When the Killing's Done

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “terrifically exciting and unapologetically relevant” (The Washington Post) novel from the award–winning author of The Tortilla Curtain, two activists clash in their attempts to preserve the environment.
 
“A smart and rollicking novel, with suspense and shipwrecks galore . . . Character, science, and history co-evolve marvelously here in a tale of fanaticism gone literally overboard.”—Barbara Kingsolver, The New York Times Book Review
 
Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist who is spearheading the efforts to save the endangered native creatures of California’s Channel Islands from invasive species such as rats and feral pigs. Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is a local businessman who is fiercely opposed to the killing of any animals and will go to any lengths to subvert Alma’s plans. As their confrontation plays out in a series of scenes escalating in violence, drama, and danger, When the Killing’s Done deftly relates a richly humane tale about the dominion we attempt to exert, for better or worse, over the natural world.T. C. Boyle is a novelist and regular contributor to The New Yorker. His novels include World’s End and The Tortilla Curtain, and he has also published numerous collections of short stories. A Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Southern California, he lives in Santa Barbara.