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Eradication: A Fable
From acclaimed author Jonathan Miles (“a writer so virtuosic that readers will feel themselves becoming better, more observant people from reading him"—LA Times) comes a blackly comic literary gem in which a broken man confronts a broken world on an uninhabited Pacific island.
Reeling from tragedy, a former jazz musician-turned-schoolteacher named Adi answers a job listing advertising a chance to save the world. The to spend five weeks alone on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora righting an ecological balance that’s gone severely out of whack, with the aim of preserving countless bird and plant species from certain extinction. What follows, however, is anything but balanced. The threats to the once-Edenic island, Adi soon learns, aren’t exactly what his employers said they were—and, complicating things further, he discovers he’s not alone on the island. Fearful for his own life, and for the fate of the island's, Adi spends his sun-drenched days rooting out the true threat to Santa Flora, and, by extension, to the world it occupies—and the desperate steps he must take to eradicate it.
A desert-island meditation on the contours of love and grief and solitude as well as jolt to your emotional core, Eradication is an utterly unforgettable reading experience, a narrative tour de force, and the work of a truly singular imagination. With this fourth work of fiction, Jonathan Miles, “a fluid, confident, and profoundly talented writer” (Dave Eggers) has truly come into his own.
Reeling from tragedy, a former jazz musician-turned-schoolteacher named Adi answers a job listing advertising a chance to save the world. The to spend five weeks alone on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora righting an ecological balance that’s gone severely out of whack, with the aim of preserving countless bird and plant species from certain extinction. What follows, however, is anything but balanced. The threats to the once-Edenic island, Adi soon learns, aren’t exactly what his employers said they were—and, complicating things further, he discovers he’s not alone on the island. Fearful for his own life, and for the fate of the island's, Adi spends his sun-drenched days rooting out the true threat to Santa Flora, and, by extension, to the world it occupies—and the desperate steps he must take to eradicate it.
A desert-island meditation on the contours of love and grief and solitude as well as jolt to your emotional core, Eradication is an utterly unforgettable reading experience, a narrative tour de force, and the work of a truly singular imagination. With this fourth work of fiction, Jonathan Miles, “a fluid, confident, and profoundly talented writer” (Dave Eggers) has truly come into his own.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 10, 2026
162 people are currently reading
6187 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Miles
5 books183 followersJONATHAN MILES is the author of the novels Dear American Airlines and Want Not, both New York Times Notable books, and the novel Anatomy of a Miracle: The True* Story of a Paralyzed Veteran, a Mississippi Convenience Store, a Vatican Investigation, and the Spectacular Perils of Grace, which was a featured selection for the American Library Association’s Book Club Central and is currently in development as a feature film.
Dear American Airlines was named a Best Book of 2008 by the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Amazon.com, and others. It was also a finalist for the QPB New Voices Award, the Borders Original Voices Award, and the Great Lakes Book Award, and has been translated into six languages.
Want Not was named a best book of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, bookish.com, bookriot.com, and litReactor.com, and was a finalist for the 2014 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award in Fiction.
He is a former columnist for the New York Times and has been a contributing editor to a wide range of national magazines including Garden & Gun, where he has served as Books columnist since 2012. His journalism has been included numerous times in the annual Best American Crime Writing and Best American Sports writing anthologies, including his account of competing in the 2005 Dakar Rally, a 5,500-mile race through north Africa.
In 2024 he toured as a multi-instrumentalist in the band of the Grammy-winning artist Jon Batiste. He currently serves as Writer-in-Residence at the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Dear American Airlines was named a Best Book of 2008 by the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Amazon.com, and others. It was also a finalist for the QPB New Voices Award, the Borders Original Voices Award, and the Great Lakes Book Award, and has been translated into six languages.
Want Not was named a best book of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, bookish.com, bookriot.com, and litReactor.com, and was a finalist for the 2014 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award in Fiction.
He is a former columnist for the New York Times and has been a contributing editor to a wide range of national magazines including Garden & Gun, where he has served as Books columnist since 2012. His journalism has been included numerous times in the annual Best American Crime Writing and Best American Sports writing anthologies, including his account of competing in the 2005 Dakar Rally, a 5,500-mile race through north Africa.
In 2024 he toured as a multi-instrumentalist in the band of the Grammy-winning artist Jon Batiste. He currently serves as Writer-in-Residence at the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 260 reviews
February 15, 2026
Claire Keegan, George Orwell, James Baldwin, Sigrid Nunez, and F. Scott Fitzgerald have all written breathtakingly brilliant short novels. Add to that list Jonathan Miles with his new book, ERADICATION. As an animal lover, I read this tale enrapt; as someone who loves a sly sense of humor in a book, I found myself nodding and smiling; and as a reader who devours dread in a book with the same urgency I do chocolate (and I really love chocolate), I was left blissful and sated. The bare bones of the story are this: a young father (Adi) grieving for the loss of his son, his marriage obliterated by the child's sudden death, leaves the school where he teaches to take on a new task. Suddenly, he's a man (seemingly) alone on an island, with five weeks' provisions, one rifle, and a lot of ammunition. There are 4,000 goats on the island and. . .he's not a hunter. Or a killer. But the goats are an invasive species and don't belong, and they are driving the island's natural flora and fauna into extinction, and. . .and. . .and you see Adi's horrifying dilemma. Do not be scared of this book, my animal loving friends. Follow Adi to the island and join him as your heart rises and falls with him. . .and the goats. This short novel is a treasure.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Adi has lot everything. His son is dead and his wife has left him. He needs something so when a job opportunity to "save the world" arises, he sees his chance for some redemption.
