The buzz around Patrick Radden Keefe's latest book is already electric, with A24's U.K. division snapping up the rights to London Falling before its April 7 release. The novel, published by Doubleday and Pan Macmillan, dives into the unsettling true story of Zac Brettler, a London teen who died mysteriously in 2019—only for his parents to uncover his secret life as the supposed heir to a Russian oligarch's fortune. Their quest for answers pulls them into a murky world lurking beneath the city's polished exterior. Keefe, fresh off his National Book Critics Circle Award win in 2019, will executive produce the series, expanding on his 2024 New Yorker piece. The Brettler family is fully involved, adding authenticity to the project. This isn't Keefe's first rodeo with screen adaptations; his Say Nothing became an Emmy and Bafta-nominated FX limited series, and he's also behind Netflix's Painkiller. With A24 also adapting The Snakehead, Keefe's work is fast becoming a hotbed for gripping TV.
Patrick Radden Keefe's knack for unraveling real-life mysteries is about to get a cinematic glow-up, and Nigerians who devour true-crime sagas like The Snakehead will eat this up. The Brettler family's twisted tale reads like a Nollywood plot—wealth, secrets, and a dead son with a fake identity—but with the grit of a Keefe exposé. If A24 nails this, it'll join Say Nothing in proving that Nigeria's appetite for high-stakes storytelling doesn't hold a candle to the West's.
