ERADICATION by Jonathan Miles
Man vs Nature. Man vs Beast. Man vs Goat. Like Jack London and David Vann before him, Jonathan Miles knows the great collision point of masculinity, solitude, and existential eco-terror. In Eradication, Adi - broken by the death of his son and collapse of his marriage - signs up to rid a remote island of its goats. It seems pretty straightforward - the goats have decimated the local vegetation and destroyed the ecosystem. A bunch of endangered animals now sit on the brink of extinction.
At first, Adi sucks at the job. He has no experience. Can’t really shoot a gun. He’s just here to escape. But getting the hang of it presents its own issues. He must face the reality not only of what it means to kill but also to consume meat (it’s not as preachy as it sounds). He befriends an injured bird and a rat. And some goats. Then faces down two psycho yahoos straight out of Deliverance who make a… killing… slicing the fins off live sharks.
In lesser hands this could have been a soapbox of ham-fisted platitudes. But Eradication is damn good - taut, chilling, moving and packed with moments of wonder.
Eradication by Jonathan Miles
Doubleday, 2026
159 pages