He is deposited on the goat-infested Island of Santa Flora with enough provisions to survive and enough ammunition to save the island's rare flora and fauna from the non-indigenous, hungry goats who have demolished so much of the island's resources.
However Adi has not reckoned with having to actually find and kill the goats or the fishermen who are doing their own bit for denuding the ocean.
Eradication is a beautifully crafted short novel about one man's struggle to come to terms with what his life has become and who he really is.
Great writing and a surprising story. I did get a bit frustrated with Adi at times but he is a likeable character. I would highly recommend this short read.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the advance review copy.
He is deposited on the goat-infested Island of Santa Flora with enough provisions to survive and enough ammunition to save the island's rare flora and fauna from the non-indigenous, hungry goats who have demolished so much of the island's resources.
However Adi has not reckoned with having to actually find and kill the goats or the fishermen who are doing their own bit for denuding the ocean.
Eradication is a beautifully crafted short novel about one man's struggle to come to terms with what his life has become and who he really is.
Great writing and a surprising story. I did get a bit frustrated with Adi at times but he is a likeable character. I would highly recommend this short read.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the advance review copy.
December 16, 2025
My early Shelf Awareness review: Who wouldn't take a job that involves "saving the world"? Adi, the antihero of Jonathan Miles's powerful fourth novel, is drawn to the job listing not just for the noble mission but also for the chance to be alone for five weeks on a Pacific island. A teacher reeling from his 11-year-old son Jairo's death and his wife leaving, Adi relishes getting away from it all. But he hasn't reckoned with the emotional challenge of eradicating an invasive species--and facing up to humanity's role in environmental crises.
Santa Flora once teemed with endemic birds and reptiles, but many species have gone extinct because of the ballooning population of goats. Whalers left a few on the island as food supplies to retrieve on the way back from expeditions, but the numbers have gotten out of hand since. The goats strip the cliffs of flora and compete with native fauna for habitat. A flashback to Adi's cursory interview reveals that he was completely unqualified, having never fired a gun, but the mysterious "foundation" was so desperate it hired him anyway. Armed with a sniper's rifle, his task is to kill all of the island's estimated 2,000 to 4,000 goats.
From the start, it's clear Adi's not cut out for this. The story nears the midpoint when he finally kills his first goat. He butchers it, but cries while eating the meat. In the meantime, he's made the mistake of becoming emotionally attached to the female goats hanging around his hut. He's identified individuals and named them; how can he kill them? As the likelihood of success plummets, he chooses a new tactic: slaughter all the males to halt reproduction.
Miles spins a taut parable reminiscent of T.C. Boyle's When the Killing's Done. The setting is imprecise and the backstory sparse, as befits a fable. Adi's relationship with his son and jazz clarinet hobby are resonant. His island discoveries enhance a nuanced environmentalist message: a trash-covered beach; an injured bird thought to be extinct--embodying why the goats can't coexist with endangered species; and two drunken fishermen who illegally kill sharks and sell the fins to China. Guilt and blame, responsibility and revenge, trade off in this troubling novella. Attempts at rectification keep backfiring. Human tragedies, like Jairo's accidental death, may be random. Those that befall the natural world, though--whether intentional or not--can only be laid at humanity's door.
(Posted with permission from Shelf Awareness.) (3.5)
Santa Flora once teemed with endemic birds and reptiles, but many species have gone extinct because of the ballooning population of goats. Whalers left a few on the island as food supplies to retrieve on the way back from expeditions, but the numbers have gotten out of hand since. The goats strip the cliffs of flora and compete with native fauna for habitat. A flashback to Adi's cursory interview reveals that he was completely unqualified, having never fired a gun, but the mysterious "foundation" was so desperate it hired him anyway. Armed with a sniper's rifle, his task is to kill all of the island's estimated 2,000 to 4,000 goats.
From the start, it's clear Adi's not cut out for this. The story nears the midpoint when he finally kills his first goat. He butchers it, but cries while eating the meat. In the meantime, he's made the mistake of becoming emotionally attached to the female goats hanging around his hut. He's identified individuals and named them; how can he kill them? As the likelihood of success plummets, he chooses a new tactic: slaughter all the males to halt reproduction.
Miles spins a taut parable reminiscent of T.C. Boyle's When the Killing's Done. The setting is imprecise and the backstory sparse, as befits a fable. Adi's relationship with his son and jazz clarinet hobby are resonant. His island discoveries enhance a nuanced environmentalist message: a trash-covered beach; an injured bird thought to be extinct--embodying why the goats can't coexist with endangered species; and two drunken fishermen who illegally kill sharks and sell the fins to China. Guilt and blame, responsibility and revenge, trade off in this troubling novella. Attempts at rectification keep backfiring. Human tragedies, like Jairo's accidental death, may be random. Those that befall the natural world, though--whether intentional or not--can only be laid at humanity's door.
(Posted with permission from Shelf Awareness.) (3.5)
March 10, 2026
‘Eradication: a Fable’ by Jonathan Miles is a short novel with many well-written sentences that sing with lyrical music! However, the words in the sentences foretell a horror show. Omg.
For example, quoted from the novel:
”Farther north the coastline was carpeted in places with a rust-red shag of washed-up seagrass that sucked Adi’s boots when he tried crossing it, the rotten tendrils stroking his pant legs like tentacles. In other places hairy green mosses extended to the water’s edge, permanently damp from the sea spray, and the spongy feel of walking on them felt strange and somehow violating, like walking on actual hair.”
