A young woman finds herself in the crosshairs of powerful and very dangerous enemies when she travels to Cairo to uncover the truth about her brother's mysterious death in this smart, atmospheric, and propulsive literary thriller from the acclaimed author of A Beautiful Crime and Orient "Bollen writes expansive, psychologically probing novels in the manner of Updike, Eugenides and Franzen, but he is also an avowed disciple of Agatha Christie."--Daily Telegraph (UK) When the lifeless body of Eric Castle, a weapons technician for a major American defense contractor, is found under his hotel balcony, both his employer and the Egyptian authorities quickly declare his death a suicide. But the dead man's sister, Cate, doesn't believe Eric took his own life and is determined to get to the truth. Traveling to Egypt she begins to piece together her brother's life in Cairo with the help of a handsome, young, gay Egyptian man named Omar, who yearns to escape the brutality of his nation's harsh, restrictive government. Unfortunately, Cate's quest raises more questions--and problems--than she ever imagined, as she takes on not only the arms company's top brass but the Egyptian military, secret police, and a slew of American expats with their own reasons to keep the dead buried once and for all. Soon she's in over her head, and it's not clear if either she or Omar will get out alive. This riveting thriller of set in loud, boisterous Cairo of Americans lost and found showcases Bollen's depth of characterization and haunting descriptive powers.

'The Destroyers is a smart, sophisticated literary thriller; for all its originality, it invokes the shades of Lawrence Durrell and Graham Greene' Jay McInerney, author of Bright, Precious Days 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 ... Ian Bledsoe is on the run, broke and humiliated, fleeing the emotional and financial fallout of his father's death. His childhood friend Charlie - rich, exuberant and basking in life on the Greek island of Patmos - is his last hope. At first, Patmos is like a dream - sun-soaked days on Charlie's yacht and the reappearance of a girlfriend from Ian's past - and Charlie readily offers the lifeline he desperately needs. But, like Charlie himself, this beautiful island conceals a darkness beneath. When he vanishes leaving behind his murky business affairs, Ian finds himself caught in a terrifying labyrinth of deceits. As boys, the pair played a game called Destroyers - a game, he now realizes, they may never have stopped playing. Expansive, vivid and suspenseful, in the vein of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, The Destroyers is a mesmerizing drama of power and fate, fathers and sons, self-invention and self-deception. '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 manages to be both fast-paced and contemplative, an excellent entertainment and also something more lasting, a haunting meditation on friendship and desperation' Guardian, Best Holiday Reads of 2017

Artists II is the second volume of Jason Schmidt's ongoing photographic documentation of today's most significant artists. From young to old, emerging to career peaking, world famous or as-of-yet-known, the creative forces that the New York-based photographer has managed to capture over a period of 12 years has come to serve as perhaps the most incisive look into the art world as it stands today. Artists II captures 166 artists, including John Baldessari, Ai Weiwei, Glenn Ligon and Cindy Sherman, in their studios or work environments and the resultant images reveal the context in which the art was made or conceived and the artists in their most intimate moment--in the process of creation. A text by each artist in their own words accompanies each photograph: some are literal descriptions of the encounter, others are poetic or enigmatic; each is a window into their artistic methods and perspectives. The strength of this artists series lies not solely in its individual compositions but in its value as a comprehensive archive of contemporary artistic practice. Situated between portraiture and landscape, Schmidt's photographs show art and artist in a constant moment of transformation.

The Psycho-Geography of Our Urban Existence Since the 1990s, artist and filmmaker Sarah Morris has created a body of work that has been inspired by her interest in the psychology of urban environments. Her complex abstractions, which derive their vivid colors from each city’s unique vocabulary and palette, trace the social and bureaucratic topologies of contemporary cities to reveal the architecturally encoded politics. In her films—a parallel practice intimately intertwined with her painting—Morris further explores the psycho-geography and the dynamic nature of cities in flux through multi-layered and fragmented narratives. She purposely leaves her work open for interpretation, conveying a heightened sense to the viewer of both our complicity in a larger system and an increasingly disorienting experience of modern urban existence. Featuring more than 60 paintings, including impressions of the 15 films to date, drawings, as well as an in-depth interview with the artist and two major essays, the catalogue offers the first comprehensive overview of Morris’s oeuvre.

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."