Christopher Bollen

An O Magazine Best Book of the Year “Stylish… a compelling take on the eternal question of how good people morph into criminals. Terrific.”—People, Book of the Week From the author of The Destroyers comes an "intricately plotted and elegantly structured" (Newsday) story of intrigue and deception, set in contemporary Venice and featuring a young American couple who have set their sights on a risky con. When Nick Brink and his boyfriend Clay Guillory meet up on the Grand Canal in Venice, they have a plan in mind—and it doesn’t involve a vacation. Nick and Clay are running away from their turbulent lives in New York City, each desperate for a happier, freer future someplace else. Their method of escape? Selling a collection of counterfeit antiques to a brash, unsuspecting American living out his retirement years in a grand palazzo. With Clay’s smarts and Nick’s charm, their scheme is sure to succeed. As it turns out, tricking a millionaire out of money isn’t as easy as it seems, especially when Clay and Nick let greed get the best of them. As Nick falls under the spell of the city’s decrepit magic, Clay comes to terms with personal loss and the price of letting go of the past. Their future awaits, but it is built on disastrous deceits, and more than one life stands in the way of their dreams. A Beautiful Crime is a twisty grifter novel with a thriller running through its veins. But it is also a meditation on love, class, race, sexuality, and the legacy of bohemian culture. Tacking between Venice’s soaring aesthetic beauty and its imminent tourist-riddled collapse, Bollen delivers a "brilliantly conceived international crime story" (Good Morning America).

A Novel

A Beautiful Crime

Amazon Best Mystery of 2015 A gripping novel of culture clash and murder: as summer draws to a close, a small Long Island town is gripped by a series of mysterious deaths—and one young man, a loner taken in by a local, tries to piece together the crimes before his own time runs out. Orient is an isolated town on the north fork of Long Island, its future as a historic village newly threatened by the arrival of wealthy transplants from Manhattan—many of them artists. One late summer morning, the body of a local caretaker is found in the open water; the same day, a monstrous animal corpse is found on the beach, presumed a casualty from a nearby research lab. With rumors flying, eyes turn to Mills Chevern—a tumbleweed orphan newly arrived in town from the west with no ties and a hazy history. As the deaths continue and fear in town escalates, Mills is enlisted by Beth, an Orient native in retreat from Manhattan, to help her uncover the truth. With the clock ticking, Mills and Beth struggle to find answers, faced with a killer they may not be able to outsmart. Rich with character and incident, yet deeply suspenseful, Orient marks the emergence of a novelist of enormous talent.

Orient

An Esquire Best Book of the Year A Paste Best Novel 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, Boston Herald, New York Social Diary, Library Journal, Bookstr, Kirkus “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 “The Destroyers is one superb novel, a tightly woven and fast-moving narrative set in beautifully crafted prose. A read-all-night of a book.” —Alan Furst, author of A Hero of France 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.

The Destroyers

Lost Americans

Havoc

"Joseph Guiteau is a working actor who moved to New York to escape a tragic family history in the Midwest. Wandering through a city transformed by the attacks of September 2001, he frequents gatherings of conspiracy groups, trying to make sense of world events and his own personal history. Looming over his life is a secret that threatens to undermine his new marriage to Del, a snake expert at a city park, whose work visa is the only thread keeping her from deportation back to her native Greece.  The new marriage influences the lives of those around them: William, a dark and troubled actor whose sanity is fading as quickly as his career, leading him to perform increasingly desperate acts; Madi, a young entrepreneur who will have to face the moral complications of a business made successful by the outsourcing of American jobs to India; and her brother Raj, Del's former lover, a promising photographer whose work details the empty rooms of an increasingly alienated city.  Christopher Bollen's first novel captures the atmosphere of anxiety and loss that exists in Manhattan. It is a story of the city itself, and the interconnected lives of those attempting to navigate both Manhattan and their own mortality. "--