Great writing, icky setup, right? Right? A reader knows very quickly the story is going to be creepy, if not downright awful for the main character. We’ve all read elegant descriptions of a beach in other literary novels, but they didn’t leave the reader feeling like needing a shower after an ordinary stroll like this one. Right? Perhaps I should add Adi is not well. His marriage died because his child died, so he is not in a good place. His grief caused him to feel he needed to get away somewhere where he could be alone to process. So.
Quote from the novel:
”The job listing hadn’t mentioned killing. What it had mentioned, rather, was saving the world. And Adi liked the sound of that. What’d attracted him even more was five weeks of solo work in a remote, uninhabited location. Just imagining it felt restorative, medicinal, antidotal. He’d called the number and set up an interview.
The foundation’s offices were on a high floor in a glassy rhomboid building in the capital. The foundation funded programs in medicine, education, civil society, and conservation, Adi’s interviewer told him, with offices all over the world.”
It takes four pages of conversation and euphemisms for the interviewer to explain the job was shooting goats, an invasive species on a remote island called Santa Flora. It takes Adi even longer to fully understand what killing goats actually involves. Gentler reader, it is clear for more than half of the novel that Adi’s mind is in a fog, and he can’t seem to grasp what killing a goat would entail. On top of everything, he lies to the interviewer about his experience in using a gun. Even worse, he likes the goats - and names them - when he finally gets to the island on a harrowing (for him) journey. Adi is obviously not prepared on any level.
I have copied the book blurb:
”From acclaimed author Jonathan Miles (“a writer so virtuosic that readers will feel themselves becoming better, more observant people from reading him"— LA Times ) comes a blackly comic literary gem in which a broken man confronts a broken world on an uninhabited Pacific island.
Reeling from tragedy, a former jazz musician-turned-schoolteacher named Adi answers a job listing advertising a chance to save the world. The to spend five weeks alone on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora righting an ecological balance that’s gone severely out of whack, with the aim of preserving countless bird and plant species from certain extinction. What follows, however, is anything but balanced. The threats to the once-Edenic island, Adi soon learns, aren’t exactly what his employers said they were—and, complicating things further, he discovers he’s not alone on the island. Fearful for his own life, and for the fate of the island's, Adi spends his sun-drenched days rooting out the true threat to Santa Flora, and, by extension, to the world it occupies—and the desperate steps he must take to eradicate it.
A desert-island meditation on the contours of love and grief and solitude as well as jolt to your emotional core, Eradication is an utterly unforgettable reading experience, a narrative tour de force, and the work of a truly singular imagination. With this fourth work of fiction, Jonathan Miles, “a fluid, confident, and profoundly talented writer” (Dave Eggers) has truly come into his own.”
Wow. This is a powerfully written novel. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy both literary and horror genre books. What is truly awesome is at no time does the author have to resort to stretching either real-life facts or build a fantasy or paranormal world. It’s just the way the real world of humanity is - out of balance with nature, with ourselves. The horror, the horror…
For example, quoted from the novel:
”Farther north the coastline was carpeted in places with a rust-red shag of washed-up seagrass that sucked Adi’s boots when he tried crossing it, the rotten tendrils stroking his pant legs like tentacles. In other places hairy green mosses extended to the water’s edge, permanently damp from the sea spray, and the spongy feel of walking on them felt strange and somehow violating, like walking on actual hair.”
Great writing, icky setup, right? Right? A reader knows very quickly the story is going to be creepy, if not downright awful for the main character. We’ve all read elegant descriptions of a beach in other literary novels, but they didn’t leave the reader feeling like needing a shower after an ordinary stroll like this one. Right? Perhaps I should add Adi is not well. His marriage died because his child died, so he is not in a good place. His grief caused him to feel he needed to get away somewhere where he could be alone to process. So.
Quote from the novel:
”The job listing hadn’t mentioned killing. What it had mentioned, rather, was saving the world. And Adi liked the sound of that. What’d attracted him even more was five weeks of solo work in a remote, uninhabited location. Just imagining it felt restorative, medicinal, antidotal. He’d called the number and set up an interview.
The foundation’s offices were on a high floor in a glassy rhomboid building in the capital. The foundation funded programs in medicine, education, civil society, and conservation, Adi’s interviewer told him, with offices all over the world.”
It takes four pages of conversation and euphemisms for the interviewer to explain the job was shooting goats, an invasive species on a remote island called Santa Flora. It takes Adi even longer to fully understand what killing goats actually involves. Gentler reader, it is clear for more than half of the novel that Adi’s mind is in a fog, and he can’t seem to grasp what killing a goat would entail. On top of everything, he lies to the interviewer about his experience in using a gun. Even worse, he likes the goats - and names them - when he finally gets to the island on a harrowing (for him) journey. Adi is obviously not prepared on any level.
I have copied the book blurb:
”From acclaimed author Jonathan Miles (“a writer so virtuosic that readers will feel themselves becoming better, more observant people from reading him"— LA Times ) comes a blackly comic literary gem in which a broken man confronts a broken world on an uninhabited Pacific island.
Reeling from tragedy, a former jazz musician-turned-schoolteacher named Adi answers a job listing advertising a chance to save the world. The to spend five weeks alone on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora righting an ecological balance that’s gone severely out of whack, with the aim of preserving countless bird and plant species from certain extinction. What follows, however, is anything but balanced. The threats to the once-Edenic island, Adi soon learns, aren’t exactly what his employers said they were—and, complicating things further, he discovers he’s not alone on the island. Fearful for his own life, and for the fate of the island's, Adi spends his sun-drenched days rooting out the true threat to Santa Flora, and, by extension, to the world it occupies—and the desperate steps he must take to eradicate it.
