Craig Welch's Shell Games has the most unlikely of central characters: the massive geoduck clam, a tasty creature that resides in the waters of Puget Sound and resembles the raciest part of the male anatomy. Pronounced "gooey-duck," the valuable shellfish and the humans who cannot resist plundering it make for a compelling tale that is at once ridiculous and tragic…Welch has clearly done his homework, which has allowed him to write an engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls' to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle's outcome.
—The Washington Post
In this deep-sea true-crime narrative, journalist Welch entertains and horrifies with tales of poachers and the law enforcement officers devoted to chasing them down. Stories range across the wildlife spectrum, from bears killed for their gallbladders (used “to treat cancers, burns, and liver and stomach problems”) to Moonies harvesting baby leopard sharks off California’s Catalina Island for pet shops. The book focuses on fisheries in the Pacific Northwest and features the “oversize, ugly, and still somehow charming” geoduck clam, which resembles nothing more than “a giant penis,” and an equally larger-than-life Native American fisherman and artist, Doug Tobin, “a charmer, a prankster, a benefactor, and a bully.” Tobin, originally enlisted by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife detectives, as an informant to help catch geoduck poachers, ends up stealing millions of dollars worth of geoduck and Dungeness crab, the ecological consequences of which will take decades to evaluate. Welch’s vivid depictions and broad coverage of this global, ecologically disastrous illegal trafficking provide a sympathetic glimpse into the dedication and frustration of wildlife crime fighters. (Apr.)
[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.” — Washington Post
“Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.” — Wall Street Journal
“Endlessly fascinating.” — Seattle Times
“Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.” — Oregonian
“With hit men, snitches, and midnight smuggling runs, this book has all the adventure of a Miami Vice episode. That it reads like a detective novel - with the quarry being millions of dollars of freakishly large clams - is testament to the formidable writing and reporting talents of Craig Welch.” — Mark Obmascik, author of The Big Year and 2009 National Outdoor Book Award winner for Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled - and Knuckleheaded - Quest for the Rocky Mountain High
Endlessly fascinating.
[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.
Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.
Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.
With hit men, snitches, and midnight smuggling runs, this book has all the adventure of a Miami Vice episode. That it reads like a detective novel - with the quarry being millions of dollars of freakishly large clams - is testament to the formidable writing and reporting talents of Craig Welch.
Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.
[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.
Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.
In this compelling debut, award-winning journalist Welch offers an insider's view of the illegal international trade in protected wildlife. At the heart of the story is the geoduck, a huge and obscene-looking burrowing clam native to the Pacific Northwest. Prized as a culinary delicacy, particularly in Asian markets, geoducks have been victims of illegal poaching for over a century. But in the 1990s, a single enigmatic poacher and his smuggling ring stripped Puget Sound of thousands of pounds and millions of dollars worth of geoducks. Welch draws upon hundreds of interviews with police detectives, divers, smugglers, and federal agents—as well as a nuanced understanding of Washington's cultural and natural history—to weave a fascinating tale of this legendary poaching episode and the resulting environmental disaster. VERDICT Although this work fits squarely in the true-crime category, the criminals are quirky rather than terrifying and the pacing is measured rather than breathless, making it an appropriate choice for readers who prefer less intensity in true-crime narratives. Like Mark Griffiths's The Lotus Quest (reviewed above), this will also appeal to readers who enjoyed Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. [Ebook edition: ISBN 978-0-06-198798-4.]—Kelsy Peterson, Prairie Village, KS
