Rogues

True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks

By: Patrick Radden Keefe

Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing—and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling true stories of skulduggery and intrigue

"An excellent collection of Keefe's detective work, and a fine introduction to his illuminating writing."—NPR

“Fast-paced...Keefe is a virtuoso storyteller."—The Washington Post

Patrick Radden Keefe has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award to the Orwell Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award for his meticulously-reported, hypnotically-engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from The New Yorker. As Keefe says in his preface “They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.”

Keefe brilliantly explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist, spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black market arms merchant, and profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the “worst of the worst,” among other bravura works of literary journalism.

The appearance of his byline in The New Yorker is always an event, and collected here for the first time listeners can see his work forms an always enthralling but deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up against them.

©2022 Patrick Radden Keefe (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, GOODREADS

“The journalist Patrick Radden Keefe has made a career out of deep dives into fascinating characters—and he’s very good at it. In between his regular contributions to The New Yorker, he has published an exposé of the Sackler family and an account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland…With ROGUES: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks we’re treated to the same level of journalistic rigor, and the same passion for breaking open mysteries, in an unmistakably bingeable package.”—New York Times Book Review

“A new book by Keefe means drop everything and close the blinds; you’ll be turning pages for hours. “Rogues” is a collection of Keefe’s New Yorker articles about criminals and con artists and more. It’s highly entertaining, of course, but what shines through most brightly is Keefe’s fascination with what makes us human even when we’re at our most imperfect.”—Los Angeles Times

"Rogues is a wonderful book, not only because Keefe's prose is masterful, but because he has a preternatural gift for reading people."—NPR

A wonderful listen!

I loved this book, especially Anthony Bourdain! It is a book you don't expect

From Scamps to Psychopaths

While I prefer Radden Keefe's book-length works, this is a fascinating curation of well-told tales of scamps to psychopaths. Anthony Bourdain and a lawyer who takes capital cases to see if she can keep people from being executed hang out with mass murderers and arms dealers in this collection of previously-published, longform magazine stories about who's on the naughty list. I'd read Radden Keefe re-writing the phone book - this guy can WRITE. That he's obsessed with troublemakers and the spectrum of rascals to deviants just amps up the drama. For audio book fans, Radden Keefe reads his own work - and very well, thankfully!

lots of great, well narrated, excellent stories

enjoyed the collection of well-written and narrated stories about real people, real action, real consequences.

Loved it

Loved it! Keefe left me wanting to hear more! The stories were very interesting and well told.

collection of New Yorker articles, some fantastic

Like most collections of previously published work, this is a mixed bag. Keefe is a good writer and researcher, and all these stories were very well done. He's also a good narrator of his own work. My problem was that I wasn't that interested in the subjects of each of them. Most of these pieces are excellent: his famous piece on El Chapo, the Anthony Bourdain portrait, the piece about Mark Burnett and Trump's relationship; the gripping tale of Astrid Holladeer and her brother, and the hilarious story of the trade in fake vingate wines. Some of the stories seem a little out of place given the book's title, but on their own each of the articles is clearly good investigative journalism.

PRK never disappoints

Yet another well researched peak into a corner of the world that few get to experience. Great read

Really fun to listen to

A really unique book, highly recommend listening to it. I finished it in record time.

Incredibly entertaining

Incredibly entertaining, well written, highly informative all combined with thorough research and New Yorker fact checkers = enjoyable and refreshing!

Interesting in-depth stories

This book was a collection of stories, all around an hour or so long. They were well researched and interesting. My only gripe with the narrator was a few mispronounced words (cities that I am familiar with, so I don't know if he missed others). That, and the last story was about Anthony Bourdain, the TV chef. While the story was captivating, and Bourdain certainly was not the average person and led an interesting life, he was not (at least to my knowledge or the book) a grifter, killer, rebel, or crook. It felt like this story didn't belong in this book.

Fascinating!

Thank you Sharon McMahon for turning me on to this book through your podcast with PRK. I got the audio book and LOVED the detailed insight into each person and Keefe's performance is excellent. Keefe is a master writer and story teller. Cannot wait to dig into Empire of Pain next. Highly recommend Rogues on audible.