A desert-island meditation on the contours of love and grief and solitude as well as jolt to your emotional core, Eradication is an utterly unforgettable reading experience, a narrative tour de force, and the work of a truly singular imagination. With this fourth work of fiction, Jonathan Miles, “a fluid, confident, and profoundly talented writer” (Dave Eggers) has truly come into his own.”
Wow. This is a powerfully written novel. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy both literary and horror genre books. What is truly awesome is at no time does the author have to resort to stretching either real-life facts or build a fantasy or paranormal world. It’s just the way the real world of humanity is - out of balance with nature, with ourselves. The horror, the horror…
February 14, 2026
Incredibly disappointing book. I read the blurb and the reviews which set up the book well but I found it fell far short of expectations.
Spoilers ahead, although it felt so predictable I am not too worried about spoiling it - I think it is quite clear what will happen.
This book is 168 pages of a man accepting a job to cull goats to protect an island ecosystem, then proceeding to whine about it and to fail to attempt it with any seriousness. When he does occasionally kill or wound a goat he feels so guilty afterwards he goes on about it for pages and pages. What is truly frustrating is that he does not choose a lane - he continually hunts goats but then is unable to pull the trigger. If he felt so bad after killing the first goat why not simply down tools and enjoy island paradise for the rest of his contract? Instead we are treated to the joys of being stuck with the most annoying man in the world as he stalks goats only to go home without doing his job.
Like any book on a deserted Edenic island the threat comes from other people who are breaking the law (think the armed weed militia in “The Beach”). Here the main character drinks with some men who illegally hunt sharks in the area before shooting them at the end - deciding they’re the real threat to the island not the goats, despite all the evidence of how the goats had deforested the island.
It felt like a massively missed opportunity- the blurb had hinted that there was mystery about how the foundation could be lying about what was happening on the island, but that went nowhere, leading to there being a hope of mystery which only became more disappointing as one realised the book was near its very short run without developing any threads of mystery.
As a tale of conservation it was shallow and trite; the illegal shark hunters do it because they’re sadistic junkies and they find killing fun. Main character decides that the goats aren’t the issue because they just live there man. He decides “nature doesn’t give a fuck” when the bird he had failed to feed for days gets eaten by a rat due to him not putting the lid on bird’s enclosure properly.
Some reviews claimed this book was a nuanced character study, but every character felt so cliched I feel truly misled.
Bitterly disappointed- I don’t often try random newly written books on a whim, but the reviews and the setting made it sound like this book was right up my alley. Instead I got a book full of self-fellatious characters and goats (literally for some reason there is a goat going to town on itself, which the main character is more than happy to shoot).
Seriously this book has nothing to offer on either: characters (all of which feel like tropes); conservation (where the points it makes are so elementary and poorly developed it feels like discussing the issue of protecting ecosystems with a toddler); Mystery (there is none, despite the blurb and the unnamed, shady foundation); or even nature writing (I didn’t find the writing particularly enjoyable - on discovering a remnant of cloud forest: “the farther down adi hiked […] the greener and mistier it appeared.” “The wet leafy cloak that’d once draped the entirety of Santa flora” - really?!!?).
Trash book, makes me doubt the judgement of people who have given it good reviews. Would like to hear about why people enjoyed it because I’m genuinely baffled as to how this was enjoyable.
Spoilers ahead, although it felt so predictable I am not too worried about spoiling it - I think it is quite clear what will happen.
This book is 168 pages of a man accepting a job to cull goats to protect an island ecosystem, then proceeding to whine about it and to fail to attempt it with any seriousness. When he does occasionally kill or wound a goat he feels so guilty afterwards he goes on about it for pages and pages. What is truly frustrating is that he does not choose a lane - he continually hunts goats but then is unable to pull the trigger. If he felt so bad after killing the first goat why not simply down tools and enjoy island paradise for the rest of his contract? Instead we are treated to the joys of being stuck with the most annoying man in the world as he stalks goats only to go home without doing his job.
Like any book on a deserted Edenic island the threat comes from other people who are breaking the law (think the armed weed militia in “The Beach”). Here the main character drinks with some men who illegally hunt sharks in the area before shooting them at the end - deciding they’re the real threat to the island not the goats, despite all the evidence of how the goats had deforested the island.
It felt like a massively missed opportunity- the blurb had hinted that there was mystery about how the foundation could be lying about what was happening on the island, but that went nowhere, leading to there being a hope of mystery which only became more disappointing as one realised the book was near its very short run without developing any threads of mystery.
As a tale of conservation it was shallow and trite; the illegal shark hunters do it because they’re sadistic junkies and they find killing fun. Main character decides that the goats aren’t the issue because they just live there man. He decides “nature doesn’t give a fuck” when the bird he had failed to feed for days gets eaten by a rat due to him not putting the lid on bird’s enclosure properly.
Some reviews claimed this book was a nuanced character study, but every character felt so cliched I feel truly misled.
Bitterly disappointed- I don’t often try random newly written books on a whim, but the reviews and the setting made it sound like this book was right up my alley. Instead I got a book full of self-fellatious characters and goats (literally for some reason there is a goat going to town on itself, which the main character is more than happy to shoot).
Seriously this book has nothing to offer on either: characters (all of which feel like tropes); conservation (where the points it makes are so elementary and poorly developed it feels like discussing the issue of protecting ecosystems with a toddler); Mystery (there is none, despite the blurb and the unnamed, shady foundation); or even nature writing (I didn’t find the writing particularly enjoyable - on discovering a remnant of cloud forest: “the farther down adi hiked […] the greener and mistier it appeared.” “The wet leafy cloak that’d once draped the entirety of Santa flora” - really?!!?).
