Destroyers

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.

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 invented 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 and fate, fathers and sons, and self-invention and self-deception, from a writer at the very height of his powers.