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The Destroyers
Arriving on the Greek island of Patmos broke and humiliated, Ian Bledsoe is fleeing the emotional and financial fallout from his father’s death. His childhood friend Charlie—rich, exuberant, and basking in the success of his new venture on the island—could be his last hope.
At first Patmos appears to be a dream—long sun-soaked days on Charlie’s yacht and the reappearance of a girlfriend from Ian’s past—and Charlie readily offers Ian the lifeline he so desperately needs. But, like Charlie himself, this beautiful island conceals a darkness beneath, and it isn’t long before the dream begins to fragment. When Charlie suddenly vanishes, Ian finds himself caught up in deception after deception. As he grapples with the turmoil left in his friend’s wake, he is reminded of an imaginary game called Destroyers they played as children—a game, he now realizes, they may have never stopped playing.
An enthralling odyssey and a gripping, expansive drama, The Destroyers is a vivid and suspenseful story of identity, power and fate, fathers and sons, and self-invention and self-deception, from a writer at the very height of his powers.
At first Patmos appears to be a dream—long sun-soaked days on Charlie’s yacht and the reappearance of a girlfriend from Ian’s past—and Charlie readily offers Ian the lifeline he so desperately needs. But, like Charlie himself, this beautiful island conceals a darkness beneath, and it isn’t long before the dream begins to fragment. When Charlie suddenly vanishes, Ian finds himself caught up in deception after deception. As he grapples with the turmoil left in his friend’s wake, he is reminded of an imaginary game called Destroyers they played as children—a game, he now realizes, they may have never stopped playing.
An enthralling odyssey and a gripping, expansive drama, The Destroyers is a vivid and suspenseful story of identity, power and fate, fathers and sons, and self-invention and self-deception, from a writer at the very height of his powers.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published June 27, 2017
320 people are currently reading
3343 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Bollen
16 books416 followersChristopher Bollen is a writer who lives in New York City. He regularly writes about art, literature, and culture and is the author of six novels, numerous short stories, articles, essays, and interviews.
His first novel, Lightning People, was published in 2011. His second novel, Orient, was published in 2015. He then wrote The Destsroyers, A Beautiful Crime, and The Lost Americans .
His new novel HAVOC was published December 3, 2024 by Harper.
Describing his novels, The Daily Telegraph notes that "Bollen writes expansive, psychologically probing novels in the manner of Updike, Eugenides and Franzen, but he is also an avowed disciple of Agatha Christie.
His first novel, Lightning People, was published in 2011. His second novel, Orient, was published in 2015. He then wrote The Destsroyers, A Beautiful Crime, and The Lost Americans .
His new novel HAVOC was published December 3, 2024 by Harper.
Describing his novels, The Daily Telegraph notes that "Bollen writes expansive, psychologically probing novels in the manner of Updike, Eugenides and Franzen, but he is also an avowed disciple of Agatha Christie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 194 reviews
June 25, 2017
I received this via Goodreads Giveaways in an exchange for an honest review. All my opinions are my own:).
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Beginning: very good
4 stars
Middle: still good but goes between slow and steady paced... stuf does happen but takes the time getting there (not all of that a bad thing)
3.5- 4 stars at times
Ending: Lead up to it good, the ending itself written well but a bit abrupt.
3 stars
Twists and Turns: very well done, didn't anticipate most of them and one I thought I knew was turned on its head. 4.5 stars
Writing: Gorgeous! 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
*Quick Verdict*
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A thoughtful, multi-layered story. The description by some is "literary thriller" and it does fit. Throw in mystery, drama of all kinds, and you got yourself a good tale.
This is a book for the patient reader methinks... the story is very good and keeps you guessing but the pacing may be a factor for some.
As I stated above, the pacing for most of the book varies between steady and slow... not that it is boring, stuff does happen.. just not at a breakneck pace. It does pick up once the puzzle pieces start coming together though.
Giving the author props for a well-crafted tale that felt so real to from every aspect. Having never been to Greece myself and not having read much on it, it felt like I'd managed to land in the middle of this mess with Ian.
Everyone in this has a secret of some sort of varying degree, some of them are more of a surprise than others is all I will say.
Only downside, a certain something isn't resolved completely... probably done on purpose, but still wanted to know.. for myself.
Would recommend... take the time and invest in this one, personally I think it is worth it :)
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Beginning: very good
4 stars
Middle: still good but goes between slow and steady paced... stuf does happen but takes the time getting there (not all of that a bad thing)
3.5- 4 stars at times
Ending: Lead up to it good, the ending itself written well but a bit abrupt.
