I liked Kushner’s last novel, The Mars Room, but I’m happy to admit that parts of it went over my head. I didn’t understand the tangents involving Thoreau or Ted Kaczynski and thought them pointless. But having finished Creation Lake, I now wonder whether my issues with The Mars Room were a “me” problem.

Sadie Smith—not her real name—is a freelance spy—previously an employee of the FBI, since let go—who has been commissioned by the French Government to infiltrate a group of environmental activists in the French countryside protesting the development of Megabasins that will siphon off groundwater for “Big Agriculture”. And that’s it. That’s the plot. Yes, Sadie details how she infiltrates the group, but the stakes are so low that there’s next to no tension (until the messy climax, where the novel transforms into an episode of Slow Horses).

The joy that comes from reading this novel is all intellectual. In digging into the activists’ motivations, Sadie becomes obsessed with the emails of Bruno Lacombe, a father figure and influence for the activists. Sadie first thinks the emails are coded messages because no one could be that fascinated by Neanderthals.* But the more she reads—relaying Bruno’s words back to us—the more she realises that Bruno’s interest in early man is a critique of modernity, on how we have lost our way. As Sadie burrows down a series of rabbit holes—French Marxism (Guy Debord), cave paintings and the tragic history of the Cagots—she starts to question her lifestyle choices.

Sadie’s atonal voice, matter of fact and exhibiting zero care factor for the people she manipulates almost, but not entirely, hides her insecurities. It’s an interesting portrayal that again speaks to how desensitised we’ve become. Well, some of us. Your reaction to this novel will depend on whether you believe modernity has staying power, like the cave paintings, or whether the last century of art and culture will be forgotten in a morass of misinformation, banned books and scientific ignorance.**

Anyway, good book. Fascinating and chewy. But don’t come for the spy-craft shenanigans.

*Bruno refers to the Neanderthals as “Thals” throughout the novel. Rather distracting for any Doctor Who fan in the audience.

**There’s also the prevailing view that contemporary fiction is mostly shit, cookie-cutter stuff shaped by MFAs and marketing teams. There’s some truth in this. But like all broad generalisations, it ignores some of the extraordinary work still being published.