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The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird
Maybe someday
32
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
28/100Critics
37/100Scholars
Author:
Joshua Hammer
Publisher:
Simon Schuster
Date:
February 11, 2020
A contributor to National Geographic and The New Yorker follows the parallel lives of Jeffrey Lendrum, 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.
What The Reviewers Say
By sympathizing with the devil, Hammer is able to dig deeper into Lendrum’s psyche, proposing that the falcon thief’s motives may be more complex than mere cupidity. These arguments appear to have weight to them, but perhaps that’s merely wishful thinking on the part of the audience, wanting to believe that the antihero can turn hero.
Mr. Hammer’s story is part true crime, part nature writing. The criminals are all the more intriguing for being nonviolent, the types motivated by obsession rather than greed.
... gripping.
By exploring the outlandish story of 'the Pablo Escobar of eggs,' as media outlets dubbed Lendrum, Hammer also shines a light on the larger landscape of bird traffickers and collectors.
