About a very specific and rather obscure (to the best of my knowledge) crime: the illegal acquisition of eggs from nests of endangered birds of prey, for sale to falconers in foreign countries (chiefly in the Middle East). It seems to have a little bit of everything encircling this racket. A brief history of falconry and description of the sport. An in-depth exploration of several characters- both the man who became renowned for stealing falcon eggs, and the investigator who was determined to track him down, and several others involved as well. These sections a little tedious as admittedly I did not really care what cafe they sat in when the men met with someone, or what they ordered to eat, or what they were wearing. I was however fascinated by the details about why certain men found egg-collecting such an obsessive hobby, or how the thief first became involved in groups that studied and followed the habits of birds of prey, becoming very familiar with their nesting locations long before he started taking eggs. There’s a lot more in here, but what really stood out to me at the end were two things: the thief was such an affable man, knowledgeable and easy to talk to, that the men trying to pin him down for his crimes couldn’t help admiring him as a person. And that even though the thief was caught several times, convicted, and ceased his nefarious activities for years, eventually he would go back to it. He couldn’t stop, it seemed. There was some thrill of the challenge: could he reach distant nesting ledges in the arctic without being detected, could he get away with smuggling eggs containing live chicks on flights, etc. . .
Definitely a book I’ll want to read again someday, paper version. I am fairly sure my attention drifted away a few times and I missed something. Completed on 1/7/24.
Borrowed from the public library. Audiobook version, narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davies, 8 hours 23 min listening time
