This is a book about terrible people. Their love literally kills: they are so obsessed with exotic reptiles, and selling exotic reptiles to people in developed countries, that they smuggle hundreds and thousands of the animals in ways that ensure that many will die, often horribly. As if that wasn’t enough, they are also constantly cheating and stealing from their customers, their suppliers, and everyone else who gets in the way—even each other. But the reptile obsession keeps them dealing with each other, amazingly. One of Smith’s chief informants, who somehow she was charmed by, makes his rationale explicit: everyone is a cheat and a liar, he says, so he’s just getting there first. I guess the book shows that terrible people love stuff too, but I already knew that. The book also illustrates that overworked governments aren’t often concerned with animal smuggling, despite its nominal illegality, and that American zoos remained complicit in the smuggling long after their public positions changed. ( )