Rogues

True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks

By: Patrick Radden Keefe

Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe

Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Too political

A journalist needs to be neutral to do objective reporting. Obviously, such objectivity was thrown out of the window for several stories, and the quality of this book suffers as a result.

Pretentious

I get the impression that Keefe decides early on his story angle, then finds what information supports it and ignores everything else. His arrogance comes through in his tone. This was assigned reading for me and thoroughly unenjoyable.

A letdown

This was a letdown after his previous books. It is simply a re-issue of articles that he wrote previously. A money grab.

The David Attenborough of Criminals

There's exactly one dull story: chapter 4 about Steven Cohen and insider trading. I skipped it. Everything else is gripping. Almost like a nature documentary about the underworld living above us. Just as much hunting and staking.

Fascinating

Excellently researched and empathetic tales of people acting off the beaten path that keep humanity at its core despite the complexity of each issue explored

A Great Collection of Truely Interesting Stories

Having read Keefe’s prior book (Say Nothing), I was looking forward to checking out his other works when this title crossed my screen. Keene, who meticulously researches each piece, is masterful in tying together all the bit of information into a gripping tale. Bravo.

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.

Some very interesting stories; some not

There are a few compelling stories here, but some that are simply a waste of time. In the long chapter about Donald Trump, I kept waiting to hear something I didn’t already know, but only learned [spoiler alert{ that he used harsh language, takes criticism badly, and had questionable real estate dealings. The chapter on Anthony Bourdain was a bit like Bourdain’s television shows — enough to keep you listening while leaving a feeling that something important was missed.

Incredibly entertaining

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

It was fine

It was ok, just kind of boring. In retrospect it is clear that listening to a collection of republished unrelated articles is distinctly different from listening to what something that is intended as a book or collection of stories.