3 stars
Twists and Turns: very well done, didn't anticipate most of them and one I thought I knew was turned on its head. 4.5 stars
Writing: Gorgeous! 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
*Quick Verdict*
----
A thoughtful, multi-layered story. The description by some is "literary thriller" and it does fit. Throw in mystery, drama of all kinds, and you got yourself a good tale.
This is a book for the patient reader methinks... the story is very good and keeps you guessing but the pacing may be a factor for some.
As I stated above, the pacing for most of the book varies between steady and slow... not that it is boring, stuff does happen.. just not at a breakneck pace. It does pick up once the puzzle pieces start coming together though.
Giving the author props for a well-crafted tale that felt so real to from every aspect. Having never been to Greece myself and not having read much on it, it felt like I'd managed to land in the middle of this mess with Ian.
Everyone in this has a secret of some sort of varying degree, some of them are more of a surprise than others is all I will say.
Only downside, a certain something isn't resolved completely... probably done on purpose, but still wanted to know.. for myself.
Would recommend... take the time and invest in this one, personally I think it is worth it :)
March 7, 2021
Oh boy, that non-ending to the core mystery that drives the narrative is sure going to annoy a lot of readers, but it is one of the main reasons I loved this book so much.
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
August 8, 2017
The author appears to be infatuated by his own prose as this book was far too long. The resolution of the story came out of nowhere. Given the book's length, the author should have had plenty of opportunity to lead you to it. It was deeply frustrating to read nearly 500 pages without a satisfying ending.
November 12, 2020
Sophisticated, sexy and suspenseful. A dark and seductive novel about the games boys play and the messes they create set in the sunny Mediterranean. A character driven literary thriller with writing as luxurious as it’s Grecian setting.
October 28, 2017
I'm afraid I can't support the rave reviews this book got over the summer... which is why I read it. The plot is generally interesting and well constructed though the end is rather bizarre and abrupt .. what puts a nail in the my "reader coffin" is the utterly bloated descriptive prose that the author used frequently without purpose. There were times when I would rather stick pins in my eyes than keep reading. Most of the descriptive passages did nothing to move the story along or bring colour to the characters. The author also painstakingly paints a bleak picture of Greece as a refugee overrun, broke country with no hope or soul ... something that I found unnecessary to the central plot of the book. This one slots firmly into the "just OK" category and considering it's nearly 500 pages (with 200 of them being unnecessary), I say it's not worth your time.
September 14, 2017
I was a big fan of Bollen’s LIGHTNING PEOPLE, a literary thriller-ish novel that touched on themes of identity, existential angst, friendship, love, class, and living on the edge, set in Manhattan. This time, Bollen changes the setting, but many of the themes reappear. THE DESTROYERS takes place on the Greek island of Patmos, an ancient Christian pilgrimage site where the Book of Revelations was supposedly written in the Cave of the Apocalypse. Interestingly, religion in this novel is more of a punch line than a lifeline. The plot is cagey and the denouement may have mixed appreciation by readers.
It’s a leisurely moving adventure thriller (don’t expect fast-paced), lush with rich characterizations and first class metaphors.
Describing the island of Patmos: “…a wheeze of color: bleach-blond dust, scrub brush of wiry green, the wet-metal shine of water, and low rock walls blooming sinus pinks.” The monastery rising from the cliffs “like a cruise ship moored on a mountaintop.” And the Cave of the Apocalypse: “It just feels heavy, sunken, an empty bomb shelter left over from someone else’s war.” And “the whole island spreads out horizontal, a dazzle of land undulating and dripping with spidery dew.”
Two 29-year-old best friends renew their bond after not seeing each other for five years, and that’s when the main story begins. Incidentally, you’re in for a surprise prologue, too, one of the most electrifying and unpredictable I’ve read in years.
After his estranged father, a baby-food executive, dies and leaves him nothing, Ian Bledsoe takes $9000 from the family purse and heads to Patmos to see his friend, Charlie Konstantinou, scion to an obscenely wealthy family. Ian is also trying to escape the rumors of his involvement with dangerous activists in Panama, where he had worked for his father for a while, in a spot where the locals knew that the baby food corp. was exploiting employees as slave labor in subpar working conditions. Ian tried to help the locals, to a bad end.