Trash book, makes me doubt the judgement of people who have given it good reviews. Would like to hear about why people enjoyed it because I’m genuinely baffled as to how this was enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2025
By far the best ARC I’ve read to date, this book felt like finding a small, unexpected slice of perfection. Eradication: A Fable is a mesmerizing exploration of isolation, nature, morality, and the tangled ways our past mistakes shape us. This was my first experience reading Jonathan Miles, and I can confidently say I’ll be a repeater. His prose is absolutely spellbinding: lush, reflective, and razor-sharp in its observations of both humanity and the natural world.
The story carries the introspective solitude of The Wall and the eerie, windswept atmosphere of Wild Dark Shore. Through Adi, we’re invited into a deeply personal, almost spiritual journey of reckoning and renewal. His decision to isolate himself on an island raises haunting questions: Did he come here for the good of the island, or for himself? Does his understanding of life, guilt, and purpose evolve by the end? I found myself rooting for him the entire way, drawn into the beauty and unease of his surroundings and the fragile life of the island’s goats that come to symbolize so much more.
This book was also incredibly unique and kept me wanting more with every chapter. I loved the vivid idea of thousands of goats roaming the island—both haunting and strangely beautiful. At first, it seems simple: remove what’s invasive. But as Adi names and knows these creatures, the lines blur. Who truly belongs? Do humans ever bring balance to nature, or only harm? Can we change?
This novel made me pause and look inward, challenging my own beliefs about goodness, forgiveness, and the quiet ways we can make peace with the past. Eradication: A Fable is timely, profound, and achingly human—a story that reminds us to stand firm in what’s right, to listen to the earth, and to always try to do better.
A stunning and unforgettable read I’ll be recommending to absolutely everyone!
Huge thanks to @NetGalley and the publisher for letting me discover this beautiful, thought-provoking story early—it was truly a gift to read. I can’t wait to talk about this more after publishing date of 2.10.26!
The story carries the introspective solitude of The Wall and the eerie, windswept atmosphere of Wild Dark Shore. Through Adi, we’re invited into a deeply personal, almost spiritual journey of reckoning and renewal. His decision to isolate himself on an island raises haunting questions: Did he come here for the good of the island, or for himself? Does his understanding of life, guilt, and purpose evolve by the end? I found myself rooting for him the entire way, drawn into the beauty and unease of his surroundings and the fragile life of the island’s goats that come to symbolize so much more.
This book was also incredibly unique and kept me wanting more with every chapter. I loved the vivid idea of thousands of goats roaming the island—both haunting and strangely beautiful. At first, it seems simple: remove what’s invasive. But as Adi names and knows these creatures, the lines blur. Who truly belongs? Do humans ever bring balance to nature, or only harm? Can we change?
This novel made me pause and look inward, challenging my own beliefs about goodness, forgiveness, and the quiet ways we can make peace with the past. Eradication: A Fable is timely, profound, and achingly human—a story that reminds us to stand firm in what’s right, to listen to the earth, and to always try to do better.
A stunning and unforgettable read I’ll be recommending to absolutely everyone!
Huge thanks to @NetGalley and the publisher for letting me discover this beautiful, thought-provoking story early—it was truly a gift to read. I can’t wait to talk about this more after publishing date of 2.10.26!
March 12, 2026
Miles was an unfamiliar name to me until my local bookstore recommended this title. A short meditation on grief and an individual's place in the world. Powerful ending and rich in metaphors, but it is a bit of a downer of a book, so it might not be for everyone. Great prose too. High four stars.
March 24, 2026
While I found this to be a very easy read, the conclusions that Adi draws about environmentalism and his final decisions are dizzying to me. All in all, this book says very basic things about nature and human nature. Nothing to write home about and an honest disappointment based on the premise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2026
The ending I wanted!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A random little book.
Eradication follows Adi who takes up a job on a remote Central Pacific island which has been overrun by goats. His job is to spend five weeks killing as many of them as he can, so that the wildlife there on the brink of extinction, can flourish again. But Adi has never shot a gun before, and it's soon clear he took up this job after suffering a terrible personal tragedy - the death of his son. Haunted by his memories, he also begins to suspect that the goats aren't the problem after all, which is just as well because he's clearly not built for killing.
This has already received rave reviews from many readers so I am clearly in a slight minority here, but I just wanted a bit more from Eradication. The humour was welcome but the writing was a little plain for me and the flashbacks were underwhelming, not really doing much to build Adi's character.
It's an easy, fine read, just not one that is going to make my top books of the year. I will say if you don't like books that feature animal cruelty, don't read this. I found some scenes very upsetting! Cracking ending though.
Eradication follows Adi who takes up a job on a remote Central Pacific island which has been overrun by goats. His job is to spend five weeks killing as many of them as he can, so that the wildlife there on the brink of extinction, can flourish again. But Adi has never shot a gun before, and it's soon clear he took up this job after suffering a terrible personal tragedy - the death of his son. Haunted by his memories, he also begins to suspect that the goats aren't the problem after all, which is just as well because he's clearly not built for killing.
This has already received rave reviews from many readers so I am clearly in a slight minority here, but I just wanted a bit more from Eradication. The humour was welcome but the writing was a little plain for me and the flashbacks were underwhelming, not really doing much to build Adi's character.
It's an easy, fine read, just not one that is going to make my top books of the year. I will say if you don't like books that feature animal cruelty, don't read this. I found some scenes very upsetting! Cracking ending though.
January 14, 2026
4.5 stars ⭐️ haunting and deceptively layered; I’ll be thinking about this fable, and it’s many possible iterations, for a while.
