Late Show boosts book discovery

CBS’s “Late Show Book Club” put Patrick Radden Keefe and his new nonfiction book “London Falling” in front of Stephen Colbert’s audience on April 24. (paramountpressexpress.com) CBS described the segment as an interview with Keefe about “London Falling,” the show’s April book club pick, his 20-year career at The New Yorker, and whether he would write fiction. (paramountpressexpress.com) The show also pushed the pick on TikTok, where the official “colbertlateshow” account posted that April’s selection was “London Falling” by Patrick Radden Keefe. The clip showed more than 1,600 likes and 21 comments when indexed. (tiktok.com) “London Falling” was published in the United States on April 7, 2026, according to Patrick Radden Keefe’s website and the Penguin Random House title page. (patrickraddenkeefe.com) (penguinrandomhouse.com) The book follows the 2019 death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler in London and his family’s search for answers after they learned he had built a hidden identity tied to wealthy circles and criminal networks. (penguinrandomhouse.com) (npr.org) Keefe arrived on Colbert’s show with an unusually strong nonfiction résumé for late-night television: he is a New Yorker staff writer and the author of bestsellers including “Say Nothing,” “Empire of Pain,” and “Rogues.” (penguinrandomhouse.com) The book-club format gives a serious reported narrative the same promotional machinery that late-night shows use for actors, comedians, and campaign books. In this case, CBS distributed the interview through its show site, Paramount’s press page, YouTube, and TikTok in the same week. (cbs.com) (paramountpressexpress.com) (youtube.com) (tiktok.com) That matters for a book released less than three weeks earlier, when discovery still depends on stacked appearances, clips, and recommendation feeds as much as bookstore tables. Penguin Random House lists “London Falling” among its new true-crime releases and its true-crime best sellers. (penguinrandomhouse.com 1) (penguinrandomhouse.com 2) Amazon’s listing showed “London Falling” at No. 7 on Amazon Charts when indexed, a sign that Keefe’s launch was already breaking beyond a narrow literary audience. (amazon.com) Colbert’s April pick did not create the book, but it gave a freshly released work of investigative nonfiction a late-night slot, a social rollout, and a second wave of attention in the week after publication. (paramountpressexpress.com) (patrickraddenkeefe.com)