a novel

Lightning people

« Extraordinaire. Aussi enivrant que menaçant. Comme un rasoir enveloppé dans du satin. » A.J. Finn, auteur de La Femme à la fenêtre. Nick est un jeune New-Yorkais travaillant chez le meilleur orfèvre de la ville. Clay est un Afro-Américain dont l’amant très fortuné et bien plus âgé vient de décéder, lui laissant une immense collection d’argenterie. Voici le point de rencontre des deux hommes qui tombent non seulement amoureux au premier regard mais se laissent entraîner par la tentation d’une grande arnaque imaginée par Clay : partir à Venise où réside un grand collectionneur américain d’objets en argent, et essayer de lui vendre au prix fort une partie des pièces du défunt qui ne sont pas authentifiables... C’est ainsi que Nick et Clay se retrouvent à Venise incognito. Nick y joue l’appât pour charmer le collectionneur tandis que Clay devient le cerveau de l’opération, qui finit vite par très mal tourner... Un roman haletant mêlant avidité et faux-semblants, aveuglement et trahison, passion amoureuse et innocence, le tout dans un décor spectaculaire de beauté.

Un si joli crime

Când sosește pe insula grecească Patmos, falit și umilit, Ian Bledsoe fuge de căderea emoțională și financiară provocată de moartea tatălui său. Prietenul lui din copilărie, Charlie – bogat, exuberant și bucurându‐se de succesul noii sale afaceri de pe insulă – ar putea fi ultima sa speranță. La început, Patmos pare a fi un vis – zile lungi de stat la soare pe iahtul lui Charlie și reapariția unei prietene din trecutul lui Ian –, iar Charlie îi oferă cu ușurință lui Ian colacul de salvare de care are atâta nevoie. Dar, ca și Charlie însuși, această insulă frumoasă are un secret întunecat și nu trece mult timp până când visul începe să se sfărâme. Când Charlie dispare brusc, Ian se trezește prins în capcana unui șir de înșelăciuni. Iar pe măsură ce încearcă să‐și revină din agitația lăsată în urmă de prietenul său, i se amintește de un joc imaginar numit „Distrugătorii“ pe care îl jucau în copilărie – un joc pe care, își dă seama acum, este posibil să nu fi încetat niciodată să‐l joace. O odisee fascinantă și o dramă captivantă, impresionantă, Prietenie trădată este o poveste vie și plină de suspans despre identitate, putere și soartă, tați și fii, reinventare de sine și autoamăgire, spusă de un scriitor aflat la apogeul forței sale creative. „O combinație egală de Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith și F. Scott Fitzgerald, Prietenie trădată este o carte în același timp lirică și plină de suspans, scrisă îngrijit și atrăgătoare.“ GARTH GREENWELL „Prietenie trădată este un roman superb, cu o narațiune bine țesută și rapidă, impregnată de o scriitură elegantă. O carte de citit într-o noapte.“ ALAN FURST

Prietenie tradata

¿QUÉ MEJOR LUGAR QUE VENECIA PARA ESTAFAR A UN COLECCIONISTA DE ARTE MILLONARIO? El joven y seductor Nick Brink se cita con su novio Clay Guillory en Venecia después de dejar atrás una vida insatisfactoria en Nueva York. En tan bello como decadente escenario pretenden llevar a cabo una única estafa que debería solucionarles la existencia después de poner tierra de por medio. Tan solo tienen que venderle una colección de antigüedades falsificadas a un pomposo millonario que disfruta de su jubilación en un imponente palazzo veneciano. El plan urdido por Clay es sencillo en apariencia, aunque ponerlo en práctica requerirá mantenerse alerta ante cualquier imprevisto y no incurrir en el mínimo error. Pero no siempre las víctimas son tan incautas como imaginámos, ni los guiones se cumplen a rajatabla, ni la avaricia se puede mantener a raya.

Un crimen muy bello

Capturing the atmosphere of anxiety and loss that exists in Manhattan, this is a story of the city itself, and the interconnected lives of those attempting to navigate both Manhattan and their own mortality. Joseph Guiteau is a working actor who moved to New York to escape a tragic family history in the Midwest. Wandering through a city transformed by the attacks of September 2001, he frequents gatherings of conspiracy groups, trying to make sense of world events and his own personal history. Looming over his life is a secret that threatens to undermine his new marriage to Del, a snake expert at a city park, whose work visa is the only thread keeping her from deportation back to her native Greece. The new marriage influences the lives of those around them: William, a dark and troubled actor whose sanity is fading as quickly as his career, leading him to perform increasingly desperate acts; Madi, a young entrepreneur who will have to face the moral complications of a business made successful by the outsourcing of American jobs to India; and her brother Raj, Del’s former lover, a promising photographer whose work details the empty rooms of an increasingly alienated city.

Christopher Bollen

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