''The Destroyers'' is a 2017

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Su ...

Christopher Bollen Christopher Bollen (born November 26, 1975) is an American novelist and magazine writer/editor who lives in New York City. Describing his novels, ''The Daily Telegraph'' notes that "Bollen writes expansive, psychologically probing novels in the m ...

. It is Bollen's third novel, following '' Lightning People'' (2011) and ''

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

'' (2015). The novel was first published in the United States by

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Il ...

on June 27, 2017. The plot follows Ian Bledsoe, who travels to

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northernmos ...

to seek help from his childhood friend, Charlie Konstantinou, and finds himself having to handle the fallout from Charlie's sudden and mysterious disappearance. Critical reception was mixed. Thad Ziolkowski of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described it as an "impressive literary thriller" and praised Bollen's depictions of Greece, but criticized one of the subplots as "clumsy". A reviewer for ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' commented that the ending felt rushed, but commended the characters' portrayals and detailed backgrounds.

References

2017 American novels American thriller novels HarperCollins books Novels by Christopher Bollen Novels set in Greece {{2010s-thriller-novel-stub