cover image The Case of the Missing Cobras

The Case of the Missing Cobras

Kathy Kaye. CreateSpace (www.createspace.com), $16.50 trade paper (452p) ISBN 978-1-4537-2506-1

A former managing editor at the American Medical Association, Kaye does a superior job of making illegal trafficking in venomous snakes an intriguing premise in this solid contemporary thriller. The mysterious decimation of wild king cobras in Thailand leads that country%E2%80%99s prime minister to believe that unscrupulous American collectors have played a large part in smuggling out the valuable reptiles. That in turn, leads the special operations unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to launch an undercover operation. A young and untested agent, Johnny Lee, is sent to infiltrate a community of collectors in Virginia, despite her lack of experience with snakes. Lee proves willing to go beyond the playbook to maintain her cover, in a manner that the author renders plausible. But the stakes get raised when one of her targets is killed by his venomous specimens. Making the chapters fly by despite the book%E2%80%99s length is an achievement, as is Kaye%E2%80%99s willingness to respect her audience%E2%80%99s intelligence by not wrapping up everything neatly or making obvious plot choices.