As a last ditch effort to pull himself together, Ian has an idea for a business he wants to pitch to Charlie. Charlie is currently running his own yacht-rental business to tourists on Patmos, and in a serious relationship with Sonny, a beautiful ex-actress from California. When Ian sees Charlie after half a decade, he is reminded of his inferiority—Charlie was best at just about everything: looks, confidence, chess, charisma, success.
The one thing Ian was best at was a game they invented and played as kids called Destroyers, the eponymous title of the book. A variable number of men in black balaclavas bursts into the room, and start shooting. What do you do? The game was often played over the phone, using only their wits and imaginations, set in familiar places. It was the one game Ian always won.
The story starts building steam with the prologue, and churns up when Ian arrives in Patmos. A sinister menace is palpable on the island, but one step ahead of us. Between the refugees from Syria that wash up on the shores of an already bankrupt Greece, a hippie End Times group of evangelicals living clothes-optional in their cove, ominous monks, shady business associates, eccentrics, and an ex brought here as a surprise, I was deeply engrossed in the natives, the ex-pats, the sun, the sea, and the timelessness that drifts through the narrative.
I don’t want to risk any spoilers, so I will say that, although I was satisfied at the end, some readers may feel that the plot wore thin, or that it took too long, and the climax wasn’t persuasive. Some demand that all the threads tie tidily at the end, and others, like me, are content with a few more provocative knots.
“It should end with Jude, not John! Do yourself a favor! Tear the last pages out! It’s a wicked end!”
4.5 rounded up
It’s a leisurely moving adventure thriller (don’t expect fast-paced), lush with rich characterizations and first class metaphors.
Describing the island of Patmos: “…a wheeze of color: bleach-blond dust, scrub brush of wiry green, the wet-metal shine of water, and low rock walls blooming sinus pinks.” The monastery rising from the cliffs “like a cruise ship moored on a mountaintop.” And the Cave of the Apocalypse: “It just feels heavy, sunken, an empty bomb shelter left over from someone else’s war.” And “the whole island spreads out horizontal, a dazzle of land undulating and dripping with spidery dew.”
Two 29-year-old best friends renew their bond after not seeing each other for five years, and that’s when the main story begins. Incidentally, you’re in for a surprise prologue, too, one of the most electrifying and unpredictable I’ve read in years.
After his estranged father, a baby-food executive, dies and leaves him nothing, Ian Bledsoe takes $9000 from the family purse and heads to Patmos to see his friend, Charlie Konstantinou, scion to an obscenely wealthy family. Ian is also trying to escape the rumors of his involvement with dangerous activists in Panama, where he had worked for his father for a while, in a spot where the locals knew that the baby food corp. was exploiting employees as slave labor in subpar working conditions. Ian tried to help the locals, to a bad end.
As a last ditch effort to pull himself together, Ian has an idea for a business he wants to pitch to Charlie. Charlie is currently running his own yacht-rental business to tourists on Patmos, and in a serious relationship with Sonny, a beautiful ex-actress from California. When Ian sees Charlie after half a decade, he is reminded of his inferiority—Charlie was best at just about everything: looks, confidence, chess, charisma, success.
The one thing Ian was best at was a game they invented and played as kids called Destroyers, the eponymous title of the book. A variable number of men in black balaclavas bursts into the room, and start shooting. What do you do? The game was often played over the phone, using only their wits and imaginations, set in familiar places. It was the one game Ian always won.
The story starts building steam with the prologue, and churns up when Ian arrives in Patmos. A sinister menace is palpable on the island, but one step ahead of us. Between the refugees from Syria that wash up on the shores of an already bankrupt Greece, a hippie End Times group of evangelicals living clothes-optional in their cove, ominous monks, shady business associates, eccentrics, and an ex brought here as a surprise, I was deeply engrossed in the natives, the ex-pats, the sun, the sea, and the timelessness that drifts through the narrative.
I don’t want to risk any spoilers, so I will say that, although I was satisfied at the end, some readers may feel that the plot wore thin, or that it took too long, and the climax wasn’t persuasive. Some demand that all the threads tie tidily at the end, and others, like me, are content with a few more provocative knots.
“It should end with Jude, not John! Do yourself a favor! Tear the last pages out! It’s a wicked end!”
