T.C. Boyle’s thirteenth novel returns to the politics of his earlier works, such as the masterful The Tortilla Curtain (1995). When the Killing’s Done, inspired by true events, looks at the conflict between animal rights activists and preservationists on California’s Channel Islands, off Santa Barbara (where Boyle lives) The action revolves around a plan to rid uninhabited Anacapa Island of its teeming rat population to make room for the island’s native ground-nesting birds - followed by a second, more high stakes campaign to rid neighbouring Santa Cruz of its feral pigs.

The characters at the heart of hte conflict are notorious environmental activists Dave La-Joy and Anise Reed, and Alma Boyd Takesue of the National Park Service. Dreadlocked, eternally angry, Dave is in face the wealthy owner of a yacht, a BMW, and a chain of electronics stores - driven not by the love of animals so much as a fierce preference for them over humans. (One especially loathsome and amusing scene shows Dave’s lack of self-awareness, as he boorishly orders and rejects a series of luxury wines on a first date.) His folk-singer girlfriend Anise has her own motivations too - she grew up on a sheep ranch on Santa Cruz island, protecting lambs from wild predators, and was rudely transplanted to the mainland as a teenager. Even Alma, by far the most sympathetic of the trio, has hidden motives: her grandmother (pregnant with her mother) was once the sole survivor of a shipwreck on Anacapa, where she had to share food and shelter with rats until rescue arrived.

Boyle is a terrific storyteller, weaving his ideas cleverly into his eventful narrative (laced with dark wit) and intricately setting up the multi-layered entanglements between his characters. A thought-provoking novel that delves into the complexities of environmental politics, without making definite conclusions.

Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly.