THE FALCON STING

A bit weary of her humdrum life in the small town of Security, Arizona, a teenager looks to put herself ""in the way of experience."" But she gets more than she bargains for. Always fond of watching hawks and falcons soaring over the desert, Marina is thrilled to discover a nest of rare peregrines; shortly thereafter she makes friends with Nick, a disreputable classmate who works at a raptor rehabilitation center. After they hear about a local falcon-smuggling operation, they return to the nest to find three of the eggs stolen and a corpse nearby; then federal agents appear and persuade them to become part of a ""sting"" to identify the smugglers. Life is humdrum no more. As in The Gorilla Signs Love, Brenner has two romantically-linked young people working successfully to save an endangered animal; here, the eyasses (baby falcons) are rescued at the airport and part, not all, of the ring is apprehended. As usual, all of Brenner's characters, human or animal, have distinct personalities. The plot is a bit contrived, however--especially the murder, which turns out to be unrelated to the smuggling and easily wrapped up when Marina Finds the killer's dog. tags in a nearby pack-rat hoard. Not the author's strongest work, but still above average.