Book Review: 2008-08 - The Lizard King by Bryan
Christy

2008-008

The Lizard King by Bryan Christy

2008 Knopf 241 pages

978-0-446-58095-3 $24.99

(I bought this one)

The subtitle of this book is "The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers" and it's a pretty amazing world.  Christy, a freelance writer that has worked for magazines from Playboy to National Geographic in the past, uses both his taste for adventure and his law degree in writing this book.

The Lizard King is reminiscent of The Orchid Thief (Orlean, Random House, 1998) and Used and Rare (Goldstone & Goldstone, St. Martin's Press, 1997) in how Christy has chosen a specific topic, this time around the reptile industry, and while covering various aspects of it, ends up writing about obsession.

In this case, Christy focuses heavily on Michael Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles, a multi-million dollar business run out of Hollywood, FL, and Special Agent Chip Bepler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Their relationship reminded me a bit of that of the characters played by DiCaprio and Hanks in the movie "Catch Me if You Can," as Bepler spends five years of his life determined to catch Van Nostrand smuggling or doing something illegal with regards to reptiles.

While Christy may have begun this book with an interest in reptiles himself, the story lent itself into further exploration of how CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) works and into smuggling of all species, not just reptiles.  The sections that go into detail about CITES tended to bog down a little, though it seems to be information Christy really couldn't tell another way, nor leave out.

It's the sections specifically about reptiles though, when Christy begins describing them in detail, the colors, the shapes, where they're from, and how smuggler would get them from their native lands to the United States, that propel the reader from beginning to end. 

Between these descriptive sections, and stretches about the cat and mouse games that Van Nostrand and Bepler played with other, and profiles of some of the major players in what is an international roster of smuggling and collecting talent, Christy had a can't miss story to tell, and he's a good enough writer to not get in the way of that great story.  One need not be interested in reptiles to enjoy The Lizard King.  In fact, even if you're the type to squirm in the reptile house at the zoo, you still just might enjoy this one in your own reptile-free house.

4 stars

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