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April 14, 2026The lovely Bram Presser drew my attention* to Jonathan Miles’s strange and dark novella. Bram’s got great taste, borne out by the fact that Eradication is excellent.
Adi is an ex-schoolteacher and ex-husband looking for a job that will take him as far away from his life as possible. He answers a listing from a mysterious foundation offering five weeks of solo work and the chance to save the world. And who doesn’t want to save the world?
“The job,” says a fast-talking representative of said foundation, “is saving [Santa Flora], one of the Pacific Ocean’s most unique and vibrant ecosystems, from very certain destruction.”
“And the threat? Goats. Thousands and thousands of goats.
So how do you save it? [Adi] asked.
Save?
Santa Flora, he said, gesturing vaguely toward [the] paperwork. He added: the world.
Oh. Right. A crisp nod. Well, the good news is that it’s actually quite easy. You remove the goats.
Remove them how?
By eradicating them.
Eradicating them how?
You shoot them. Her mouth a straight line. All of them.
Who does?
Well, you, she said, if you turn out to be a fit for the operation.”
Why the foundation would send one person rather than a team of gun-loving, ammo-obsessed lunatics is a question that Miles is not interested in answering. As the title suggests, this is a fable and, while nothing overtly magical happens—other than the goats having a preternatural quality—there’s a dream-logic to the narrative that you come to embrace.
Adi ends up on the island, armed with a rifle, lots and lots of ammunition, and totally ill-equipped (both physically and mentally) to do the job. He knows he’s fucked when, one night, just as dawn is breaking, he “totters” out of the hut in his underwear and sees “seven goats standing in a crooked line by a thicket of mangroves and dwarf palms. Seven goats staring at him.” Yes, the goats are awesome, and Miles milks them (pun intended) for all their worth.
Eradication might start as an absurdist fable, but it soon heads into darker territory.** The introduction of two fishermen illegally finning sharks only adds to the tension. What ultimately emerges, though, is a devastating story about loss and grief, about disconnecting from reality, about seeking isolation over confronting a harsh and painful truth. It’s a book that’s all the more powerful and intense because it’s short. There’s no place to run. Unless you’re a goat.
*Via his Substack, he didn’t privately DM me or anything. I mean, he should have, but what you gonna do.
**The scene where Adi eventually kills a goat is graphic and harrowing.
Adi is an ex-schoolteacher and ex-husband looking for a job that will take him as far away from his life as possible. He answers a listing from a mysterious foundation offering five weeks of solo work and the chance to save the world. And who doesn’t want to save the world?
“The job,” says a fast-talking representative of said foundation, “is saving [Santa Flora], one of the Pacific Ocean’s most unique and vibrant ecosystems, from very certain destruction.”
“And the threat? Goats. Thousands and thousands of goats.
So how do you save it? [Adi] asked.
Save?
Santa Flora, he said, gesturing vaguely toward [the] paperwork. He added: the world.
Oh. Right. A crisp nod. Well, the good news is that it’s actually quite easy. You remove the goats.
Remove them how?
By eradicating them.
Eradicating them how?
You shoot them. Her mouth a straight line. All of them.
Who does?
Well, you, she said, if you turn out to be a fit for the operation.”
Why the foundation would send one person rather than a team of gun-loving, ammo-obsessed lunatics is a question that Miles is not interested in answering. As the title suggests, this is a fable and, while nothing overtly magical happens—other than the goats having a preternatural quality—there’s a dream-logic to the narrative that you come to embrace.
Adi ends up on the island, armed with a rifle, lots and lots of ammunition, and totally ill-equipped (both physically and mentally) to do the job. He knows he’s fucked when, one night, just as dawn is breaking, he “totters” out of the hut in his underwear and sees “seven goats standing in a crooked line by a thicket of mangroves and dwarf palms. Seven goats staring at him.” Yes, the goats are awesome, and Miles milks them (pun intended) for all their worth.
Eradication might start as an absurdist fable, but it soon heads into darker territory.** The introduction of two fishermen illegally finning sharks only adds to the tension. What ultimately emerges, though, is a devastating story about loss and grief, about disconnecting from reality, about seeking isolation over confronting a harsh and painful truth. It’s a book that’s all the more powerful and intense because it’s short. There’s no place to run. Unless you’re a goat.
*Via his Substack, he didn’t privately DM me or anything. I mean, he should have, but what you gonna do.
**The scene where Adi eventually kills a goat is graphic and harrowing.
February 15, 2026
4/5 stars
“Nature doesn’t give a fuck.”
Eradication is an apt eco-novella with a strong undercurrent of grief and morality, both personal and with regard to the larger world around us.
We follow Adi, a former jazz musician-turned-schoolteacher, as he accepts a curious “eco-conservation” job on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora. Here, armed with nothing but survival gear and a gun, he’s tasked to reckon with its invasive population of goats that's sent the ecological balance severely out of whack…
Eradication takes full advantage of the ridiculous irony of the task; to eradicate a species to “protect nature”… Adi’s time on the island is filled with stark contradictions, at times scathing, at times hilarious. Isolated, yet surrounded by the teeming life of the island flora- and fauna, Adi goes back and forth on the morality of his job as a “killer”. In this light, he is also forced to confront a deep personal grief he’s been trying to outrun, following the violent death of his son. This added layer of grief and the teetering balance between bitterness towards the world and tentative hopefulness towards its beauty, elevate what might otherwise have been a simplistic eco-tale to a new level. What will win out in the end? Is nature beautiful or cruel? Is it worth protecting, or is Adi justified in lashing out in anger towards it?
