Creation Lake

Starred review from June 17, 2024
An undercover agent embeds with radical French environmentalists in this scintillating story of activism and espionage from Kushner (The Mars Room).
Sadie Smith, a former FBI agent who lost her job after she was accused of entrapment, takes an assignment from unidentified contacts in the private sector. Her mission is to infiltrate the subversive commune Le Moulin, which is led by activist Pascal Balmy and is suspected of having destroyed a set of excavators at a reservoir construction site. Le Moulin’s ideas derive from their elderly mentor, Bruno Lacombe, who has spent the past 12 years living in caves. Bruno emerges from time to time to communicate with the group by email, but none of the characters see him in person. In Paris, Sadie seduces a filmmaker friend of Pascal’s to secure an introduction to him. Kushner intersperses Sadie’s tale with Bruno’s colorful claims, such as the alleged superiority of the Neanderthals (their square jaw was a “sunk cost”) and the existence of mythological creatures like Bigfoot (“We are not alone”). Eventually, Sadie learns of the group’s plans to protest a local fair, and she
approaches the conclusion of her assignment with alarming amorality. Most of the narrative is dedicated to the activists’ philosophizing and Sadie’s gimlet-eyed observations, which Kushner magically weaves together (“People tell themselves, strenuously, that they believe in this or that political position,” Sadie muses. “But the deeper motivation for their rhetoric... is to shore up their own identity”). Readers will be captivated. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House.

December 6, 2024

Kushner follows her novel about incarcerated women, The Mars Room, with the story of an acerbic secret agent. Thirty-four-year-old Sadie Smith (an alias) doesn't technically work for any government since a successful entrapment defense hamstrung her last assignment with federal contacts. Even so, she is tasked with infiltrating a French anarchist collective, employing her indisputable facility with subterfuge, her flexible moral compass, and her keen insight in the process. Sadie spies on emails from activist Bruno Lacombe, searching for hints of the group's plans while being unconsciously affected by his empathetic, eloquent musing on the region's history of persecution and his childhood during World War II. Her sense of connection to Lacombe subverts her motivation even as she aims to subvert the leftists he's writing to, but Sadie's shadowy employers demand results, creating a tension that grips listeners to the end. Sadie matches her sharp observations with cutting judgment that Kushner, who also narrates the audiobook, delivers in wry Californian upspeak, befitting a displaced American in rural France. With unhurried clarity, Kushner renders her descriptive prose accessible while evoking her protagonist's disdainful lack of urgency. VERDICT An irresistibly unlikeable protagonist and lush prose recommend this literary neo-noir for most libraries.--Lauren Kage

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