Andrew Lafleche’s masterful new novel is a story about the tumultuous passage from adolescence into adulthood, set on an extremist conservation ship monkeywrenching in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

Julian Cole is a passionate young environmentalist trying to define his place in the world. He volunteers with the oceanic conservation organization, Trident Legion, only to have his romantic idea of activism confronted by the brutal reality of human survival.

In this high sea adventure, Julian participates in harrowing rescues, compassionate animal rights advocacy, and the occasional monkeywrenching of local fishing outfits—which ultimately threaten his mortality. As the tension mounts, the novel touches on provocative moral questions about the underside of idealism and the modern collision of values and violence.

From the pilot whales hunted during the Grindagap in the Faroe Islands, to the critically endangered Vaquita marina porpoise of the Sea of Cortez, Julian is forced to swim through the net of complexities comprising modern activism’s struggle against the corporate capitalist agenda.

Trident Legion is a mesmerizing fusing of fact and fiction that brilliantly explores ideologue in action unraveling into a journey of doubt, paranoia, and unintended consequences.

Gripping, suspenseful, and funny, Trident Legion is Lafleche at his inimitable best.