This is an easy recommendation for fans of climate-fiction with a satirical undertone, anti-hero protagonists, and goats alike. Fair warning though; considering the job Adi’s set out to do, there’s the obvious violence against animals and people to contend with.
Many thanks to Quercus Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
“Nature doesn’t give a fuck.”
Eradication is an apt eco-novella with a strong undercurrent of grief and morality, both personal and with regard to the larger world around us.
We follow Adi, a former jazz musician-turned-schoolteacher, as he accepts a curious “eco-conservation” job on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora. Here, armed with nothing but survival gear and a gun, he’s tasked to reckon with its invasive population of goats that's sent the ecological balance severely out of whack…
Eradication takes full advantage of the ridiculous irony of the task; to eradicate a species to “protect nature”… Adi’s time on the island is filled with stark contradictions, at times scathing, at times hilarious. Isolated, yet surrounded by the teeming life of the island flora- and fauna, Adi goes back and forth on the morality of his job as a “killer”. In this light, he is also forced to confront a deep personal grief he’s been trying to outrun, following the violent death of his son. This added layer of grief and the teetering balance between bitterness towards the world and tentative hopefulness towards its beauty, elevate what might otherwise have been a simplistic eco-tale to a new level. What will win out in the end? Is nature beautiful or cruel? Is it worth protecting, or is Adi justified in lashing out in anger towards it?
This is an easy recommendation for fans of climate-fiction with a satirical undertone, anti-hero protagonists, and goats alike. Fair warning though; considering the job Adi’s set out to do, there’s the obvious violence against animals and people to contend with.
Many thanks to Quercus Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
April 23, 2026
This book is so subtle and interesting in its study of “invasive” species as a direct consequence of capitalism, and Jonathan Miles symbolically wields each animal so effectively. The scene with the “deranged” goat after ruminating on Adi’s revolutionary grandfather as the big emotional pivot point is soooooo good.
Some of the crime family specifics felt weirdly cartoony in the moment, but I think a lot of the details are supposed to evoke a kind of post-CIA overthrow of a communist country? He only ever refers to his home as “the capital”, but it’s hard not to read into the Havana Club. Sometimes it’s fun to read into things!!
General trigger warning for animal cruelty/violence.
Some of the crime family specifics felt weirdly cartoony in the moment, but I think a lot of the details are supposed to evoke a kind of post-CIA overthrow of a communist country? He only ever refers to his home as “the capital”, but it’s hard not to read into the Havana Club. Sometimes it’s fun to read into things!!
General trigger warning for animal cruelty/violence.
April 10, 2026
Round up to a 3.5/5 ⭐️ the premise is what intrigued me to this novel and whilst the I enjoyed the story and its subtle commentary on grief, both personal and environmental, I feel like the nuisance- once it reveals its true sentiment- makes the story feel more safer than what the premise promises. So in that regard I enjoyed this story and its thematic ideas but ultimately think the end result feels lacklustre. Bloody good ending though.
April 21, 2026
3.75!! very quick read with very obvious lessons about nature, but told from a batshit crazy scenario… will have more thoughts later on the moral aspect of work but that would be too depressing to think about rn as a public servant in these times
April 29, 2026
3 ⭐️ e mezza arrotondata a 3
November 11, 2025
READ. THIS. BOOK!! it’s a short novel of only 158 pages but such a great story. While it is built around “goats”that need to be removed from an island because they are destroying nature there, it is truly only a personification of what has happened in Adi’s life. Adi takes a 5 week job on an island called Santa Flora. His mission is to remove the goats that someone brought to the island but have over populated the island and it’s leading to its destruction. What happens when Adi gets there is the heart of this story. Magnificent. Trust me when I say it will open your eyes. 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May 3, 2026
love goats and all but didn’t super compel me; felt a bit predictable
October 2, 2025
Give me a second to formulate a review. I’m still thinking about this book, it’s haunting me…IN A GOOD WAY! Adi’s backstory unfolds throughout the course of the book, which leads to a “BANG” of an ending.
March 3, 2026
It was well written, but I wanted more to it. And less of that shark scene. Goodness.
March 11, 2026
This slim novella, or fable, is as clean and precise as Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." There is nothing "extra" in this story. I loved it.
Want to Read
April 14, 2026Absurdist novella, on the TBR courtesy of prolific reviewer Ian Mond. His review is at his Substack:
https://substack.com/@mondy74
Excerpt:
"Adi ends up on the island, armed with a rifle, lots and lots of ammunition, and totally ill-equipped (both physically and mentally) to do the job. He knows he’s fucked when, one night, just as dawn is breaking, he “totters” out of the hut in his underwear and sees “seven goats standing in a crooked line by a thicket of mangroves and dwarf palms. Seven goats staring at him.” Yes, the goats are awesome, and Miles milks them (pun intended) for all their worth."
Heh. TBR! Except, the Kindle is $13!
https://substack.com/@mondy74
Excerpt:
"Adi ends up on the island, armed with a rifle, lots and lots of ammunition, and totally ill-equipped (both physically and mentally) to do the job. He knows he’s fucked when, one night, just as dawn is breaking, he “totters” out of the hut in his underwear and sees “seven goats standing in a crooked line by a thicket of mangroves and dwarf palms. Seven goats staring at him.” Yes, the goats are awesome, and Miles milks them (pun intended) for all their worth."
Heh. TBR! Except, the Kindle is $13!
February 15, 2026
I didn't want this story to end...........I thought the storytelling amazing, placed me right there on that island.....made me care. Thank you Johnathan, I found out about this book from you reading excerpts of it on NPR.
