CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

Four stories merge into one in this tale of politics and greed set in the Indian Ocean.

No one can trust anyone in this incendiary tale of murder, espionage, and soulless profiteering. In his second novel, Lutz, a founder of the Los Angeles Review of Books, presents four lonely characters who want more from life but don’t know how to get it. Mónica, from Spain, was convicted of killing her sexually abusive stepfather when she was a teen. When she grabs the attention of a mysterious stranger, she’s freed from prison with the understanding that she’ll be trained as an assassin. Much like the conniving Villanelle in Killing Eve—whom her anonymous boss often references—she becomes a ruthless, untraceable killer. Alain screwed up his life in Madagascar by betraying his wife and getting his girlfriend pregnant. He joins the French Foreign Legion but finds his assignment tedious and thinks about going AWOL. Skye, who’s good at manipulating people, may or may not be a spy, and she could be working for anyone including the Americans, the Chinese, or the Russians. Frank, an American, is the ultimate loner, sailing his boat around the world avoiding human companionship. He accidentally made a lot of money but at the cost of multiple lives. The four will be drawn together to confront a shared enemy as the story sails toward a bloody, firefight-drenched conclusion on the Chagos Archipelago. This novel will appeal to readers who like a slow burn, a deep dive into characters’ hearts and minds, and whose curiosity is piqued by stories involving racism and privilege. It’s also a profoundly disturbing tale about the callous disregard for the biodiversity of land masses like Chagos that are often exploited in get-rich-quick schemes.

An eco-thriller that builds toward an explosive conclusion.