The Destroyers,Christopher Bollen

A complex story set against the beautiful backdrop of a Greek island

 I took this book along with me on my recent trip to Greece because it is set on one of the Greek islands, Patmos, and because I anticipated a compelling read. Although we did not visit that particular island, we saw Santorini, which provided ample visuals for the large cruise ships docked off shore and the crowded warren of pedestrian streets through the village cut into the side of the hill that are portrayed in the novel. Located in the Aegean nearer to Turkey than Greece, Patmos is a small island most famous for being the site of the vision given to John in the New Testament Book of Revelation.  As such, Patmos has become a destination for Christian pilgrims who come to tour the cave and several monasteries.  

It is against this backdrop that the story begins.  Ian Bledsoe arrives on the island in a move of desperation; he’s lost his job, been disinherited and is unsettled by the recent death of his father.  His childhood friend, Charlie Konstantinou, now lives on Patmos and is running a rental yacht business, and it is to Charlie that Ian flees in search of financial support for a new business venture and friendly emotional support. The story flashes back periodically to the boys’ adolescence in Manhattan.  The sons of rich men, they live on the upper east side and attend chichi private schools, but both itch to become self-made men rather than glide on the coattails of their family wealth.  Ian, in particular, is more interested in philanthropic causes and gets himself in trouble when he becomes involved with employees of his family’s baby food company who expose the horrific working conditions and less than sanitary products of the company’s Panamanian factory.  

Significant to these flashbacks is Ian’s recall of an imaginary game that he and Charlie played endlessly, the titular “Destroyers.”  One of them begins the game:  “You’re in the Buckland cafeteria when six gunmen enter.” The other responds, “I dive below the table.”  The first one says, Gunmen spray bullets under the table.”  (14)  The game continues with them taking turns, improvising “weapons and shields and intricate booby traps constructed out of Old Masters paintings or jugs of crab salad” (15).  In Ian’s recall of the game, he comments, “It was Charlie’s tendency to make bad decisions, as if attracted to the deadest of ends and yet still expecting to escape without a scratch” (15).  This sentiment proves to be significant foreshadowing.

Bollen creates a memorable cast of characters on Patmos among whom there are various tensions.  There’s Charlie and his live-in girlfriend, Sonny, a gorgeous former actress, who wants to marry Charlie and bring her 7 year old daughter to live with them, something Charlie is hesitant to do.  Charlie’s cousin, Rasym, and his boyfriend, Adrian, are visiting as is Louise, a college fling of Ian’s who is, strangely, seemingly interested in rekindling their romance.  Rasym wants Charlie to bring him into his business, a move Charlie is resisting.  Miles, another friend from adolescence who knows Charlie more because of his family’s vacation home on Patmos, hangs around the periphery, expressing an obvious interest in Sonny that also riles Charlie.  And then there is the Greek family that has worked for the Konstantinous for several generations; the parents are loyal to the family while the younger generation yearns to escape the provincial life on the island.  Secondary characters include the spiritual hippies who live on the beach, enjoying drink, drugs and sex.  As in reality, there are refugees washing up in rubber rafts, some dead and some alive, fleeing their war-torn countries but generally unwelcome in Greece.  

The present day plot takes off when Charlie tells Ian that he is going to be away for a few days on a business trip in Turkey and he doesn’t want others to know he is gone; he enlists Ian to cover for him so that others, particularly Sonny, think he is spending alone time on his yacht.  When Charlie doesn’t return, Ian becomes alarmed both by his absence as well as by the lies Ian has told various people regarding Charlie’s whereabouts.  The situation grows darker as other events unfold and no one knows whether Charlie is a victim or a perpetrator.  

Bollen explores the lure of wealth and the conflicts that arise around money – both having more than enough and the opposite, not having enough.  He also asks readers to consider the intersection of morality, self-interest and loyalty to others.  How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to do what is right?