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An absorbing and vertiginous chronicle of the trial of Alex Murdaugh.-- "The New Yorker, Best Books of 2026 So Far"
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This story, with its wild human convulsions and its dense moral fiber, demands serious narrative muscle from its teller. James Lasdun has what it takes, and more: his final chapters are a masterclass in calm, hard reasoning.--Helen Garner, author of This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial
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James Lasdun, one of our very best true crime documentarians, has written a riveting account of the notorious Alex Murdaugh murder trial of March 2023. Though adjudicated, this public exposure of an 'incredibly corrupt South Carolina ruling class' remains a mystery in many ways, as Lasdun reveals.
The Family Man is a memorable examination of the making and enabling of a psychopath who is also a 'good ol' boy' from a prominent South Carolina family; a 'family-values' gentleman who is also a 'family annihilator.' Highly recommended.--Joyce Carol Oates, author of Fox
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A true-life Gothic tale of moral horror that wrestles with the reality of evil and its sinister, persistent influence over one powerful family and its milieu.--Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade
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The Family Man is a meticulous, spotlessly written, and clear-eyed journey into a distinctly American morass of wealth, privilege, and power. It's also a morally responsible meditation on the tragedies left within the ruinous wake. James Lasdun doesn't allow us a moment's breath to flinch and look away.--Paul Tremblay, New York Times best-selling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
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What
The Family Man does illuminate to devastating effect is the way the case is emblematic of the direst aspects of contemporary American life: opioid addiction, litigiousness, brazen mendacity (and its bedfellow, gullibility), as well as guns. . . . Not since 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' have I read so vividly wrought an account of the South. . . . when the book reaches a crescendo in its stunning final chapters, the elaborate detail becomes the foundation for his chilling distillation of Alex's crimes.--Orlando Whitfield "New York Times"
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The Family Man is the Truman Capote version of the Murdaugh story, a thoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully written inquiry into how and why a person comes to commit such an appalling crime.--Laura Miller "Slate"
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Lasdun has brought his considerable storytelling skills to the life and times of the Murdaugh family, a Southern Gothic tragedy that redefines the genre of true crime. Lasdun does not contest the conviction, but he does frame the story of murder, corruption, and fraud in ways far more spellbinding than previous accounts. Evil is always dark, and here Lasdun makes it come to light.-- "Air Mail"
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Lasdun is a 'true crime' writer in the reflective mold of his late
New Yorker colleague Janet Malcolm. Although investigating the double murder case drives this narrative, Lasdun is most interested in exploring the ultimate unsolvable mystery: the mystery of evil.--Maureen Corrigan "NPR"
Publisher Marketing:
In March 2023, Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife and younger son at Moselle, their home in South Carolina's Lowcountry. By then, the story had become headline news across the country, with its revelations of corruption in high places, massive fraud, opioid abuse, fake suicides, suspicious accidents, and the generational recklessness of the wealthy legal dynasty at its center. Having covered the case for The New Yorker, where his article became the magazine's most read story of the year, the acclaimed novelist James Lasdun brings his long-standing interest in the darker drives of the human psyche to an investigation into the serial embezzlements, fatal boat crash, and other events leading up to the slaughter at Moselle. "Justice may have been served," Lasdun writes in the preface to The Family Man, "but the human element of the story didn't seem to add up."
Having traveled extensively in the Lowcountry, Lasdun draws on original interviews (including with Murdaugh's notorious "Cousin Eddie"), transcripts of phone calls Murdaugh made from prison, the literature of criminal psychology, and the murder trial itself. Deeply researched, sharply written, and with the page-turning intensity of a Southern gothic novel, The Family Man constructs a masterful portrait of Murdaugh and the mind-boggling crimes that wreaked havoc on his community.
Review Citations:
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Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2026 (EAN 9781324075325, Hardcover)
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Publishers Weekly 05/18/2026 (EAN 9781324075325, Hardcover)
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Booklist 05/01/2026 (EAN 9781324075325, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
Contributor Bio:Lasdun, James
James Lasdun was born in London and lives in Brooklyn. His novels, memoir, poetry, and short story collections have won many awards, and his essays have appeared in the
New York Times, the
London Review of Books, and
The New Yorker, among other publications.
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