4.5 rounded up
January 12, 2018
A relatively lightweight thriller for such a hefty novel – 485 pages. I went on through to the end but skim-read so many paragraphs that I probably cut the book down a hundred pages or so, which really should have been somebody else’s job. I didn’t dislike The Destroyers, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about it. After a clever, too brief set-up, we move on to familiarity: the reliable plot-bait of a Desperately Poor Friend landing in the Wealthy Criminal Family’s lair, vivid couch travel description of a sparkling Grecian Island, a team of credible enough characters, if not a one particularly likeable or sympathetic. There are a few nice twists, but nothing truly surprising. It’s decent down time fare but not much more.
I may have been particularly disappointed because I did love that early backstory: NYC private school friends obsessively playing a do-or-die retro word game straight out of a 1980s PC disk interactive mystery, a game requiring knowledge of every detail of a particular room, a Manhattan building, Central Park. It seemed like so much could go deliciously wrong there. Well, everything does go wrong, but also sidesteps that period of the character’s lives almost entirely. And both the narrator and his game-playing companion grow up to be oily, self-serving young men; if the intent was to pose one of the two as Evil and the other as – if not good, then the Innocent – that fails entirely. They both come across as money-worshipping, dishonest and grim.
About all that skim-reading: I like long books. The Destroyers is simply unnecessarily long. In a world increasingly veering toward sparse, simple prose, all those one sentence, monosyllabic paragraphs bled over from the YA section, I’m usually a curmudgeonly holdout, often preferring complex dialogue and long strings of dense, descriptive writing over the reigning ruler of fiction, Queen White Space and her Pages. But see? See what I’ve become? The verbose, humourless style of The Destroyers has turned me into a longwinded spinner of bad puns! (Shut up, I was NOT like this before!)
I may have been particularly disappointed because I did love that early backstory: NYC private school friends obsessively playing a do-or-die retro word game straight out of a 1980s PC disk interactive mystery, a game requiring knowledge of every detail of a particular room, a Manhattan building, Central Park. It seemed like so much could go deliciously wrong there. Well, everything does go wrong, but also sidesteps that period of the character’s lives almost entirely. And both the narrator and his game-playing companion grow up to be oily, self-serving young men; if the intent was to pose one of the two as Evil and the other as – if not good, then the Innocent – that fails entirely. They both come across as money-worshipping, dishonest and grim.
About all that skim-reading: I like long books. The Destroyers is simply unnecessarily long. In a world increasingly veering toward sparse, simple prose, all those one sentence, monosyllabic paragraphs bled over from the YA section, I’m usually a curmudgeonly holdout, often preferring complex dialogue and long strings of dense, descriptive writing over the reigning ruler of fiction, Queen White Space and her Pages. But see? See what I’ve become? The verbose, humourless style of The Destroyers has turned me into a longwinded spinner of bad puns! (Shut up, I was NOT like this before!)
October 8, 2017
Christopher Bollen is a proof of reincarnation for me.
Long live F. Scott Fitzgerald!
What an EXTREMELY talented author! What a luck to come across his books! What a pleasure to devour his exceptional prose!
Orient, his second book, blew me away.
His third book The Destroyers put his name on the VERY TOP of my AUTO-BUY-AUTHORS. This author is a REASON why I love reading so much.
August 10, 2017
This book is described as literary fiction and a thriller. It's got an interesting plot and the beginning draws you in but then the story gets tedious and stale. I did not enjoy this book and it seemed like it would take FOREVER to get anywhere with the plot. I wanted to learn so many details about the characters, details that would make me like them and invest in their stories but no, never happened. What surprises me the most is that this particular novel is one of the best reviewed summer books from so many major media outlets. I'm wondering what they got that I didn't. Cash? Vacations to Greece?
May 24, 2017
Two school friends meet again many years on the island of Patmos, Greece. One is from a wealthy Cypriot family, the other has been disinherited by his rich father at home in England. One helps the other, but which one helps who? A thriller with twists and turns in the plot, while the novel shows life on the islands for tourists and residents alike.
April 29, 2023
(3.5)
Rep: achillean mc, gay side character, Turkish Muslim gay side character, Syrian side characters
CWs: implied torture, violence, suicide
Rep: achillean mc, gay side character, Turkish Muslim gay side character, Syrian side characters
CWs: implied torture, violence, suicide
September 14, 2017
This was a real roller coaster ride. The setting, characters and plot were all exceptionally executed and although it was a lengthy book I did not get bored with the descriptions or detail. There were so many questions posed about the opportunities life presents and the choices we make - all influenced by money and love/loyalty.
