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The Lizard King
- The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers
- Narrated by: Tony Ward
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
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The Lizard King
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Publisher's summary
When Bryan Christy began to investigate the world of reptile smuggling, he had no idea what he would be in for. In the course of his research, he was bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, and sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula.
But perhaps more dangerous was coming face to face with Michael J. Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles, a thriving family business in Hollywood, Florida. Van Nostrand imports as many as 300,000 iguanas each year (over half the total of America's most popular imported reptile), as well as hundreds of thousands of snakes, lizards, frogs, spiders, and scorpions.
Van Nostrand was suspected of being a reptile smuggler by Special Agent Chip Bepler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who devoted years of his life in an obsessive quest to expose The Lizard King's cold-blooded crimes. How this cat-and-mouse game ended is engrossing and surprising.
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- By: Craig Pittman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Oh, Florida! To some people it's a paradise. To others it's a punch line. As Oh, Florida! shows, it's both of these, and, more important, it's a Petri dish, producing trends that end up influencing the rest of the country. Without Florida there would be no NASCAR, no Bettie Page pinups, no Glenn Beck radio rants, no USA Today, no "Stand Your Ground" - you get the idea.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A book about the author's political views - boring
- By L. Burney on 03-03-17
By: Craig Pittman
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Vegas and the Mob
- By: Al W. Moe
- Narrated by: Jason Sullivan
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4 out of 5 stars 91
Las Vegas was the Mob's greatest venture and most spectacular success, and through 40 years of frenzy, murder, deceit, scams, and skimming, the FBI listened on phone taps and did virtually nothing to stop the fun. This is the truth about the Mob's control of the casinos in Vegas like you've never heard it before, from start to finish.
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3 out of 5 stars
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From Bugsy to Binion
- By Patrick King on 08-20-14
By: Al W. Moe
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Gangster Squad
- Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles
- By: Paul Lieberman
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4 out of 5 stars 86
Gangster Squad chronicles the true story of the secretive police unit that waged an anything-goes war to drive Mickey Cohen and other hoodlums from Los Angeles after WWII. In 1946, the LAPD launched the Gangster Squad with eight men who met covertly on street corners and slept with Tommy guns under their beds. But for two cops, all that mattered was nailing the strutting gangster Mickey Cohen. Sgt. Jack O’Mara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters a cynical maverick....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Nothing Like the movie
- By KEITH on 02-21-13
By: Paul Lieberman
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The Dragon Behind the Glass
- A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
- By: Emily Voigt
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 262
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 221
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 219
A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A "must read" for all fish professionals.
- By Fishgen on 06-26-16
By: Emily Voigt
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Gaspipe
- Confessions of a Mafia Boss
- By: Philip Carlo
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 628
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 482
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 485
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The author fails the objectivity test
- By William on 11-29-08
By: Philip Carlo
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Making Jack Falcone
- An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family
- By: Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, Michael Levin
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 327
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 207
At six-foot-four-inches and 375 pounds, Jack Garcia looked the part of a mobster, and he played his part so perfectly that his Mafia bosses never suspected he was an undercover agent for the FBI. "Big Jack Falcone," as he was known inside La Cosa Nostra, learned all the inside dirt about the Gambino organized crime syndicate and its illegal activities---from extortion and loan-sharking to assault and murder.
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4 out of 5 stars
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interesting story--offensive narration
- By Mark on 03-17-12
By: Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, and others
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Operation Family Secrets
- How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family
- By: Frank Calabrese Jr., Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman, and others
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 186
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 157
The Calabrese family of Chicago is a close-knit, middle-class, multi-generational Italian-Irish-American clan. They operate family businesses. They work day and night striving for the American Dream. All three sons forge a bond with their controlling father, Frank Sr., and their soft-spoken favorite uncle, Nick. As a boy, the oldest son, Frank Jr., realizes that his father and uncle are also "made" members of another close-knit family: the outfit.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Riveting Listen!
