'Fantastic and intensely of the moment, The Castle is a dogged feat of investigation from one of our greatest non-fiction storytellers' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of LONDON FALLING

The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test returns with a shocking, darkly comic trip to the furthest reaches of the masculinity crisis

I honestly have no clue what is going on.
This is very weird.
We left. Was completely fucked. All good now.

When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts from his son Joel who’d been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England late one night, it sets Ronson Sr. off on an adventure into an underworld of unmoored and disaffected men.

As Jon deepens his investigation into the castle and the wider ‘man crisis’ – where some are feeling tossed around in a sea of conflicting ideologies of what it means to be a man – urgent questions come to light. What exactly is ‘Princessing’? Why did a lawn care influencer dress as a baby in front of billions of online viewers, with catastrophic results? And more pressingly, why are two recently released murderers on their way to pay Jon a visit?

From the death of utopian factory towns to the false promise of YouTube influencer culture, Jon shows us our rapidly changing world like never before, and the men caught in the middle. A world drained of purpose, of collapsing institutions, where a new era of disinhibited behaviour has taken hold of our online and real-world selves. And as the castle mystery twists and turns into a cat-and-mouse story, will Jon be able to discover its terrifying secret hidden from the world?

THE CASTLE marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page. Utterly hilarious and criminally entertaining, this is one of our greatest non-fiction writers at the top of his game: diagnosing our societal frailties in a narrative of blistering pace, insight and intensity.

'Ridiculously compelling and wonderfully weird . . . The Castle is vintage Ronson: wise, timely and extremely funny' LOUIS THEROUX

"Ronson delivers a by turns amusing and harrowing report on the desultory state of contemporary men . . . brilliant . . . Ronson’s intuitive but still rigorous approach makes this a blockbuster portrait of men gone mad" - Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Ronson provides exacting details and insider perspectives . . . A mesmerizing work of gonzo journalism at its most intriguing " - Kirkus Reviews, starred review 

"The Castle is compellingly nuanced in its social analysis as Ronson arrives at outcomes that are both concerning and empathetic" - Booklist, starred review

"The Castle is by turns funny and frightening, dark and disarming" - BookPage, starred review

"An excellent piece of investigative journalism that will keep readers riveted" - Library Journal