T.C. Boyle's 'When the Killing's Done'

T.C. Boyle lives up near Santa Barbara and his upcoming novel is set out on the Channel Islands, which sometimes seem to loom so close to the shore from up there. The islands give him the location for "a dramatic showdown between two factions of environmentalists, each utterly convinced of their beliefs in preserving the islands and the natural world." From Live Talks L.A., which has a March 3 event scheduled at Track 16 Gallery:

Echoing back to his bestselling 1995 novel "The Tortilla Curtain," "When the Killing’s Done" poses two sets of characters against each other—neither of whom can simply be dismissed as the “villain.” On the one side is Alma Boyd Takesue, a National Park Service biologist who is spearheading her team’s effort to save the island’s endangered native creatures from invasive species like rats and feral pigs by calling in hunters to eliminate them. On the other side is David La Joy, a dreadlocked BMW-driving local businessman, and his lover, the folksinger Anise Reed, who are fiercely opposed to killing any species whatsoever and will go to any lengths to subvert the plans of Alma and her colleagues.