- By ahippieadventure on 02-06-13
By: Frank Calabrese Jr., and others
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Jackpot
- High Times, High Seas, and the Sting That Launched the War on Drugs
- By: Jason Ryan
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 163
Author Jason Ryan takes us back to the heady days before drug smuggling was synonymous with deadly gunplay. During this golden age of marijuana trafficking, the country's most prominent kingpins were a group of wayward and fun-loving Southern gentlemen who forsook college educations to sail drug-laden luxury sailboats across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Les Riley, Barry Foy, and their comrades eschewed violence as much as they loved pleasure, and it was greed, lust, and disaster at sea that ultimately caught up with them, along with the law.
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1 out of 5 stars
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If You Enjoy Injustice
- By Laura on 01-14-21
By: Jason Ryan
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The Last Gangster
- From Cop to Wiseguy to FBI Informant: Big Ron Previte and the Fall of the American Mob
- By: George Anastasia
- Narrated by: Chris Monteiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
As a cop, Ron Previte was corrupt. As a mobster, he was brutal. And in his final role, as a confidential informant to the FBI, Previte was deadly. The Last Gangster is his story—the story of the last days of the Philadelphia Mob, and of the clash of generations that brought it down once and for all. Convinced that the honor of the "business" was gone, he became the FBI's secret weapon in an intense and highly personalized war on the Philadelphia mob, operating with the same guile, wit, and stone-cold bravado that had made him a force in the underworld.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautifully done! Exceptional.
- By none on 12-15-23
By: George Anastasia
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The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4 out of 5 stars 103
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
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The Last Good Heist
- The Inside Story of the Biggest Single Payday in the Criminal History of the Northeast
- By: Wayne Worcester, Randall Richard, Tim White
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
On August 14, 1975, eight daring thieves ransacked 148 massive safe-deposit boxes at a secret bank used by organized crime, La Cosa Nostra, and its associates in Providence, Rhode Island. The crooks fled with duffel bags crammed full of cash, gold, silver, stamps, coins, jewels, and high-end jewelry. The true value of the loot has always been kept secret, partly because it was ill-gotten to begin with, and partly because there was plenty of incentive to keep its true worth out of the limelight.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but not the greatest story.
- By Russell on 07-21-17
By: Wayne Worcester, and others
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Kings of Cocaine
- Inside the Medellin Cartel - An Astonishing True Story of Murder Money and International Corruption
- By: Guy Gugliotta, Jeff Leen
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas, and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s, they controlled more than 50 percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive - supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a ragtag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Almost Perfect.
- By Nick on 10-31-18
By: Guy Gugliotta, and others
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BMF
- The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family
- By: Mara Shalhoup
- Narrated by: L. Steven Taylor
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 988
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 798
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 800
In the early 1990s, Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and his brother, Terry "Southwest T", rose up from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in American history: the Black Mafia Family. They socialized with music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, did business with New York's king of bling Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo, and built allegiances with rap superstars Young Jeezy and Fabolous. Yet even as BMF was attracting celebrity attention, its crew members struck fear in a city.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good listen
- By Lamont on 04-20-20
By: Mara Shalhoup
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The Murder of Sonny Liston
- Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights
- By: Shaun Assael
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 90
On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home - of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, Shaun Assael treats the boxer's death as a cold case. The result is a riveting whodunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great read
- By Diane Dodge on 09-14-19
By: Shaun Assael
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The Accountant's Story
- Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel
- By: Roberto Escobar
- Narrated by: Ruben Diaz
- Length: 9 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 163
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 127
In short, this is Pablo Escobar's story in the words of one of his closest confidants, his brother Roberto. It's all here - the brutal violence inside the world of the drug cartel, dealing with American drug forces and the CIA, the problems the Escobars faced when going up against the Colombian mafia, even Pablo's moments of kindness and compassion. As Roberto points out, although many people view Escobar as a monster, thousands still visit his grave every year to mourn him, and revere him as a savior.
