019, fifth floor of a luxury residential complex on the Thames, a 19 year old jumps to his death. And like peeling an onion, layer after layer, the book uncovers deception, underworld connections, corruption, illusions, institutional failure.

Smaller in scope than author's last two works - Empire of Pain and Say Nothing, but tight page turner.

It starts feeling like a rich people mystery thriller, something more domestic than.... and then you find out the kid had been pretending to be a Russian oligarch's son, shaking hands and hanging around with grifters and literal criminals. Some of whom may or may not be in witness protection. God knows. The book does try piecing it all together.

Take Akbar Shamji. You don't just learn about him, you learn about his father too - expelled from Uganda under Idi Amin, rebuilt an empire in England, helped finance Wembley Stadium, corruption trials, the whole arc landing in 1980s London as it transformed into a financial hub.

Then his son, Akbar (the Prince Grifter) always flashing a photo of himself receiving an award from Modi. A proof of connections. Even, somehow, to the underworld lmao. Except near the end, Keefe uncovers footage of the actual ceremony. Akbar walking onto the stage, shaking Modi's hand, and handing him the award. The photograph on Akbar's website had been framed to look like he was receiving an honour. The footage proved the exact opposite, he handed over the paper and walked away empty handed. Diabolical cu--like butcher says.

Illusion and performance, all the way down. Practiced by nearly every figure in this book.

There's one moment that Keefe doesn't fully dwell on but Keefer over here did. Zac's mother Rachelle visits a Turkish guy who uses AI to generate what her dead son might have looked like at forty. In a book entirely about people selling fabrications with fake identities, fake credentials, fake futures.. here's a loving mother paying for one more beautiful lie. An AI image of Zac at forty. The irony - The whole book is about people selling illusions. And then.. here's your son. Older and alive. But the book also tackles parental grief and regrets so tracks. But we get another carefully constructed fantasy.

The book ranges across several threads - domestic tragedy, paranoia thriller, London social history and sometimes in the same chapter. You learn about real figures and real events, and the city itself becomes a character rather than just a backdrop.

As for Zac.

Zac spent his adolescence building a persona that he is an heir to a Russian billionaire. That illusion drew him directly to two predatory men - Akbar Shamji and Verinder Sharma, an aging gangster chasing his final payout. When the illusions exploded, Zac found himself trapped in a high rise luxury apartment. Maybe he jumped for the water to live and not the death. Who knows.

Occasionally Keefe gets a bit too neat thematically toward the end, and sometimes the sociology tips into essay-ist mode. But small complaints.

One more thing. The sourcing at the back runs over sixty pages. Worth flipping through just to appreciate the architecture of what you've been reading. Because lot of people, institutional role, themes, topics, optics are covered.

Overall, it's excellent, tight, propulsive nonfiction.

The whole book could almost be titled - What happens when fantasy meets predation.

Or, in Rachelle (Zac's mum's words) - Three bullshit artists, selling air.

Now I head To Say Nothing.

​

The Pretender - 4/5 (500p)

I've always been fascinated by the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors, and this novel spans Henry VII's entry into the fray, but from the POV of a pretender. The writing is funny, British dry as hell humour, absurd, yet hits genuinely hard in the emotional chords.

The political weight is also real. There's a brilliant observation the book makes almost passively that when history happens to other people, it's news. It can be mocked, theorised, held at arm's length oh, that prince was assassinated, oh, the queen was stoned to death.. but when it comes home straight to you, you see the gravity. The book understands that distinction very viscerally.

The opening arc is John being a peasant, and has rivalry with Gaspard the goat. Gaspard hates him specifically, Gaspard relies on ambush tactics, Gaspard's weapon of choice was the sudden horned headbutt to the arse. John would be carrying water, minding his business, and then - WHAM goat missile. I was more invested in this rivalry than most war narratives I've read. And that's not even 10% of the book.

The novel is divided into clear arcs - farm days, living with a failed scholar in Oxford, the palace under Margaret in Burgundy where the world reveals itself as cold and cruel, Joan in Ireland, the battle, the aftermath, and finally the pretender becoming the one who pretends simply to survive. That last stretch is bleaker, more mechanical and the 'winter is inside now.. not outside' type thing. The humour survives intact but that what happens next energy of the first half doesn't quite. So, it becomes a little drag at times.

Then there's Joan. Joan is a menace. She schemes, plots, gets people executed, then rationalises it cheerfully. She's a kid lol. It's a great arc.

One structural choice I was fan of was that it spends hundreds of pages on feelings, relationships, betrayals, and identity all leading up to this battle, and then the actual war, the thing kings supposedly exist for, is over almost instantly. That mirrors reality. Most lives are shaped by battles that last hours while the emotional fallout lasts years. History remembers the battle. People live inside the aftermath.

By the end, Lambert is running counterintelligence for Henry VII while plotting revenge murders and questioning whether he even exists. No strategic brilliance feels earned given the collateral damage, but that's exactly what that era must have felt like. Jo Harkin captures it. Baaki War of Roses is next topic I dive, so we'll see.

The book is extraordinary in its first half. Post-battle it loses some momentum, but it's grounded in historical events so I can hardly complain. The writing is excellent top to bottom.

========================formatting dekh rahe ho=======

Horror Movie - 2/5 (horror, god facking knows why I read this)

This book is like when someone promises you something big is just around the corner, but it turns out to be a petrol pump.

"There's something terrifying around this corner. You're not ready. It's going to scar you. Every horror fan who's seen it talks about it. It changed cinema bro. People walked out. Are you ready? Here we go. Around the corner. Closer Closer. This is it" . And... it's a HP petrol pump. But imagine if it wasn't. Scary, right? The idea that it could have been something else maybe something that would have worked better there Paul.

300+ pages that felt like 500. After finishing, I can recall maybe one scene (the classroom) that actually creeped me out. For a horror novel, that's a problem. Words words words, but nothing actually "happens". No escalation, no payoff, just endless setup for a climax that never arrives.

A book should leave you with at least 3-4 memorable moments. This one barely gave me one. Expected Tremblay to turn the gears at some point, but it just kept idling in neutral. His last two works have disappointed me, I'll still tune in for his next bur fool me once.... Fool me thrice I'll not be so nice.

2-2.5 hours in. On the fourth chapter ig..

It feels like I’ve spent 5 hours in this game already. It’s definitely opening up now, but my smartass turning off the aim reticle had me running out of ammo and sprinting around like I owed these zombies money. I turned it on hehe.

The sound design was already amazing in Resident Evil Village and the remakes, but this turns it up another notch. Every time Leon showed up, it genuinely felt like someone handed me a blanket in the Himalayas. It really feels like a mix of RE7's dread, Village's isolation and grotesque messes, with RE2 and RE4R's exploration and combat design. Excellent game so far.

Back in the first mission, the moment I heard that door sound, I made Grace run outside like "bro I'm leaving good luck". Door was locked though. Should’ve escaped right there girl. But from what I’m piecing together, this whole thing feels inevitable anyway. She is cursed.

Playing this at 70% volume is certainly a choice. I’ll survive though. Maybe even thrive once I stop wasting all my ammo, lmao. Capcom you mad dogs.