August 15, 2017
This book hit a few of the 'must-read books of the summer' lists. Its description intrigued so I gave it a go. It is a fairly long read for fiction so it took me three weeks to finish. For the first third of the book I was telling everyone and anyone to pick it up. I was extremely entertained by the writing (the entire Prologue is stunning) and blown away by one event in the plot that takes place early on. I read it in the Kindle app on my iPad and soon found myself highlighting tons of lines and passages. Consider the following examples:
- "For nearly two weeks, the hot calm of Patmos has worked as a communication scrambler, blocking all the news of shooting rampages and celebrity deaths and Twitter mock-outrages that temporarily revived its slack-faced users like personal defibrillation devices."
- "Europeans had a lifestyle, Americans had their lives."
- "Pale tourists darted across the road like startled First World chickens."
- "She had the tidy face of a fox that knew the hole in every fence. Her body was one long tongue, a lean, speaking muscle."
- "He and I wear the same brand of sneakers. I don't know why this detail captures my attention, but it does, our unsimilar lives overlapping only in our allegiance to a leather swoosh."
Throughout the middle of the book I came to regret recommending it so extensively. The plot dragged horribly and I believe a more rigorous editor would have chopped over one hundred pages to tighten the pace and bring out the mood and atmosphere. The prose became stilted as if it was trying too hard to impress. Worse was the gradual acceptance that there was not one redeeming character to pull for.
The book and its multiple mysteries resolved itself a bit too smoothly straying into Agatha Christie formula. I have read other reviews that have compared the story to Patricia Highsmith but it has none of her subtle 'cloaked just below the surface' benign malevolence. I believe Bollen has skills and will only improve but he seems to be writing to impress other writers. A good agent and good editor are needed to help him find a less verbose and more authentic voice. Still, I admire how he can turn a phrase.
- "For nearly two weeks, the hot calm of Patmos has worked as a communication scrambler, blocking all the news of shooting rampages and celebrity deaths and Twitter mock-outrages that temporarily revived its slack-faced users like personal defibrillation devices."
- "Europeans had a lifestyle, Americans had their lives."
- "Pale tourists darted across the road like startled First World chickens."
- "She had the tidy face of a fox that knew the hole in every fence. Her body was one long tongue, a lean, speaking muscle."
- "He and I wear the same brand of sneakers. I don't know why this detail captures my attention, but it does, our unsimilar lives overlapping only in our allegiance to a leather swoosh."
Throughout the middle of the book I came to regret recommending it so extensively. The plot dragged horribly and I believe a more rigorous editor would have chopped over one hundred pages to tighten the pace and bring out the mood and atmosphere. The prose became stilted as if it was trying too hard to impress. Worse was the gradual acceptance that there was not one redeeming character to pull for.
The book and its multiple mysteries resolved itself a bit too smoothly straying into Agatha Christie formula. I have read other reviews that have compared the story to Patricia Highsmith but it has none of her subtle 'cloaked just below the surface' benign malevolence. I believe Bollen has skills and will only improve but he seems to be writing to impress other writers. A good agent and good editor are needed to help him find a less verbose and more authentic voice. Still, I admire how he can turn a phrase.
August 3, 2017
Ian Bledsoe, red-haired and ‘a professional big heart’, has been discredited and disinherited, so leaves the U S to make a last ditch attempt at starting over on the holiday island of Patmos. Charlie, his childhood friend, runs a business letting out luxury yachts and, very soon takes Ian on as his ‘Number 2’. Ian thinks his luck has turned: he’s got a job on an idyllic Greek island, he’s mixing with the rich and beautiful and he meets an old girlfriend. But no one is quite as care-free or innocent as they seem.
Growing up, Ian and Charlie used to play ‘destroyers’: a game in which they set up increasingly dangerous imaginary scenarios for each other to escape from, like an elaborate game of chess. The novel is based on the conceit that Charlie is now playing for real; and when he goes missing, Ian is unwittingly pulled in. ‘One lie concocted between old friends… [grows] to the size of an island’ and soon he’s involved in the murky dealings of Charlie’s real enterprise, complete with dodgy priests, a shady group of hippies hoping for the apocalypse, and drugs, diamonds and dynamite; all set against the tragic background of the Syrian refugee crisis.
The Destroyers examines: loyalty & friendship, fathers & sons, the use & abuse of power, as well as deception & self-deception. The fast-moving plot twists and turns, the characters are all suitably flawed and interesting, and the prose is a joy to read. I read this book in two sittings; it would make a fantastically absorbing holiday read.
