When the Killing's Done

A Novel

By: T. C. Boyle

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of The Women comes an action-packed adventure about endangered animals and those who would protect them.

Principally set on the wild and sparsely inhabited Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, T. C. Boyle’s powerful new novel combines pulse-pounding adventure with a socially conscious, richly humane tale regarding the dominion we attempt to exert, for better or worse, over the natural world.

Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist who is spearheading the efforts to save the islands’ endangered native creatures from invasive species like rats and feral pigs, which, in her view, must be eliminated. Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is a dreadlocked local businessman who, along with his lover, the folksinger 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’s grandmother, Beverly, who was the sole survivor of a 1946 shipwreck in the channel, as well as the tragic story of Anise’s mother, Rita, who in the late 1970s lived and worked on a sheep ranch on Santa Cruz Island.

In dramatizing this collision between protectors of the environment and animal rights activists, Boyle is, in his characteristic fashion, examining one of the essential questions of our time: Who has the right of possession of the land, the waters, the very lives of all the creatures who share this planet with us?

©2011 T. Coraghessan Boyle (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“[Boyle’s] sleek prose yields a tale that is complex, thought-provoking, and darkly funny—everything we have come to expect from him.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Boyle’s great subject is humankind’s blundering relationship with the rest of the living world…Incisive and caustically witty, Boyle is fluent in evolutionary biology and island biogeography, cognizant of the shared emotions of all sentient beings, in awe over nature’s crushing power, and, by turns, bemused and appalled by human perversity. Boyle brings all these powers and concerns to bear as he creates magnetic characters and high suspense, culminating in a piercing vision of our needy, confused, and destructive species thrashing about in the great web of life.” ( Booklist, Starred Review)

“Alma wears the white hat, LaJoy the black, but Boyle lets neither off the hook, showing how nature will always bite back and turn even the best human endeavor to water and dust. ... Boyle makes us laugh and wonder at his dazzling gifts but his comedy is a dark business." ( Los Angeles Times)

Flawed but Good Read

This was my first T. C. Boyle book to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite its rather glaring flaws. A picture is worth a thousand words and in Boyle’s case that picture is very finely focused. If crisp literary description is not your thing, you are likely to finds this book tedious.

Despite all of the fine description these characters remain rather one dimensional and predictable. He seems to set out with a literary device that he does not have patience to fully develop. Two of his characters get the embellishment of lineage. Despite the context of parents and grandparents, these characters remain of rather limited dimension. Furthermore, the author seems to tire of the device and does not stick with it very well.

He sets out on the noble path to show two sides of a complex issue but there, too, he fails. His amazing power of description just does not extend as well to character or context. One side of the story gets many more pages, more context and less villainous characters. Despite himself the author takes a side.

But, for me, his ability to describe, not just the physical world, but perception of it, is well worth the structural problems. In fact, I found it surprising and interesting that he could describe perception so well without emotional complexity. Emotion is viewed through the same objective lens as a foggy coast line.

Worth the effort

An icy narrative lacking the intimacy and high drama of prior yarns. Even the caddish Frank Lloyd Wright ("The Women") exacts more compassion than anyone in this book (except Anise's mother, who disappears). Never completely sold on the science or ethics, which come across muddled. Anthony Heald surely shines, but would have preferred the author himself reading it with less fanfare. Doesn't come close to "The Tortilla Curtain," which put the reader, not wild hogs, in the crosshairs. Does offer the usual, brilliant, unparalleled descriptions and narration one expects from T. C. Boyle, making it worth the effort; but, alas, a rimshot compared to his previous masterworks of moral reckoning.

Worth the time spent

If you want to know what kind of mustard was in the sandwitch, or whether the eggs were runny or semi-hard boiled or how the bark of a eucalyptus tree looks pay close attention, its all here. But the plethora of detail only delays a very good story with great charactors and a noble theme. The one star downgrade is only for having to wade through five minutes of how you run over a squirrel with your car.

Master-crafted writing

Intricately-woven story keeps the reader going and brings out the biases of players on opposite sides in environmental issues in the Channel Islands off the California coast

Hmmmmm...!

I wish T.C. would get out of his maudlin state. I keep reading his books, hoping to find some of the funny dark side of life, like "Drop City," but I guess he is stuck in the dark absurd state. Anyway, it was an okay read and the narrator was good.

Educational and humorous and incredible

T.C. Boyle is one of the most creative imaginative writers this world has known. The way he words some of the most simple mundane things makes me giggle and emphasize. He covers topics that we can walk away with feeling like we actually learned something. This man is truly gifted. At first the narrator drove me crazy with his fast paced downer style. But then by the end, I realize that no one else could have pulled this off better. Just the right personality. Still, though, I wish he would have slowed it down a pace, especially in the beginning while we are still trying to grasp the story.

One of Boyle's best novels

I found this novel to be interesting on many levels -- the way the author weaves the history of the Channel Islands with the stories of the main characters and their families, the struggle to decide what and who is "right", the strength of nature as seen in the power of the ocean and the rain and the will of animals to survive (and of humans to decide and influence that survival). I'm not a fan of Boyle's historical novels (e.g., The Women, Road to Wellville), so I was happy when this more fictional novel came out, and I wasn't disappointed. I compare it to Drop City and Talk Talk as recent favorites from Boyle. I thought the narrator was good, with a bit of cynicism and touch of accent where you would expect it.

Great book, not so great narrator.

I really enjoyed the book, but I did NOT like the narrators voice. It was much too rough and scraggly, even hard to follow at times. Apart from the qualities of the narrators voice he made a good performance at narrating.

The narration diminished the stars

I'm a great fan of T.C. Boyle. I enjoyed the tale and probably would have given it 4 stars, but for the narrator. I find Heald's voice and tone grating, but that actually worked with this somewhat grating subject matter and not very sympathetic characters. However, using that tone of voice when mispronouncing words like "quay" and "dais" just makes him sound pompous and undereducated. Not a good quality in a professional narrator. (Pretty easy to check pronunciation these days with online dictionaries.)

Whoops....

I have not finished listening, but am already distracted because someone didn't proofread or check the continuity. Anise went up the courthouse steps in "all white, down to her red vinyl boots..". and a few minutes later, Dave was ranting about why she was dressed all in black. Must have done a switch in the loo!
That said, I found the subject interesting but it is not a book I would listen to again.