The Falcon Thief

Joshua Hammer's "The Falcon Thief" plunges readers into a gripping, real-life cat-and-mouse chase between the notorious bird smuggler Jeffrey Lendrum and relentless wildlife detective Andy McWilliam. The narrative ignites with Lendrum's audacious 2010 arrest at Britain's Birmingham International Airport, caught with fourteen rare peregrine falcon eggs strapped to his stomach. This incident unravels a two-decade-long saga of Lendrum's globe-trotting exploits, where he plundered endangered raptor eggs from remote, perilous locations across six continents, trading them for millions in the lucrative, illicit market for racing champions. McWilliam, driven by an unwavering commitment to protect the world's birds of prey, pursues Lendrum across diverse landscapes, from Patagonian volcanoes to Zimbabwe's Matobo National Park and Dubai's opulent aviaries. Hammer masterfully weaves a 'true-crime narrative' with an 'epic adventure,' depicting Lendrum as a figure consumed by a 'destructive compulsion' to possess nature's most magnificent creatures. The book is an 'unputdownable' journey into the dark underbelly of wildlife trafficking and the extraordinary lengths taken to combat it.