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