B1 · IntermediateAdapted from ElDiario.es

A Young Man, a Lie, and London's Darkest Side

Un joven, una mentira y el Londres más oscuro

Sep 15, 20261 min readGraded Spanish · word-by-word audio

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Patrick Radden Keefe es un periodista estadounidense muy conocido. Su nuevo libro, El hijo del oligarca, cuenta la historia de Zac Brettler, un joven británico de 19 años. Zac murió en 2019 al caer al río Támesis desde el balcón de un edificio de lujo en Londres. La policía pensó que fue un suicidio, pero sus padres no lo creyeron.

Sus padres, Rachelle y Matthew, nunca se dieron por vencidos. Buscaron pistas y no aceptaron la explicación de la policía. Gracias a ellos, el periodista pudo reconstruir la doble vida de Zac. En esa otra vida aparecen personajes peligrosos como Akbar Shamjy, un impostor, y Verinder Sharma, un mercenario sin escrúpulos.

El libro muestra un Londres que la mayoría de sus habitantes no conoce. Es un mundo donde el dinero lo es todo y donde las fortunas a veces esconden estafas. Radden Keefe demuestra que es uno de los mejores periodistas de investigación de su generación. Esta historia parece una novela, pero es completamente real.

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Watch out, English speaker

English speakers often use the preterite for everything because English's simple past covers both completed actions and background states. In Spanish, the imperfect is essential for setting the scene—descriptions, habits, and ongoing conditions—while the preterite moves the story forward. Mixing them up makes your Spanish sound choppy and can even change the meaning, like saying "era" (was, ongoing) instead of "fue" (was, completed). English relative clauses often drop the relative pronoun ("the London I know"), but Spanish always requires que or donde. Also, English uses "where" for both physical and abstract places, while Spanish donde is mostly for physical locations; for abstract ideas, you need en el que/ en la que. Forgetting this leads to errors like un mundo donde when you mean un mundo en el que.

Key vocabulary

periodistam./f.
journalist
“Patrick Radden Keefe es un periodista estadounidense.”— Patrick Radden Keefe is an American journalist.
Pattern investigative journalist
Compare reporter
plural periodistas
💡 periodista ends in -ista, so it has the same form for masculine and feminine, distinguished by the article
oligarcam./f.
oligarch
“Se hacía pasar por el hijo de un oligarca ruso.”— He pretended to be the son of a Russian oligarch.
Pattern Russian oligarch
plural oligarcas
💡 From Greek oligos (few) + arkhos (rule), referring to rule by a few people
suicidiom.
suicide
“La policía pensó que fue un suicidio.”— The police thought it was a suicide.
Pattern to commit suicide
plural suicidios
💡 sui (self) + cidio (kill), with the cognate homicidio (homicide)
acomodadoadj.
well-off, wealthy
“Zac era un chico de una familia acomodada.”— Zac was a boy from a well-off family.
Pattern wealthy family
Compare wealthy
feminine acomodada, plural acomodados
💡 From the verb acomodar (to accommodate), extended to mean financially well-off
identidadf.
identity
“Construyó una identidad falsa.”— He built a false identity.
Pattern false identity
plural identidades
💡 Note that nouns ending in -dad are mostly feminine, such as libertad, ciudad
impostorm.
impostor, fraud
“Akbar Shamjy es un impostor.”— Akbar Shamjy is an impostor.
Pattern a dangerous impostor
Compare impostor
feminine impostora, plural impostores
💡 Cognate with English impostor; note that Spanish stress falls on the last syllable
mercenariom.
mercenary
“Verinder Sharma es un mercenario sin escrúpulos.”— Verinder Sharma is a ruthless mercenary.
Pattern unscrupulous mercenary
Compare hitman
feminine mercenaria, plural mercenarios
💡 From Latin merces (pay), referring to someone who fights for money
esconderv.
to hide, to conceal
“Las fortunas a veces esconden estafas.”— Fortunes sometimes hide scams.
Pattern to hide the truth
Compare to hide
conjugation: escondo, escondes, esconde; past tense escondí
💡 Note that esconder is irregular, but only in spelling, with regular pronunciation
estafaf.
scam, fraud
“Las fortunas a veces esconden estafas.”— Fortunes sometimes hide scams.
Pattern a financial scam
Compare fraud
plural estafas
💡 Verb estafar (to swindle); note that the stress in the noun estafa is in the same position
generaciónf.
generation
“Es uno de los mejores periodistas de su generación.”— He is one of the best journalists of his generation.
Pattern of his generation
plural generaciones
💡 Nouns ending in -ción are mostly feminine, such as nación, canción

Grammar spotlight

Pretérito indefinido vs. pretérito imperfecto

The pretérito indefinido (simple past) is used for completed, specific actions, such as murió and buscaron. The pretérito imperfecto (imperfect) describes background, habits, or ongoing states, such as era, usaba, and admiraba. Using them together adds depth and layers to a narrative.

“Zac era un chico inteligente. Cuando entró en una escuela prestigiosa, empezó a obsesionarse con el dinero.”— Zac was an intelligent boy. When he entered a prestigious school, he began to become obsessed with money.

⚠️ Don't use the imperfect to narrate a one-time specific event; for example, don't say *Zac moría en 2019*.

Relative clauses with que / donde

Que introduces a relative clause referring back to a person or thing, as in un Londres que la mayoría no conoce. Donde introduces a relative clause of place, equivalent to en el que/en la que, as in un mundo donde el dinero lo es todo.

“El libro muestra un Londres que la mayoría de sus habitantes no conoce.”— The book shows a London that most of its inhabitants don't know.

⚠️ Donde must have a clear place antecedent; you can't say *el libro donde leí* (it should be el libro que leí).

Sentence patterns to steal

La policía pensó que fue un suicidio, pero sus padres no lo creyeron.
The police thought it was a suicide, but his parents didn't believe it.
Subject + pensar que + clause, pero + subject + no + verbYou can replace the content of pensó/fue and the subjects to express 'someone thinks... but someone else doesn't believe it'.
Poco a poco, construyó una identidad falsa: se hacía pasar por el hijo de un oligarca ruso.
Little by little, he built a false identity: he passed himself off as the son of a Russian oligarch.
Poco a poco, + past tense verb: se hacía pasar por + nounYou can replace the object after construyó and the identity after hacerse pasar por.
Es un mundo donde el dinero lo es todo y donde las fortunas a veces esconden estafas.
It's a world where money is everything and where fortunes sometimes hide scams.
Es un + noun + donde + clause + y donde + clauseYou can replace mundo with other place nouns and change the content of the two donde clauses.
Radden Keefe demuestra que es uno de los mejores periodistas de investigación de su generación.
Radden Keefe proves that he is one of the best investigative journalists of his generation.
Subject + demostrar que + es uno/a de los/las mejores + noun + de + scopeYou can replace the profession noun and the scope to express 'someone is one of the best...'.

London's Hidden World of Wealth

London is a global magnet for the super-rich, especially wealthy immigrants from Russia, the Middle East, and elsewhere. These people buy luxury homes in London and send their children to prestigious schools, forming a closed social circle. In the book, Zac poses as an oligarch's son, exploiting London's atmosphere where 'money doesn't ask where it comes from'.

Source: Wikipedia 'London' entry and The Guardian reports on foreign wealth investment in London

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