Patrick Radden Keefe’s ROGUES tells the stories of people behaving badly, as investigated by award-winning writer Patrick Radden Keefe. Describing the world’s most abominable people is Keefe’s life work. The book is a collection of 30 to 40 page ‘long form’ pieces written for the New Yorker magazine, some from a decade ago, others more current. At the end of each piece there is a one paragraph update. Some of the rogues are now in goal, others remain free, living in luxury. One committed suicide, some were murdered.
Rogues describes twelve people including drug dealers, inside traders, murderers and scamming collectors. Some chapters describe the rogue through the story of the whistle-blower who spent years at their own risk to expose the worst of the worst. One chapter describes the defender of a young man on death row.
While the research appears to be thorough, some of the ‘facts’ are drawn from someone telling Keefe something about the rogue. This problem occurs in the chapters where Keefe had to do the ‘write-around’. This term is when the subject of the article won’t or can’t talk to the investigator who then must rely on what people tell him about the person. Who knows if this second-hand information is reliable? There are no references, footnotes or other substantiating inclusions, but it seems improbably that the New Yorker would publish pieces that weren’t basically sound investigations. Keefe graduated from Yale Law School, the London School of Economics and University of Cambridge. His credentials are impeccable.
‘Winning’ is the chapter on Mark Burnett, the producer of ‘The Apprentice’, the TV show that resurrected Donald Trump, grew his admirers and ultimately got Trump elected. Keefe concludes that if Trump runs again in 2024, Burnett will be right there promoting the ex-president on TV through lies and bullying.
‘Swiss Bank Heist’ details how computer technician Herve Falciani uncovered the tax evasion techniques used by the wealthy French and how the French government then attempted to nobble Herve. Telling the truth is heroic but dangerous – Herve now lives under police protection in Spain.
The chapters on the determination of the whistle-blowers is encouraging in the midst of the abominable things the rogues and the system they play get away with.
Keefe is renowned for Empire of Pain, his book on the Sackler dynasty. The Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin, an addictive painkiller that was the key cause of the opioid crisis in the United States and elsewhere. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and an infuriating read – none of Sacklers were ever imprisoned. Having now read both ROGUES and Empire of Pain, I admire Keefe’s determination to expose the world’s most abominable people.
Keefe’s work has been recognised by prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US to the Orwell Prize and the Baillie Gifford in the UK, for his meticulously investigated work on the many ways people behave badly.
Published by Picador, 2022
ISBN 978 1 0350 0175 0
Hardback $37
Paperback $28
Kindle $17
Review by Carol Dance