Harper Academic

Winged Obsession

The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler

by Jessica Speart

On Sale: 03/27/2012

Price: $20.99

Winged Obsession

Enlarge Book Cover

Winged Obsession

The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler

by Jessica Speart

On Sale: 03/27/2012

Format:

Price: $20.99

About the Book

One of the world’s most beautiful endangered species, butterflies are as lucrative as gorillas, pandas, and rhinos on the black market. In this cutthroat $200 million business, no one made more money than-or posed as great an ecological danger as-Yoshi Kojima, the kingpin of butterfly smugglers.

Determined to capture Kojima, rookie U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Ed Newcomer became close to the smuggler, posing as a young apprentice eager to learn the smuggling trade. But twice the agent’s inexperience allowed this criminal, with a nearly supernatural sense of survival and an overwhelming sense of paranoia, to get away.

Just when it seemed Kojima was out of reach, Newcomer was given one last chance to capture him. Somewhere in the hunt, Kojima had become obsessed with the agent. This obsession, along with his continued mania for butterflies, could finally spell the downfall of the untouchable smuggler.

Meanwhile, working under-cover to research Winged Obsession, Jessica Speart also befriended Kojima. Like Newcomer, her plan was to betray Kojima. What she didn’t know was that this cagey smuggler was planning to turn the tables and use her as a patsy for continuing his illegal butterfly trade.

“Winged Obsession offers a fascinating glimpse into the illegal market in exotic and endangered butterflies. . . . By the end of Winged Obsession, I was rooting for creatures I didn’t know existed before I read the book.”-Miami Herald

Critical Praise

“A true thriller about an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent hunting for the ‘human vacuum cleaner’ of the insect world.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Reads like a suspense thriller.” — Oklahoma City Oklahoman

Winged Obsession offers a fascinating glimpse into the illegal market in exotic and endangered butterflies....By the end of Winged Obsession, I was rooting for creatures I didn’t know existed before I read the book. — Miami Herald

Butterfly smugglers? Who knew? Journalist Jessica Speart chases down the butterfly world’s most elusive criminal, the notorious Yoshi Kojima, in her fantastic new book. It’s a journey with the twists and turns of a taut thriller — like The Orchid Thief, only with wings. — Daily Candy

Meet the Hannibal Lecter of the conservation world... this expose reads like a thriller and proves once again that truth is stranger than fiction. — Lee Child, New York Times Bestselling author

Winged Obsession is an unputdownable thriller.... I loved this book! — Lisa Scottoline, New York Times Bestselling author

-

Product Details

  • ISBN: 9780061772443
  • ISBN 10: 0061772445
  • Imprint: William Morrow Paperbacks
  • On Sale: 03/27/2012
  • Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.760 in (d)
  • Pages: 336
  • List Price: $20.99
  • BISAC1 : TRUE CRIME / Historical
  • BISAC2 : NATURE / Animals / Butterflies & Moths
  • BISAC3 : NATURE / Ecology
  • BISAC4 : TRUE CRIME / General