When the Killing's Done

Book 2 of my 2020 Reading Challenge

read from January 1 - 10

When the Killing's Done

by T. C. Boyle

Summary (via the book jacket)

published 2011

Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist who is spearheading the efforts to save the islands' endangered native creatures from invasive species such as rats and feral pigs, which, in her view, must be eliminated. Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is a muscular, dreadlocked local businessman who, along with his inamorata, the folk-singer Anise Reed, is fiercely opposed to the killing of any species whatsoever, and will go to any lengths to subvert the plans of Alma and her colleagues.

Their confrontation plays out in a series of escalating scenes in which these characters violently confront one another, contemplate acts of sabotage, court danger and tempt the awesome destructive power of nature itself. Boyle deepens his story by going back in time to relate the harrowing tale of Alma'a grandmother Beverly, who was the sole survivor of a 1946 shipwreck in the channel, as well as the tragic story of Rita, who in the late 1970s lived and worked on a sheep ranch on Santa Cruz Island.

My Opinion

3 stars

I picked this up on a whim at a used book sale because I thought the title was cool and then when I started to read I discovered it was a signed copy - unexpected bonus.

I'll admit when I picked it up I thought it was going to be a mystery so I was wary reading the description.  Time jumps, multiple characters, and lots of conflict can make a very convoluted story but luckily that was not the case here.  The characters were distinct, the point-of-view switches were clear, and it helped that the sections for each time period were long enough to settle in and get a full story before moving to something else.  This was the kind of book that I enjoyed reading while I was reading it but felt no pressing need to pick it up again once I'd set it down.  I'm not sure how long it would've taken me to read it if I wasn't committing to reading a certain number of pages every day this year.

I didn't agree with all of the characters but there was only one where I didn't at least understand why they made the choices they did.  Dave LaJoy wasn't ambiguous at all and was the "bad guy" from his introduction as someone yelling at waitresses and bums to the end of the book where there was no redemption.  Even his partner Anise earned a little sympathy when hearing her backstory but LaJoy never did.