If you’ve spent any time in a bookstore lately, you’ve probably seen the cover of Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. It’s everywhere. Critics are losing their minds over it, and for good reason. Honestly, it’s one of those books that makes you feel a little bit smarter just by holding it, even if you’re mostly in it for the spy games and the French countryside vibes.
Kushner has always been a heavy hitter. You might know her from The Flamethrowers or The Mars Room. She doesn't just write stories; she builds these massive, intellectual playgrounds where she can poke at the weirdest parts of being human.
What Really Happens in Creation Lake
The plot sounds like a standard thriller on the surface, but it gets weird fast.
We follow a 34-year-old American undercover agent who goes by the alias Sadie Smith. She’s not exactly a hero. In fact, she’s kind of a mercenary. She was fired from the FBI after a botched operation and now works for shadowy private interests. Her mission? Infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists called Le Moulin in the Guyenne region of France.
Sadie is cold. She’s cynical. She uses her "clean beauty" and a strategy she calls the "cold bump" to manipulate her way into people's lives. To get to the commune, she seduces a pretentious Parisian filmmaker named Lucien. It’s all very calculated.
The Neanderthal Connection
Here is where the book takes a hard left turn into the surreal. The commune is obsessed with a mysterious elder named Bruno Lacombe.
Bruno doesn't live with the activists. He lives in a cave. Literally. He’s a former 1968 revolutionary who has decided that the only way to escape the mess of modern capitalism is to look back—way back—to the Neanderthals.
Sadie spends much of the novel hacking into Bruno’s emails. While she’s supposed to be looking for evidence of planned sabotage against a massive government irrigation project, she ends up reading these long, rambling, and strangely beautiful treatises on prehistoric life.
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"Neanderthals were prone to depression, he said. They were prone to addiction, too, and especially smoking."
That’s the opening line. It’s a hook that basically tells you: buckle up, this isn't your grandfather’s John le Carré novel. ## Why Creation Lake Hits Differently
Most spy novels are about the "how." How did they get the files? How did the car chase end?
Creation Lake is about the "why." Or rather, the "why bother."
Sadie thinks she’s the smartest person in the room. She looks down on the activists at Le Moulin, seeing them as "scruffy kids" playing at revolution. She mocks their food, their sex lives, and their idealism. But as she gets deeper into Bruno’s emails, her own sense of self starts to crack.
The E-E-A-T of Kushner’s Worldbuilding
Kushner didn't just make this stuff up. She’s a meticulous researcher. The character of Sadie is actually inspired by real-world cases of undercover entrapment, like the Mark Kennedy scandal in the UK or the FBI’s pursuit of Eric McDavid.
She also draws heavily from French history and philosophy. If you’ve ever sat through a lecture on Guy Debord or the Situationists, you’ll recognize the DNA here. But Kushner manages to make it feel visceral instead of academic. She writes about the "Society of the Spectacle" while also describing the grit under a character's fingernails.
The Mystery of the Title
What is a "Creation Lake"?
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In the book, it’s a literal place, but it’s also a metaphor. It represents the "primordial reserve"—the idea that there is a deep, ancient source of life that hasn't been ruined by technology or "progress."
For Sadie, the lake is something she can’t quite grasp. She’s a product of the digital age, a woman who has literally had her body "optimized" through expensive surgery. She’s all surface. The lake represents the depth she’s afraid of.
Critical Reception and the 2024 Booker Prize
The book was a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize, and while it didn't take the top spot, it was arguably the most talked-about book on the shortlist.
Some readers find it frustrating. It’s slow. The action is sparse until the final 100 pages, which turn into a sort of "noir fiasco" that is both hilarious and tense.
- Pro-tip: If you’re looking for a high-octane thriller, this might not be it.
- However: If you want a book that will haunt your brain for weeks, this is the one.
Misconceptions About the Novel
People often go into this expecting a straightforward environmental thriller. It’s not.
It’s more of an "anthropological noir." Kushner uses the framework of espionage to ask if we’re actually better off than our cave-dwelling ancestors. Are we just "Thals" (as Bruno calls them) with better phones and more anxiety?
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The ending—without giving too much away—doesn't provide a neat bow. Sadie doesn't suddenly become a good person. But she does have a moment of "ethical awakening" that feels earned because it’s so messy.
Actionable Insights for Readers
If you're planning to dive into Creation Lake, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Don't skip the emails. Bruno’s long monologues about Neanderthals can seem like a distraction from the spy plot. They aren't. They are the plot.
- Watch for the humor. Sadie is a terrible person, but she’s a funny narrator. Her dry observations about French "peasant" life are gold.
- Read the history. A quick Google search on the Tarnac Nine or the Cagot people will give you a lot of context for the setting.
- Audiobook vs. Print. The prose is so rhythmic that the audiobook (read by Kushner herself in some versions, or professional narrators in others) is a great way to experience Sadie’s voice.
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner is a rare beast: a "novel of ideas" that you actually want to finish. It’s cynical, smart, and weirdly hopeful in its own dark way.
If you're ready to start, grab a copy from your local indie bookstore—they likely have the 2025 paperback edition in stock now—and pay close attention to the way Sadie describes people's faces. It tells you everything you need to know about her, and maybe a little bit about yourself too.
To fully appreciate the world Kushner built, you should look into the real-life Situationist International movement, as their theories on the "spectacle" are the silent engine driving the activists at Le Moulin. Knowing the history of French radicalism in the 1960s makes Sadie's cynical infiltration feel much more dangerous and grounded in reality.