The Destroyers

A Novel

De: Christopher Bollen

Narrado por: Graham Halstead

Esquire Best Book of the Year • Recommended by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, Vogue, Paste, New York Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Seattle Times, Yahoo!, Refinery29, BBC, PopSugar, and the Boston Herald

“A seductive and richly atmospheric literary thriller with a sleek Patricia Highsmith surface."" —New York Times Book Review

""Equal parts Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Destroyers is at once lyrical and suspenseful, thoughtful and riveting."" —Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You

“Superb. . . . A read-all-night of a book.” —Alan Furst, author of A Hero of France

Arriving on the stunning Greek island of Patmos, Ian Bledsoe is broke, humiliated, and fleeing the 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 invented as children—a game, he now realizes, they may have never stopped playing.

Very Good

Very good story and likeable characters. Beautifully read by Graham Halstead. What I liked most though, was the way in which Cristopher Bollen's played with words. He has a wonderful sense of humor and a great gift for metaphor and simile. I went back and copied down a few for future plagiarism should I ever write a book,

I gave it an overall 3 because of too many cliched characters ... his silly mother, the ever deplorable American Tourist, and an overly besotted alcoholic Englishman, who is given a role for which he would never have proved capable, for three. Also, it would be nice if just one or two of his characters took some genuine interest in the incredible place in which they find themselves.

Book of Man’s wet dreams

I laughed off the first few metaphors and similes, they were so stupid. But they just got worse. I started recording them as I read because I couldn’t believe it.

“Her irises as black as inner city parks at night.”
“Children breathalyzer testing inflatable rafts.”
“A clotted hairball of possible escape routes.”
“Greek letters are littered across the white, like match sticks dropped randomly in the snow.”
“I see her eyes are blurry with tears, like rain on airplane windows.”
“Half of the paper catches fire. A miniature hindanburg hanging from his lips.”

I can’t.

Beyond that, it was just a bunch of men doing stupid things. Women are not accurately portrayed. My least favorite part is how Ian just assumes he can have sex with everyone and anyone. He just decides to have sex with Louise one night, like she was just WAITING for him to have sex with her. “I’m not going to have sex with her tonight, I’m too tired.” That’s like the first night he saw her again. Ridiculous. The whole thing is like that, beautiful people, lots of money, your best friend goes missing... how do you inherit all his money? The end is lackluster. Ian figures everything out with no fanfare. Such a waste of time!