Building Eden is Matthys Levy's first novel, a thriller with subject matter he is intimately familiar with. A gifted architect, Philip Corta, has the opportunity of a lifetime, the design of a major office/residential complex on New York's West Side, The Eden Center. The project endures many major setbacks resulting from the arrogance and shallow-minded behavior of the developer, corruption in City Hall, sabotage and murder by organized criminals, and recurring uncertainties about financing. Despite these and other setbacks, the project advances on schedule through 2001 until the events of 9/11 lead to personal tragedy and a change of direction that affects the project and all of the members of the design/construction team.