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3 out of 5 stars
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get the unabridged version
- By Erwin Tenorio on 08-13-09
By: Roberto Escobar
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U.S. Marshals
- Inside America's Most Storied Law Enforcement Agency
- By: Mike Earp, David Fisher
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 322
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 276
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 271
Blending history and memoir, retired U.S. Marshal Mike Earp - a descendant of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp - offers an exclusive and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the most storied law enforcement agency in America, illuminating its vital role in the nation's development for more than two hundred years. Setting his own experiences within the long history of the U.S. Marshals service, Earp offers a moving and illuminating tribute to the brave marshals who have dedicated their lives to keeping the nation safe.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Boring, history of the bureaucracy
- By Lake Like A Local on 03-15-21
By: Mike Earp, and others
What listeners say about The Lizard King
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- CBlox
- 05-25-09
One of MY Top 10
Give this book a try! I had it on my wish list for a few weeks and then gave it a go. I was not dissapointed and am thinking about getting into the reptile black market myself. Any ideas on how to break into the game?
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kim
- 02-13-14
Snakes on a plane!!!
Ever wonder what might be in all the suitcases that glide past you on the luggage carousel at the airport? After listening to this captivating expose' of pet suppliers and their quasi-cartel smuggling operations, I will make sure to keep my distance from that weird lady with the oddly squirming carry-on the next time I have to fly. The story flips between the perspective of the good guys and the bad guys - although at times you wonder which is which - so you end up learning a little about about how to be a great smuggler/criminal and a little about how to catch them. Entertaining and informative - an easy 4 star rating for this great listen.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matthew Peacock
- 08-30-16
Amazing book, narrator did it justice.
Reptiles are a fascinating topic. The smuggling side of it is a Tony Montana like thrill ride. This book should be in your library.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Rocha
- 10-27-17
Reptiles and humanity
I am a reptile breeder and to learn that the biggest names in the business have a darker past is fascinating. absolutely loves this book
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Eric
- 06-05-09
Informative and entertaining
This is a book about international smuggeling, and federal criminal investigation, more than about reptiles.
The characters are very real and intriguing. The author obviously did extensive research into the lives and smuggeling operations of reptile dealers of the 1970s through 1990s.
I'll never look at a pet store, or a zoo, the same way again.
At times the narrator seemed overly dramatic, especially in the beginning when the book introduces the world of smuggeling and its main players.
Overall, a very good book and recording. I'm happy I bought it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brad
- 03-02-13
Here lizard, lizard, lizard...
An amazing tale of drugs, reptiles, smuggling, bad guys, and good guys. What else could you ask for. Awesome book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Velma
- 01-30-12
Buying a snake purse will make you think twice!!!
Where does The Lizard King rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Top RATE!!!
Has The Lizard King turned you off from other books in this genre?
Certainly has!!!
Which scene was your favorite?
I could not put book down.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
After all the training the FBI receives, it finally captures the Reptile King!!!
Any additional comments?
Great Book!!!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- thomas
- 07-20-22
GOOD INVESTIGATUON FBI/ FOREST SERVICE BOOK
10/10 recommend for criminal and law undergraduates. Talks a lot about the details of animal breeding and transporting. Talks a little bit on the natural cycle of things.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- WendyK
- 04-15-16
Very very Interesting. Will listen again.
Very very Interesting. Worth listening to a 2nd and possibly 3rd time to catch the things I missed the first time. I do plan to also get the print version. Listened during driving time with the whole family. We all love reptiles, own several and this book lead to many discussions on the value of reptiles and what it means to be a true reptile lover over someone only after profit. It also lead to discussions on the various types of reptiles there and those that job longer exist in the wild. A wonderfully written book.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A. Gift For You
- 04-29-20
best exotic animal book on audible
I listen to this book at least once a year since I've bought it. buy it.
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