LIGHTNING PEOPLE is a compelling story of the complexities of life in the big city; the alienation, uncertainty, and sacrifices inherent in trying to survive in an impersonal yet captivating world...the kind of world that would lead you to stand at the top of a tall building in a lightning storm in an effort to recapture something familiar and personal.
Post-9/11 New York City is a strong supporting player in this tale of Joseph Guiteau and his new wife Delphine Kousavos who rushed them in to marriage for a green card and to escape her dreary job at a city park. Joseph, a working actor, is afraid that a tragic family history is about to catch up with him. Joseph, trying to make sense of his personal history and the world he now lives in, attends gatherings of conspiracy groups in between auditions and spending time with Del. We also get to know those whose lives intersect with Joseph and Del: Madi, conflicted entrepreneur and Del's best friend, her brother Raj, a photographer and Del's former lover, and William, an actor who finds desperation setting in as his career is fading.
LIGHTNING PEOPLE,Christopher Bollen's debut novel, is a beautifully crafted story full of intriguing characters and unpredictable plot twists. Mr. Bollen has an almost lyrical writing style that he uses to craft strong images of both the characters and the city they inhabit. The story is rich with the mystery revolving around the characters: their past, their motivations, and the choices they will make to direct their futures. Underlying this mystery is a battle between destiny and free-will, each character to some extent struggles between what must be and what could be.
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. It is a story of the city itself, and the interconnected lives of those attempting to navigate both Manhattan and their own mortality.
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