Comments T.C. Boyles novels persistently measure the distance between idealists visions and how far human nature keeps them from the mark. As such, his work is steeped in irony and hypocrisy , from John Harvey Kelloggs quest for clean living through breakfast cereal (among other remedies ) in Boyles 1993 breakthrough The Road To Wellville to California hippies bringing their communal navet to Alaska in 2003s superb Drop City . So it follows that his unsparing assessment of human nature would bleed into the savagery of actual nature in When The Killings Done, a sprawling account of rival environmental groups at war over how best to preserve endangered wildlife . As the novel unfolds , Boyle reveals a battle that isnt just about competing philosophies , but extends into the messier business of family histories and personal animus . Theres bloodletting of many kinds in When The Killings Done, but no such thing as a clean shot. Beautifully interweaving personal and ecological history with a fierce, high-stakes clash in the present, Boyle follows the drama surrounding the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara , a chain so renowned for its diversity that its referred to as Californias answer to the Galapagos . With human-introduced invasive species like black rats and feral pigs threatening to eradicate other animals on the islands , the National Parks Service is taking drastic action to obliterate the interlopers. Boyle introduces two formidable adversaries in Alma Boyd Takesue, a coolly rational National Parks Service biologist , and Dave LaJoy, a wealthy entrepreneur who heads up For The Protection Of Animals , a group that flatly opposes animal-killing for any purpose . As the years pass, their feud amplifies to the point where the fate of the wildlife seems almost secondary to their impulse to destroy each other. As much as Boyle tries to hold Alma and Dave in balance, Almas clinical distance from a necessary slaughter seems far nobler and more identifiable than Daves reckless abandon . Dave is the worst of two worlds: a dreadlocked faux-hippie whos made a fortune on high-end electronics, has no compunction about boorishly rejecting $300 bottles of wine , and cares about animals so long as they dont make pockmarks on his lawn . If Boyle intended to suggest any ambiguity on whose path is wisest, he failed , but When The Killings Done nonetheless feels true to its characters and startlingly clear-eyed in its assessment of a tough environmental issue . The books strongest passages reveal a Werner Herzog-esque view of the natural and unnatural world, from predatory ravens dive-bombing flocks of sheep to the blood sport of courtroom showdowns and organized sabotage . Ideals dont survive in those arenas ; its kill or be killed .