Bryan Christy tells the remarkable story of reptile smuggling in his debut nonfiction, The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers. The Lizard King follows Chip Bepler and his associates as he tracks down incriminating evidence against Mike Van Nostrand. Van Nostrand’s rise to power in the reptile business can be compared to Tony Montana’s rise to power in the movie Scarface.
The premise of the book is fascinating. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had always known about the lucrative business of reptile smuggling—when poachers would hunt and capture protected or endangered species and sell them to commercial reptile franchises who sell them as captive-bred—but were mostly powerless to stop it. Fish and Wildlife cases would always get put on the back burners for high-profile drug busts, and the reptile smugglers would get off with a fine; after all, “who cares about reptiles?”
Bepler came into the Miami division of Fish and Wildlife to stop the smugglers coming into port in southern Florida. He soon learned of Van Nostrand and his business, Strictly Reptiles. Bepler vowed to bring Van Nostrand down, as his guilt was highly evident. The only problem was a loophole in the wildlife import laws: Bepler needed hard evidence that proved Van Nostrand knew his reptiles were illegally imported, which is harder than it would seem.
Christy weaves the perspectives of many players in the semi-famous case. Aside from Bepler and Van Nostrand, there is Ray, Van Nostrand’s father, who introduced him to the smuggling business; Chris McAliley, a prosecuter for the U.S. Attorney’s Office known for harsh punishments on wildlife cases; and Anson Wong, the kingpin supplier for Strictly Reptiles and other businesses dealing with illegally smuggled reptiles. Christy does not allow the pace of the book to falter as he switches perspectives, but allows the story to flow from one person to the next, as if a group of people are recounting the same tale.
The book reads more like a novel than a study on a smuggling case. The narrative runs smoothly through the story, making this a compelling and easy read. While Christy earned a degree in law from the University of Michigan, he does not stay too long discussing the intricacies of wildlife smuggling laws. As an avid reptile enthusiast, the author knows his audience, and hammers out the details they would enjoy.
On more than one occasion, Christy describes the different methods smugglers use to get reptiles into the United States. The most traditional is forged papers, but many times false bottoms on crates filled with legal imports are used. Lower-level smugglers have been known to cram suitcases full of reptiles, or neatly sew pockets the perfect size for baby turtles into bed sheets. Sometimes smugglers are brazen enough to stick a poisonous snake in their pocket and walk straight through customs without a second glance.
The Lizard King catches the reader’s interest and refuses to let go. The book demands no previous knowledge of the cases or lizards at all, slowly creeping into the story before describing the more intrinsic details. Throughout the book humor at the absurdity of the situations helps to cut the suspense, but does not deteriorate the story. Overall, I found this book to be a thoroughly entertaining read, one that most would not be disappointed in.
