I'm going to have to read more Goddard. Some readers on Amazon have suggested that this was one of Goddard's less successful books, but I found it to be charming, a very amusing, sometimes laugh-out-loud, mix of Westlake-type humor, with Edward Abbey environmentalism. The story turns into a true farce as special agents of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, led by Henry Lightstone and a bunch of undercover FBI agents, all get mixed up with (1) a group of rogue army rangers working for a corrupt congressman with a penchant for shooting endangered species of waterfowl, (2) a sadistic industrialist, (3) Karla, a rural post-mistress who keeps a blind black panther as a pet and watch-feline, and (4) some ancient survivalists. Their job is complicated because the agents are ostensibly working on two separate cases, one involving a sting operation to catch the operators of illegal animal shipments coming from Mexico. They ship crates of deadly snakes, caiman crocs, and red-legged tarantulas to a warehouse in Oregon where one group of agents must figure out how to get these dangerous animals into terrariums to show to the prospective buyers. The rogue rangers are setting a trap for Lightstone, who had evoked the rage of the industrialist. Their trap is hindered by lack of a positive identification, and the congressman's aide is forced to take numerous overnight air shuttles from Oregon to Washington in an attempt to provide the correct paperwork. Naturally, all sorts of things go awry, often uproariously so. This is apparently the third in a series of books about Henry Lightstone. Goddard comes from a law enforcement background and has created a novel set of characters and situations. Other titles include Balefire, Cheater, and Prey. More titles to add to my ever growing list of wanna-reads.
