Orient
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Suspenseful and haunting, Bollen's thrilling novel Orientis a provocative take on the troubled American dream, in the vein of Lionel Shriver or AM Homes.
At the eastern edge of Long Island, far from the hustle of New York City, stands Orient, a village that has been home to a few families for hundreds of years and is now - reluctantly - opening up to wealthy weekenders and artists from the city.
On the last day of summer, a young man with a hazy past appears, and, not long after his arrival comes a series of events that shatters the peace in this isolated community. A strange, twisted creature washes ashore on the Sound and, soon after, a human corpse is found floating in the water. An elderly woman dies in bizarre circumstances and a house fire erupts out of nowhere. Fear and suspicion mount until everyone's secrets threaten to be exposed. But who is Mills Chevern? What is his real name and why is he here? As all eyes shift towards the orphan drifter, Mills elicits the support of Beth Shepherd, an Orient native who is hiding a secret of her own.
'A compelling novel of tragic suspense. Bollen has a gift for tightly drawn characters and an ominous sense of place' AM Homes
'A taut and elegant suspenseabout strangers and strangeness, suspicion and forgiveness, reinvention and confession' Joshua Ferris
'Secrets, parochial gossiping, casual xenophobia, proximity to a large water and a decent body count: what more could you need from a thriller. Bollen's rich novel has all the right ingredients and he serves them up suspensefully as he tears down his version of the American dream' Fiona Wilson, The Times
'Bollen writes expansive, psychologically probing novels in the manner of Updike, Eugenides and Franzen …The generic and literary pleasures of this novel sit well together and are of the highest order' Jake Kerridge, Daily Telegraph
'Bollen's elegant portrayal of adultery and envy on American's East Coast can't fail to recall John Updike' John Dugdale, Sunday Times
'Deeply seductive … Orientis like Donna Tartt novelising Twin Peakswhile F. Scott Fitzgerald fixes cocktails' John O'Connell, Guardian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An affluent Long Island town is the setting for secret affairs and multiple murders in Bollen's big and ambitious second novel (after Lightning People). The catalyst for all of these misdeeds is a young "foster-care kid" named Mills Chevern, who finds a surrogate mother in Beth Shepherd, lifelong resident and failed artist. When local handyman Jeff Trader washes up on shore with a rope around his neck, foul play is suspected. Adding fuel to the fire is a big creepy creature, resembling a whale but black and disfigured so as to be unrecognizable, found on a beach. Locals connect these events to suspected nefarious doings by the Orient Historical Board and a nearby chemical plant. Wealthy dowager Magdalena convinces Beth to check out Jeff's place for evidence of murder; when she visits the old woman to report what she's found, she learns that Magdalena is dead. Beth begins investigating in earnest, with Mills as her wingman. Bollen is at his best when incisively depicting the self-delusions and prejudices of this remote community. Though packed with plot, this expansive novel falls a bit flat when all's said and done.
