Animals

Starred review from January 11, 2021
Screenwriter Staples, creator of the Disney+ drama series The Right Stuff, makes the tragedy of animal trafficking vivid in his impressive debut. South African Cobus Venter, a ranger who has lost colleagues in shoot-outs with rhino horn poachers, embarks on a perilous mission to Southeast Asia to try to stop the powerful criminals behind the slaughter of wildlife and people. Venter’s path eventually crosses that of American insurance investigator Randall Knight, who has found evidence that tiger breeding to create an exotic animal could cause a pandemic. Readers should be prepared for some shocking cruelty—at one point, poachers shoot a baby elephant in the stomach so that its terrified wails will lead adult elephants to gather and make them easier to kill. Staples skillfully weaves multiple plot strands, including CIA efforts to combat terrorism, with well-developed characters. His extensive research pays off in this moving, multifaceted tale. Agent: Mel Berger, WME.

January 15, 2021
Screenwriter Staples' first novel provides a kaleidoscopic view of the horrors of African poaching. Locals and visitors alike have been poaching wild animals for years. But as endangered species dwindle, their disfigurement, capture, and slaughter have become steadily more systematic and centralized. Now the word is that the Sun Yee On triad is making a bold move to corner the market by lobbying to loosen the laws that protect the magnificent creatures and seizing a controlling interest in their distribution. Staples follows several characters interested in triad head Wan Koi's plans for very different reasons. Cobus Venter is a Kruger National Park ranger who's quit and gone freelance in a rage over the restrictions placed on his work. Kevin Davis is a CIA money-laundering specialist who wants to form a task force that will force his bosses to grant his long-deferred promotion. Randall Knight, a partner in Carlyle Insurance, wants to identify the parties who supplied a sick tiger that infected the other animals at a Miami zoo. Inspector Audrey Lam, a member of the Hong Kong Police Narcotics Bureau, wants to track down the person who poisoned the rhino horn that nearly killed her seriously ill 12-year-old. Since the poisoner was Cobus Venter, determined to put a spike in the illegal trade by undermining its product, it's clear from the beginning that the principals will be working at odds with each other. The author's conscientious, sometimes labyrinthine plotting takes quite a while to gather momentum. From the beginning, however, he excels in creating scene after scene of uncompromising cruelty and sadness. Above all, Staples brings out the beasts in his human cast.

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February 1, 2021
With the encouragement of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Goodall, and other wildlife activists, screenwriter Staples wrote this first novel to reveal the gruesome truths about the trafficking of endangered animals for allegedly medicinal and certainly decadent purposes, a little-known yet catastrophic realm of organized crime. Staples' gutsy in-the-field research shapes this webby ecothriller and its intriguing characters gone rogue in pursuit of justice. In South Africa, ranger and war veteran Cobus takes matters into his own hands after poachers kill a rhino mother and another ranger. Knight, a wealthy and wily insurance investigator working with private zoos, is shocked into action by the brutal abuse of tigers. Struggling CIA operative Davis seeks evidence of the link between illegal wildlife trade and terrorist groups. In Hong Kong, Inspector Lam finds herself embroiled in rhino-horn smuggling. With hard-edge cinematic action and psychological depth, Staples dramatizes with jolting specificity horrific crimes against wondrous, precious animals as cartels and their craven customers "cash in on the end of the wild" and threaten the ""death of life itself."" Staples' gripping and awakening tale should have a resounding impact.

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