Patrick Radden Keefe on human stories, tracing Irish family, and Russian espionage

Say Nothing author Patrick Radden Keefe has penned another gripping non-fiction classic. He tells Richard Fitzpatrick what drew him to the story of Zac Brettler

Patrick Radden Keefe's previous books include Empire of Pain about the Sackler dynasty, and Say Nothing, about the Jean McConville murder. Picture: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

In the summer of 2023, Patrick Radden Keefe was working on the set of Say Nothing, the TV adaptation of his magisterial saga about the Jean McConville murder. 

He fell into conversation with a friend of the director, a lawyer visiting the set who told him a story about this family he knew. They had a 19-year-old son who had recently died in mysterious circumstances. After his death, his parents found out he'd been posing as the son of a Russian oligarch. Radden Keefe was hooked.