It’s about the silence. When people talk about the greatest rock and roll books ever written, they usually point to Keith Richards’ Life or maybe Stanley Booth’s The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. But there is a specific, jagged corner of the Stones’ bibliography that makes people uncomfortable. We’re talking about Closer The Last Word. Published in 2013, this wasn't some sanitized press release disguised as a memoir. It was a blunt, often painful accounting of the final years of Brian Jones, written by his friend and chauffeur, Tom Keylock.
Keylock died before the book hit the shelves. That’s the first thing you need to understand. He didn't write it to get a seat at the table; he was already at the table for decades. He was the "Mr. Fix-it" for the Rolling Stones during their most chaotic era. When you are the guy who cleans up the messes, you see the stains that nobody else even knows exist. Closer The Last Word is essentially a map of those stains.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Tom Keylock wasn't a journalist. He was a driver, a minder, and a witness. In the late 1960s, the Rolling Stones were essentially a traveling circus of high-end debauchery and creative genius, and Keylock was the one steering the car. He was there when Brian Jones began his slow, tragic descent into paranoia and drug-fueled isolation. Honestly, the book feels less like a tribute and more like a long-delayed confession.
If you've spent any time in the rabbit hole of "Who killed Brian Jones?", you know the name Frank Thorogood. He was the builder working on Brian’s home, Cotchford Farm. For years, rumors swirled that Thorogood had a hand in Brian’s drowning in that swimming pool in 1969. Keylock’s perspective in Closer The Last Word adds a layer of grime to that theory that most official biographies try to polish away. He doesn't just suggest things; he describes the atmosphere of bullying and resentment that permeated the farm in those final days.
It’s heavy.
Keylock’s narrative voice is jarring because it’s so unpolished. This isn't ghostwritten to sound like a poet. It sounds like an old man in a pub finally letting out the breath he’s been holding for forty years. He talks about the logistics of the Stones' lifestyle—the mundane details of moving gear and managing egos—interspersed with the sheer horror of watching a young man lose his mind and his life.
Why Closer The Last Word Pissed People Off
The Stones' camp is famously protective of the brand. Anything that touches the Brian Jones era is scrutinized because it remains the one "unsolved" mystery of the band’s history. Closer The Last Word didn't follow the script. It painted a picture of the other band members—Mick Jagger and Keith Richards specifically—that wasn't particularly flattering. Not that they were "evil," but that they were young, ambitious, and utterly exhausted by Brian’s inability to function.
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The book argues that the "official" version of Brian’s death was a convenient simplification.
Was there a cover-up? Keylock doesn't explicitly hand you a smoking gun, but he points out the holes in the floorboards where the gun might have been hidden. He describes the way the scene at Cotchford Farm was handled before the police arrived. He talks about the missing documents and the items that vanished from the house. It’s the kind of detail that only someone who was physically present—someone who knew where the keys were kept—could provide.
Some critics called it "graveyard spinning." They argued that Keylock was just trying to settle old scores from beyond the grave. Others, however, see it as the final piece of a very broken puzzle. If you look at the work of investigators like Sam Cutler or even the 1993 book by Geoffrey Giuliano, Keylock’s account acts as a foundation. It’s the primary source material that everyone else was guessing at for decades.
Beyond the Conspiracy
But look, it’s not just a "true crime" book. Closer The Last Word is actually a really fascinating look at the class dynamics of 1960s London. You have these working-class guys like Keylock serving these "new royalty" rock stars. There’s a strange tension there. Keylock loved the band, but he also saw them as children who needed a babysitter.
There's this one section where he talks about the 1967 Redlands drug bust. Most books focus on the legendary story of Marianne Faithfull and the fur rug. Keylock focuses on the logistics. Who was driving? Who was tipped off? How did the "man of mystery" (the supposed drug dealer/informant) disappear so quickly? Keylock’s pragmatism is what makes the book so readable. He isn't interested in the "vibe" of the Summer of Love. He’s interested in who paid the bills and who took the fall.