Growing up, Ian and Charlie used to play ‘destroyers’: a game in which they set up increasingly dangerous imaginary scenarios for each other to escape from, like an elaborate game of chess. The novel is based on the conceit that Charlie is now playing for real; and when he goes missing, Ian is unwittingly pulled in. ‘One lie concocted between old friends… [grows] to the size of an island’ and soon he’s involved in the murky dealings of Charlie’s real enterprise, complete with dodgy priests, a shady group of hippies hoping for the apocalypse, and drugs, diamonds and dynamite; all set against the tragic background of the Syrian refugee crisis.
The Destroyers examines: loyalty & friendship, fathers & sons, the use & abuse of power, as well as deception & self-deception. The fast-moving plot twists and turns, the characters are all suitably flawed and interesting, and the prose is a joy to read. I read this book in two sittings; it would make a fantastically absorbing holiday read.
December 16, 2017
quite disappointing standard "power, rich people doing bad stuff" novel - had higher hopes after some interesting reviews and it starts quite interesting, but it quickly peters out and I flipped through the pages more from a sense of "let it be over" than anything else
August 11, 2017
This book is waaaaaayyyy too long. Strong start leads to tedious middle section. Wanted to give up many times. Unlikeable characters.
July 10, 2017
I picked this up because Garth Greenwell who wrote one of my favorite books ever, What Belongs to You, blurbed it. Too, I had read the author's earlier novel, Orient, and found it to be more good than bad, and the kind of book about which I found myself saying, "I can't wait until this writer's second or third book." The Destroyers was also more good than bad, but the things that bothered me about Orient, also bothered me about this. I appreciated that the trendy word "thrum" which seems to be required in every new novel nowadays, did not appear until page 300. I also appreciated learning a new phrase on page 380: horror vacui; which means a fear or dislike of leaving empty spaces, especially in an artistic composition. I'm thinking Mr. Bollen might suffer from that very thing, for there is so much here, so very much, 496 pages worth of muchness, and while I was overall entranced with the plotting and the quality of the writing, as with Orient, there was a rip-roaring beginning and a furiously paced ending, there was an awful lot of middle during which too little happened or happened too many times. In short, the once-wealthy but now disinherited and in trouble Ian travels to the still wealthy --- and, of course, troubled --- Charlie, a childhood friend, seeking help. Charlie takes Ian into his Greek island of Patmos business, a boat chartering service for the entitled which is not what it seems. Nearly every character is --- per the title --- destructive in one way or another, variously entitled, deceptive, delusional, dishonest, purposefully ignorant of circumstances, hubristic, angry, violent, and, in summary, not unlike metaphors for the culture in which we are all drowning, where even the best of us are too often missing the point and the mark. Flawed. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike this, I just wish I had liked it more and I think I would have had there been less of it; because some of the writing is so insightful and incisive, when I got the more languorous sections I was disappointed they lacked the sharpness, the pacing, and the beauty of the more spectacular and energetic portions.
September 17, 2017
I was only going to give this 2 stars because while I was actually reading this book, I found it ok but nothing stunning. I didn't really like any of the characters and it places I almost gave up. But after I finished reading and started thinking about the way the book was written and how some of the imagery worked, I decided I liked it better because it was clever. There were places where the plot hummed along and by the end I did like the main character (Ian) a bit more.
October 6, 2017
Another great read by Bollen. I enjoyed this even more than Orient. A much better exploration of his antagonist and the hero, perhaps a bit too lucky with some of his discoveries, was a great character. The strongest part of the story for me, similar to Orient, was his cast of secondary characters, many of whom I enjoyed more than the stars of the book. This would make a great movie as well because in addition to a compelling story line, the setting is magnificent. Another recommendation.
July 17, 2017
The blurb states 'Charlie suddenly disappears'. 'Suddenly' means after 200 simile-filled pages, and bon mots such as 'she took a bite of champagne'. Don't.
August 17, 2018
One of those books where every character is somewhat despicable, but not enough to be truly interesting.
August 15, 2024
Book #23 of 2024
This book has been on my “To read” list since July 2, 2017 when I saw Bill Goldstein recommend it one Sunday morning during his “Bill’s Books” segment on NBC New York’s Channel 4. I distinctly recall him saying the author, Christopher Bollen, “…is NOT playing around!” That made me chuckle and I immediately made a note on my phone to read it.
