The Destroyers

A Novel

By: Christopher Bollen

Narrated by: Graham Halstead

Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

When Charlie and I were young, we played a game called Destroyers.... We were sharpening our instincts, jettisoning attachments. We were honing strategies for survival....

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.

©2017 Christopher Bollen (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

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!