The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson

I have weird obsessions.  Ancient Aliens.  Oak Island.  Southern Virginia/Northern Tennessee.  Bacon.  Those hats British ladies wear. 

But I don't think any of my obsessions reach the level of Johnson's or that of his subject.

To sum up, a young flute player breaks into a museum and steals a ridiculous amount of rare (dead/stuffed/mounted/partial) birds of beautiful feathered varieties.  Later he will claim Asperger's as his defense. 

A young man helping Iraqi refugees seeks solace in a fishing trip.  He's in awe of his friend's fly making skills.  Said friend tells him the story of Edwin Rist, the bird-thief.  The story goes Rist stole them to make fishing flys. 

Really.

I swear I'm not making this up.

When I first took this out, I judged a book by it's cover.  It looked really awesome.

Then I read the jacket description and went "what the French toast?  Are you serious?  Is this for real?  Why did I buy this?  How is this on the bestseller list?!?!?!?!"

Because I'm committed to this whole Book a Day January thing, I pressed on.

It was actually a really good story!  It is as much about Johnson's obsession to solve the crime (finding Rist's accomplices and buyers of the stolen feathers) as it is about the actual crime itself.

Kinda stunned I liked it so much.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.