Bollen was the editor-in-chief of
Interview from early 2008 to mid-2009, after serving as editor-in-chief of
V. After stepping down as editor-in-chief, he continued on as editor-at-large of
Interview. On May 21, 2018, the publication ceased operations completely after nearly 50 years. Bollen also writes about art and culture at other publications like
Artforum and
The New York Times.
Novels Bollen published his first novel,
Lightning People, in 2011.
Lightning People is about downtown New York City in 2007. His second novel is titled
Orient, a thriller published in May 2015 by
HarperCollins named after
Orient, New York (the tip of the
North Fork of
Long Island). The
Los Angeles Times writes that
Orient "might well be this summer's most ambitious thriller or this summer's most thrilling work of literary fiction." The Times further describes it as a "juicy mystery at the tip of Long Island at summer's end, when the season's fleeting pleasures have blown away, revealing the fractured and fractious year-round community that remains behind when the casual visitors have returned to the relative safety of New York City." "evoking a seductive mood of longing mixed with regret." It was honoured with The Fitzgerald Award in France. His fourth novel,
A Beautiful Crime, was published in January 2020 by HarperCollins. The novel deals with two young gay men involved in a heist in contemporary Venice, Italy. It was a Best Book of the year 2020 by
Oprah Magazine. The novel went on to be a finalist for the 2020
Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Bollen's short story "SWAJ", a queer retelling of Peter Benchley's
Jaws published in the
Brooklyn Rail, was selected for inclusion in 2021's
The Best American Mystery and Suspense. Bollen's fifth novel,
The Lost Americans, was published in March 2023 by HarperCollins. Set in Cairo, it deals with the mysterious death of a weapons defense contractor and his sister's attempt to solve the mystery of his murder. Bollen's portrayal of a gay Egyptian character during the current political climate received particular praise.
New York Times called it "sobering, shocking," "gripping and genuinely moving. The novel was a finalist for the 2024
Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ Crime Writing. Bollen was a jurist for the 2023
PEN/Faulker Award for Fiction, won by Yiyun Li Bollen's sixth novel,
Havoc, was published in December 2024 HarperCollins. It revolves around the deteriorating sanity of an 81-year-old American widow in a hotel in
Luxor, Egypt during the end of the pandemic. She develops an acrimonious relationship with an 8-year-old boy that leads to murder.
Havoc was a best thriller of 2024 by the
New York Times. The novel was a finalist for the 2025
Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the
Ohioana Library's Ohio Book Award for fiction. ==References==