The Problem With Deathbed Memoirs
We have to be honest: there are limitations here. When a book is published posthumously, you lose the ability to ask the author for clarification. You can't cross-examine Tom Keylock. Some of the timelines in Closer The Last Word are fuzzy. Memory is a fickle thing, especially memory from a decade defined by LSD and sleep deprivation.
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- He might have been embellishing his own importance.
- He might have misremembered the sequence of events at the pool.
- He definitely had a bias against certain members of the inner circle.
But even with those flaws, the book remains a vital document. It’s raw. It’s the "last word" because, quite literally, most of the people who were there are gone. When Keylock died, a specific type of institutional memory of the Rolling Stones died with him. This book is the transcript of that memory.
What Actually Happened at Cotchford Farm?
The core of the book—the reason anyone still buys it—is the chapter on July 3, 1969. Keylock details his arrival at the farm and the chaos that ensued. He describes the interaction between Thorogood and Brian. The tension was thick. Brian was supposedly firing Thorogood, and Thorogood wasn't taking it well.
Keylock’s account suggests that Brian was being bullied by the builders on his own property. It’s a pathetic image: the "Golden Boy" of rock, the man who founded the Stones, being hassled by a contractor in his own garden. Keylock doesn't pull his punches here. He makes it clear that he felt Brian was vulnerable and that the people around him failed to protect him.
The most chilling part is the suggestion that the drowning wasn't a simple accident caused by "death by misadventure" (the official coroner's verdict). Keylock’s observations of the people present—their behavior, their lack of urgency, their strange coordination—suggest a level of negligence that borders on the criminal. It’s why Closer The Last Word is still cited in every documentary about Brian Jones. It’s the ultimate "insider" testimony.
A Legacy of Grime and Glitter
If you’re looking for a book about how "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was written, go buy a different book. If you want to know what it felt like to be in the backseat of a car while the most famous band in the world was slowly disintegrating, read this one.
Closer The Last Word serves as a necessary counterweight to the polished, billion-dollar industry that the Rolling Stones have become. It reminds us that behind the stadium tours and the merchandise, there were real people who lived through some very dark things. Brian Jones wasn't a martyr; he was a complicated, talented, and deeply troubled man who died in a way that remains deeply suspicious.
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Tom Keylock didn't write a masterpiece. He wrote a ledger. He accounted for the time he spent, the secrets he kept, and the things he saw. It’s messy, it’s controversial, and it’s occasionally contradictory. But it’s also undeniably human.
How to Approach This Book Today
If you're going to dive into this, don't take it as gospel. Take it as a deposition.
- Read it alongside "Life" by Keith Richards. Seeing the two different perspectives on the same events—one from the stage, one from the driver's seat—is eye-opening.
- Look up the 2009 police review. The Sussex Police actually reviewed the case of Brian Jones' death again around the time Keylock was preparing his thoughts. The "official" stance didn't change, but the fact that they looked at it again tells you that the questions Keylock raises aren't just conspiracy theories.
- Check the sources. Research the other people Keylock mentions—Janet Lawson and Anna Wohlin. See how their accounts of that night align or clash with what Keylock says in his final word.
The truth about the Rolling Stones and Brian Jones is likely somewhere in the middle. It’s not as simple as the band says, and it might not be as dark as Keylock suggests. But without Closer The Last Word, we would only have one side of the story. And in rock and roll, the side of the story told by the guy holding the keys is usually the one worth reading.
To truly understand the weight of this narrative, you have to look at the sheer longevity of the Rolling Stones. They outlived the tragedy. They outlived the people who witnessed it. By the time this book came out, they were "Sir Mick" and "Elder Statesman Keith." Keylock’s book drags them back into the mud of 1969, and honestly, that’s exactly where the most interesting parts of their history live.
Next time you hear "Gimme Shelter," think about the guy driving the car. Think about the secrets he kept for forty years. Then go find a copy of this book. It won't give you all the answers, but it will definitely make you ask better questions.
Check the secondary market for physical copies, as it’s often out of print or hard to find in standard bookstores. Look for the version with the most updated footnotes, as the legal back-and-forth surrounding these claims often leads to new editions with slight clarifications on who said what and when.