The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers

by: Bryan Christy

Published by: Twelve Books

Reviewed by Nicole M. Boals

We have all heard of smuggling. There is drug smuggling, even people smuggling. But very few of us have ever heard of reptile smuggling. And even fewer of us have any idea what a massive industry it is. The Lizard King opens our eyes to this industry and gives us a crash course in the players and the game pieces that make up this multimillion dollar, worldwide game.

The story follows the Van Nostrands, a family enterprise that has cornered the market in the reptile industry. From the outside they look like a well-run and extremely successful family-run business that has cornered the market of reptile supply. However, Chris Bepler, an agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, knows that this success has come, in part, due to the family’s less-than-legal dealings in the reptile world. He starts a cat-and-mouse game that will traverse the globe and test the limits of the Fish and Wildlife Service and Agent Bepler himself.

Unexpected relationships form throughout the book as each strand of the smuggling web connects. These relationships are the core of the book and take a smuggling case from something you read in the paper to something that happened right next door.

The only hang-up I had with the book is that there is some jumping around in the timeline, which can leave you confused for a page or two while you try to replace yourself in the time and space the book has jumped too. This is not a big problem though and is far outweighed by the great storytelling and fascinating people.

A book unlike any you have read before, The Lizard King will take you on a twisting journey in which you will crave the culmination of the story while at the same time not wanting it to end.

Armchair Interviews says: A most interesting read.

Author’s Web site: http://www.TheLizardKingBook.com