The World, The Lizard and Me follows the life of French-Canadian Claude Tremblay who, since he was eleven has sought justice for the voiceless victims of war. His passion for justice has taken him to a job at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he pursues the conviction of Thomas Kabanga, a Congolese warlord charged with creating child soldiers in the civil war there.
Despite telling testimony and damning evidence Kabanga is freed on a legal technicality, and Claude finds himself at moral crossroads. Appalled, he travels to Congo to gather more evidence. His meetings with damaged former child soldiers challenge him further and he also finds himself conflicted after a chance meeting with Kabanga. As moral boundaries blur in a culture Claude thought he understood, a different sort of justice is formulated and executed.
Drawing on experiences of reporting in Africa, Gil Courtemanche has written a novel marked by its immediacy and authenticity.