Patrick Radden Keefe

Author

Patrick Radden Keefe is an American journalist and author whose meticulously reported, narratively ambitious non-fiction has earned him a reputation as one of the finest investigative writers of his generation. A staff writer at The New Yorker, Keefe specialises in finding extraordinary stories at the intersection of crime, power, and... institutional corruption. Born in 1976, Keefe grew up in the Boston area and studied at Columbia University and the University of Cambridge before earning a law degree from Yale Law School. He joined The New Yorker in 2006 and has since produced some of the magazine's most acclaimed long-form journalism. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (2019) was his breakout book — a gripping account of the Troubles told through the story of Jean McConville, a mother of ten who was abducted and killed by the IRA in 1972. The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Orwell Prize, and was widely praised as one of the finest works of non-fiction about the conflict. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty (2021) was an exhaustive investigation into the Sackler family and their role in the opioid crisis through their ownership of Purdue Pharma. The book won the Baillie Gifford Prize and cemented Keefe's reputation for tackling powerful institutions with rigour and narrative skill. Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks (2022) collected his best New Yorker pieces. The Snakehead (2009), his first book, investigated human smuggling from China. The audiobook editions of Keefe's books are outstanding — his investigative narratives read like thrillers and translate beautifully to audio. His books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who loves non-fiction that combines the rigour of serious journalism with the pace and tension of the best crime writing. Read more Show less