February 16, 2026
I know it was important to the story but I REALLY could have done without the shark scene. A sad, dark little fable with only a glimmer of light at the end.
March 30, 2026
A simple narrative that carries significant weight.
I didn't expect this book to affect me the way it did.
The story follows Adi, a man who's recently lost both his son and his marriage.
He takes a job on a remote island, tasked with restoring and protecting a fragile ecosystem. The catch? To do that, he must eliminate an invasive goat population. Thousands of goats. Introduced to the island by 19th century whalers. But Adi doesn't have any experience. He isn't a hunter. He is a jazz musician. A schoolteacher. Completely unprepared for what lies ahead.
The island is home to endangered species and some of the least studied, most vulnerable plant life.
This unfolds into a brutal, unexpectedly funny, and emotionally heavy journey.
There's clearly much more to the story, but it's best you discover those parts yourself. I refuse to give up anything that could lessen the impact.
As an animal lover, I was a little hesitant going into this. But it's not what you'd expect. It was not disturbing in the way I'd feared. It's more focused on the mental toll.
Though it's a short read, I wouldn't rush it. Take your time. Absorb it. Reflect on it. Nothing about this plot is complicated, but what it makes you feel is.
This feels like a right book, right time kind of read. It made laugh. It made me think. It made me cry. It made me feel.
The ending got me. Seeing everything come together the way it did left me overwhelmed in a way I didn't expect.
I had so many lingering thoughts throughout this story. This would be an incredible book club pick.
There's a line in the book that gets repeated throughout. It starts as a simple, somewhat detached statement, but every time it comes back, it hits harder. The weight behind it grows. It was such a smart and powerful move by the author.
This is beautiful, strange, devastating, and thought-provoking.
A huge thank you to Doubleday Books for the ARC. I'm not sure this is a book I would have discovered on my own, and that's why I'm always so grateful for these opportunities.
I didn't expect this book to affect me the way it did.
The story follows Adi, a man who's recently lost both his son and his marriage.
He takes a job on a remote island, tasked with restoring and protecting a fragile ecosystem. The catch? To do that, he must eliminate an invasive goat population. Thousands of goats. Introduced to the island by 19th century whalers. But Adi doesn't have any experience. He isn't a hunter. He is a jazz musician. A schoolteacher. Completely unprepared for what lies ahead.
The island is home to endangered species and some of the least studied, most vulnerable plant life.
This unfolds into a brutal, unexpectedly funny, and emotionally heavy journey.
There's clearly much more to the story, but it's best you discover those parts yourself. I refuse to give up anything that could lessen the impact.
As an animal lover, I was a little hesitant going into this. But it's not what you'd expect. It was not disturbing in the way I'd feared. It's more focused on the mental toll.
Though it's a short read, I wouldn't rush it. Take your time. Absorb it. Reflect on it. Nothing about this plot is complicated, but what it makes you feel is.
This feels like a right book, right time kind of read. It made laugh. It made me think. It made me cry. It made me feel.
The ending got me. Seeing everything come together the way it did left me overwhelmed in a way I didn't expect.
I had so many lingering thoughts throughout this story. This would be an incredible book club pick.
There's a line in the book that gets repeated throughout. It starts as a simple, somewhat detached statement, but every time it comes back, it hits harder. The weight behind it grows. It was such a smart and powerful move by the author.
This is beautiful, strange, devastating, and thought-provoking.
A huge thank you to Doubleday Books for the ARC. I'm not sure this is a book I would have discovered on my own, and that's why I'm always so grateful for these opportunities.
April 7, 2026
Eradication reads as a year 12’s mediocre creative writing assignment and somehow I fell into the role of English teacher - by instinctively editing it as I read. so much of the writing is made redundant by miles writing essentially the same thing the sentence before.
the premise was that not everything is as it seems, and yet the book reveals nothing interesting, and uses almost none of the plot points it introduces to get on with its main point until the last 15 pages. an absolute wasted opportunity and an absolute wasted weekend!
the premise was that not everything is as it seems, and yet the book reveals nothing interesting, and uses almost none of the plot points it introduces to get on with its main point until the last 15 pages. an absolute wasted opportunity and an absolute wasted weekend!
April 12, 2026
Okay, I’m doing it. I’m writing Goodreads reviews now. This was an unputdownable read for me. A short and slightly unsettling story about a grieving man tasked with saving an island from the *evil forces* threatening its delicate and diverse ecosystem.
As a nihilist young person and critter-loving former 4-H’er this one really scratched every itch.
As a nihilist young person and critter-loving former 4-H’er this one really scratched every itch.
March 7, 2026
Thanks to Doubleday for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.
Adi has gone through some personal traumas. He decides to accept a job on a remote island to "save the world." He quickly learns that the job is not what he thought but he goes anyway. Living in a little hut with very little he begins to face his demons as well as the threats on the island.
I liked the introspective tone of this novel. I also love the survival aspects. It reminded me of Castaway in the best ways. What develops on the island and how it ends was a bit of a surprise. I think I would have preferred just Adi and the goats but I get why the author brought things together the way they did.
Adi has gone through some personal traumas. He decides to accept a job on a remote island to "save the world." He quickly learns that the job is not what he thought but he goes anyway. Living in a little hut with very little he begins to face his demons as well as the threats on the island.
I liked the introspective tone of this novel. I also love the survival aspects. It reminded me of Castaway in the best ways. What develops on the island and how it ends was a bit of a surprise. I think I would have preferred just Adi and the goats but I get why the author brought things together the way they did.
February 8, 2026
Oof, that ending! All the heartstrings were pulled.
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