I have NO idea why it’s taken me seven years to get to this book, especially given that I once briefly met and spoke to Bill at a tea dance in Fire Island Pines in the summer of 2014 about what would ultimately become a very special book recommendation. That recommendation would be to read ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ while on my 50th birthday trip to the Maldives 🇲🇻 in July 2014. I did as he suggested and to this day that book remains an all-time favorite!
‘The Destroyers’ is a grippingly good mystery thriller taking place predominantly in Patmos, Greece 🇬🇷 where wealthy NYC prep school friends reunite years later, some seemingly wealthier than ever while others are suddenly destitute and slippery as they try to maintain airs of what once was. Friendships old and new are tested when a central character residing in Patmos goes missing and the vacation yacht rental business he heads comes under scrutiny.
The ending, while not exactly satisfying, was certainly a surprise and I think this is an excellent summer read especially for anyone vacationing on a sun-drenched island.
This book has been on my “To read” list since July 2, 2017 when I saw Bill Goldstein recommend it one Sunday morning during his “Bill’s Books” segment on NBC New York’s Channel 4. I distinctly recall him saying the author, Christopher Bollen, “…is NOT playing around!” That made me chuckle and I immediately made a note on my phone to read it.
I have NO idea why it’s taken me seven years to get to this book, especially given that I once briefly met and spoke to Bill at a tea dance in Fire Island Pines in the summer of 2014 about what would ultimately become a very special book recommendation. That recommendation would be to read ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ while on my 50th birthday trip to the Maldives 🇲🇻 in July 2014. I did as he suggested and to this day that book remains an all-time favorite!
‘The Destroyers’ is a grippingly good mystery thriller taking place predominantly in Patmos, Greece 🇬🇷 where wealthy NYC prep school friends reunite years later, some seemingly wealthier than ever while others are suddenly destitute and slippery as they try to maintain airs of what once was. Friendships old and new are tested when a central character residing in Patmos goes missing and the vacation yacht rental business he heads comes under scrutiny.
The ending, while not exactly satisfying, was certainly a surprise and I think this is an excellent summer read especially for anyone vacationing on a sun-drenched island.
February 13, 2018
This book had a few things going against it.
First, it was incredibly boring. Spoiler alert: nothing happens. Well, virtually nothing. By the time anything happened, I was too bored to care.
Second, I loathed every, single character. Sometimes, despicable characters make for entertaining reading, even if ALL of the characters are awful, but these characters weren't terrible enough to be interesting--just horrible people in a fairly dull way. I am not sure which character I hated the most, but I'm pretty sure it was Charlie's girlfriend, Sunny. Near the end, I was hoping to read that every one of these characters would be killed off. I was hoping for anything.
Third, this book was entirely too long. This would have made an interesting short story or novela (maybe), but this?
First, it was incredibly boring. Spoiler alert: nothing happens. Well, virtually nothing. By the time anything happened, I was too bored to care.
Second, I loathed every, single character. Sometimes, despicable characters make for entertaining reading, even if ALL of the characters are awful, but these characters weren't terrible enough to be interesting--just horrible people in a fairly dull way. I am not sure which character I hated the most, but I'm pretty sure it was Charlie's girlfriend, Sunny. Near the end, I was hoping to read that every one of these characters would be killed off. I was hoping for anything.
Third, this book was entirely too long. This would have made an interesting short story or novela (maybe), but this?
April 17, 2021
This is a good literary beach read (or back garden in pandemic times). Bollen is a beautiful writer, sometimes to the detriment of pace but there are passages that transported me to the dusty greek landscapes I wish were reachable and safe just now. The back quarter of the novel had maybe one too many reveals to feel truly satisfying, almost nobody is who they seem and you therefore lack the time to process each as it falls. Similarly, none of the characters are easy to feel much pathos for. I'm all for a morally grey cast but by the end I didn't really care what happened to most of them.
With that said, for a book of its length and quality of language, it was a quick read and if you want something absorbing but not trashy to soak in on a sunny day, this is worth picking up. Also the cover is beautiful.
With that said, for a book of its length and quality of language, it was a quick read and if you want something absorbing but not trashy to soak in on a sunny day, this is worth picking up. Also the cover is beautiful.
April 17, 2022
Bollen non delude e se l'immaginifico "Orient" valeva cinque stelle piene, qui poco ci manca.
Passando da Panama, dove Atlantico e Pacifico s'abbracciano, al Dodecaneso, dove la magia dell'isola di Patmos è resa con tratti evocativi e potenti, il talentuoso autore americano ripropone l'affresco di una gioventù dorata sulla carta e ombrosa nella realtà.
