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The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird
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About This Book
A true-crime adventure about a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs—and the wildlife detective determined to stop him.On May 3, 2010, an Irish national named Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britain's Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious parcel strapped to his stomach. Inside were fourteen rare peregrine falcon eggs snatched from a remote cliffside in Wales. So begins a tale almost too bizarre to believe, following the parallel lives of a globe-trotting smuggler who spent two decades capturing endangered raptors worth millions of dollars as race champions—and Detective Andy McWilliam of the United Kingdom's National Wildlife Crime Unit, who's hell bent on protecting the world's birds of prey. The Falcon Thief whisks readers from the volcanoes of Patagonia to Zimbabwe's Matobo National Park, and from the frigid tundra near the Arctic Circle to luxurious aviaries in the deserts of Dubai, all in pursuit of a man who is reckless, arrogant, and gripped by a destructive compulsion to make the most beautiful creatures in nature his own.
Reviews
"The Falcon Thief relies on us finding Lendrum remarkable; but in the final reckoning, common greed and selfishness are rarely that."
"one thinks of Truman Capote, who elaborated on a tiny news story about the killing of a Kansas farm family, turning that grim tragedy into the seminal feat of reportage In Cold Blood...This is very much what Hammer is after in The Falcon Thief, which can sometimes read like the treatment for a James Bond movie ..."
"Hammer's chronicle is a captivating and surprising read with just the right touch of suspense and mystery."
"His writing style is gripping and fast-paced, but never short on facts and accuracy ..."
"In his latest page-turner, Hammer...compellingly chronicles the exploits of Jeffrey Lendrum...whom he portrays as a destructive combination of knowledgeable bird-watcher and destroyer ..."
"The book's ultimate concern isn't with the legal case, but with understanding the roots of Lendrum's fixation on falcons, and it's here where Hammer arguably falls short."
"Hammer's exploration of the factors that culminated in egg trafficking is thorough and fascinating, offering context and entertainment alike ..."
"Following the inventory of awful deeds, the reader is left appalled."
"After reading this book, one feels sympathy for both the falcon and bustard, and none at all for egg poachers...or the falconers who keep them in business."
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