Figli di magnati alla ricerca di una seconda chance, ma dal presente dominato dalle tenebre e dall'oscurità di traffici molto lontani dalla legalità, sono al centro di una narrazione fluida ed evocativa - a tratti addirittura ipnotica, come quando il lettore si sente letteralmente risucchiato dall'atmosfera onirica e sospesa dell'isola dell'Egeo.
Ricco di personaggi stratificati e colpi di scena, perfettamente inserito nella realtà geopolitica complessa e polifonica degli sbarchi dei profughi dal Medio Oriente e della crisi economica che solo un pugno d'anni fa occupavano le prime pagine dei notiziari e dei quotidiani, il romanzo è senza dubbio impegnativo, ma altrettanto meritevole.
Per me Maria, è un sì!
Passando da Panama, dove Atlantico e Pacifico s'abbracciano, al Dodecaneso, dove la magia dell'isola di Patmos è resa con tratti evocativi e potenti, il talentuoso autore americano ripropone l'affresco di una gioventù dorata sulla carta e ombrosa nella realtà.
Figli di magnati alla ricerca di una seconda chance, ma dal presente dominato dalle tenebre e dall'oscurità di traffici molto lontani dalla legalità, sono al centro di una narrazione fluida ed evocativa - a tratti addirittura ipnotica, come quando il lettore si sente letteralmente risucchiato dall'atmosfera onirica e sospesa dell'isola dell'Egeo.
Ricco di personaggi stratificati e colpi di scena, perfettamente inserito nella realtà geopolitica complessa e polifonica degli sbarchi dei profughi dal Medio Oriente e della crisi economica che solo un pugno d'anni fa occupavano le prime pagine dei notiziari e dei quotidiani, il romanzo è senza dubbio impegnativo, ma altrettanto meritevole.
Per me Maria, è un sì!
September 24, 2018
Here's the thing: I didn't not like this book.
In fact, I was definitely hooked at the beginning. A man at the end of his rope, Ian Bledsoe, ends up on a Greek island to reunite with his childhood best friend, Charlie. But as more and more events transpire, Ian thinks Charlie may have invited him there to play their childhood game, Destroyers--only this time, it's not pretend.
It's a fascinating premise. But my problem was how long it took to play out. Bollen has a wonderful writing style, but I felt like the book simply went on too long--a problem I didn't have with Orient, Bollen's book that was equally long but I found far more enjoyable. The twists in The Destroyers are definitely surprising, but by the time I got to them, I just wasn't as invested as I wanted to be.
In fact, I was definitely hooked at the beginning. A man at the end of his rope, Ian Bledsoe, ends up on a Greek island to reunite with his childhood best friend, Charlie. But as more and more events transpire, Ian thinks Charlie may have invited him there to play their childhood game, Destroyers--only this time, it's not pretend.
It's a fascinating premise. But my problem was how long it took to play out. Bollen has a wonderful writing style, but I felt like the book simply went on too long--a problem I didn't have with Orient, Bollen's book that was equally long but I found far more enjoyable. The twists in The Destroyers are definitely surprising, but by the time I got to them, I just wasn't as invested as I wanted to be.
January 10, 2022
Twisting, well-written plot. The idea for this novel was interesting and definitely took a lot of unexpected turns. Although the way this was written made me think that the author tries to be as overly descriptive as possible. The smallest things would have a broad, dramatic description that got annoying after a while. I did like that the characters had a lot of depth, although most of them were unlikable. Ian, the main character, had his good moments and his "you're an asshole moments" as well. I would like to add that I'm convinced that he was in love with his best friend Charlie, because who would go through that much for someone you haven't talked to for 8 years?? Overall, didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would but maybe I just read too many thrillers.
September 19, 2017
I enjoyed this book. Occasionally a little hard to get a handle on, but it came together in the end. A recommendation from the NYT book review, I felt maybe it wasn't quite that brilliant.
September 29, 2017
Loved loved loved . The writing style was exquisite, I am so looking forward to other books by this author
It certainly makes you realize nothing is never what it seems. I highly recommend this book, it kept me entertained.
It certainly makes you realize nothing is never what it seems. I highly recommend this book, it kept me entertained.
July 10, 2017
Heard Bollen on The Lit Up Show, and I was like YES! Can't wait to dive into this summer read, has all the ingredients I love--beautiful locale (Greek Island) + wealthy people behaving badly + murder/some kind of talented Mr. Ripley shananigans
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