Neon Prey by John Sandford

Neon Prey by John Sandford --- 390 pages

The 29th installment in Sandford's Lucas Davenport thriller series shows Sandford hasn't lost his touch.

Sandford, author of 40+ bestselling novels, somehow makes each new novel more thrilling and ingenious than the one before. By mixing and matching elements of crime, mystery and thriller genre(s) in different combinations, he manages to keep you guessing where he's going next. There's no stock formulas or characters in a Sandford novel, and the plots are tightly woven and fast-paced.  In Neon Prey, the story line focuses on two cases involving the same bad, bad dude, over a period of time.

Clayton Deese is stone cold killer. A small-time enforcer for a New Orleans loan shark, Deese takes on what should have been a routine job that goes sideways and ends up getting caught by the cops.  Out on bail awaiting trial, Deese makes his next mistake when he decides to run. Lucas Davenport, now a U.S. Marshal, gets called in when the FBI (looking to build a case against Deese's employer) stumble onto Deese’s secret obsession, which puts him at the top of the Most Wanted list. Lucas and his team (Bob and Rae) are assigned to hunt down the fugitive ASAP.  Deese is trying to negotiate a pay off from the loan shark, who would prefer that Deese disappear forever. Meanwhile  Deese heads to L.A. to hook up with a half-brother and his criminal crew who specialize in home invasions and robberies. But when Deese gets involved, the violence escalates, the other gang members start double-crossing each other,  and soon they're on the run to Vegas, with the Marshals in hot pursuit.

Click HERE to read an interview with Sandford discussing Neon Prey from therealbookspy.com.

 Click HERE to red the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Twisted Prey by John Sandford

Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford - 387 pages

 In this 28th Lucas Davenport novel, our hero, now a member of the federal Marshal Service, has developed a reputation in certain circles for discreetly handling politically sensitive cases. So when Minnesota Senator Porter Smalls is convinced that his recent automobile accident was no accident but an attempted assassination that resulted in the death of his good friend Cecily Whitehead, he puts in a call for Davenport.

The problem is there doesn't seem to be any physical evidence to support Smalls' claim that a truck tried to run his vehicle off the road. Smalls is certain that the person who wants him dead is the junior Senator from Minnesota, Taryn Grant, with whom he has a long and sordid political feud. Smalls also knows that Lucas is convinced Taryn has killed at least three times before and gotten away with it (Silken Prey, 2013).

Lucas flies to D.C. to take a a closer look at the evidence. He discovers that the accident was very carefully orchestrated by professionals. Only Cecily’s skillful driving saved Smalls' life, but at the cost of her own. As Lucas delves deeper into the case, he encounters a shadow world of mercenaries and profiteers that spans the globe, and finds tantalizing hints of a connection to Senator Taryn Grant and her Presidential ambitions.

Sandford dives into this murky world, examining the intersections of power and greed.  U.S. Marshals Rae Givens and Bob Matees show up to assist Davenport and provide a little comic relief with their wise-cracking repartee. The sardonic humor - a Sandford trademark - provides a balance for the more violent elements in this deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Sandford knows how to engage his readers from the first page to the final paragraph. 

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from the New York Times.

Golden Prey by John Sandford

Golden Prey: A Novel by John Sandford --- 392 pages

John Sandford writes a mean and lean thriller,  and his latest, Golden Prey, combines his signature style with a new job  and new possibilities for his hero, Lucas Davenport.

Davenport has worked a variety of jobs in his law enforcement career, from beat cop to detective, to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator, to politically savy troubleshooter for the Minnesota governor. But when Davenport thwarts an assassination attempt on Presidential candidate Michaela Bowden during a campaign stop at the Minnesota State Fair in 2016's Extreme Prey, he's rewarded with a job as a Deputy United States Marshal.

He's a Deputy U.S. Marshal with a special portfolio and clearly future President Bowden has plans for him, but pending her election Davenport can pick and choose what he wants to do.

Book 27 in the series sets Davenport on the track of Garvin Poole. Poole's been out of circulation for a while, holed up with his girl friend and living off the proceeds of his last job in an affluent Dallas suburb. But now he's been recruited by an old friend who's targeted the local operation of a Honduran drug cartel in Biloxi, Mississipi.  Poole and his pal get away with millions of the cartel's profits, leaving behind five dead bodies --- four of the cartel's local operators and a six-year-old gril who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Carelessly, Poole left some DNA at the scene, so now the authorities know he's involved.

Davenport starts with Poole's family in Nashville. Even though Poole left home long ago, it's possible he's maintained some kind of tenuous contact with them. But Davenport is one step behind the drug cartel, who have hired their own enforcers to get back their money and make sure no one else tries to imitate Poole's heist. Once again, Davenport pits himself against antagonists who will stop at nothing.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Click HERE to read the review from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Extreme Prey by John Sandford

Extreme Prey: A Novel by John Sandford --- 406 pages

The 27th book in the Lucas Davenport series; and just when you'd expect Sandford to be winding down the adventure, he ramps it up instead.

Following on the conclusion of Gathering Prey (2015), Davenport has finally had enough of internal politics in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and walked away from his job. Since he's independently wealthy, he can afford to do so, and seems happy enough to spend his time remodeling his getaway cabin on the lake.

When his friend and mentor, Governor Elmer Henderson, calls from the Presidential campaign trail in Iowa to report disquieting encounters with some erstwhile supporters, Lucas agrees to assess the situation. But instead of being able to reassure Henderson, Lucas is soon convinced the amorphous threat is real. When people start dying, it doesn’t take Lucas long to identify possible suspects; but stopping a political conspiracy is a tall order for a man operating sans badge, back up or even a gun. Lucas finally figures out where and when the asasssins will strike ---who has never been in doubt --- but HOW they plan to pull it off in the middle of a massive public venue crawling with security is still a question --- and the clock is ticking.

A long-established series that still delivers is taking a new twist.
Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read a review from the San Diego Examiner.  

Click HERE to read Harry Levins' review from the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Gathering Prey by John Sandford

Gathering Prey: A Novel by John Sandford --- 407 pages

This is the 25th book in the Lucas Davenport thriller series by John Sandford, and I would say it is one of his best ever.  There have been indications from the author that he is wanting to "wrap up" the Prey series, and this is that wrap up but also --- good news for Davenport fans --- hints of a new direction to come.

Davenport's adopted daughter Letty, now attending Stanford University in California, is the catalyst for his involvement in this case.  Letty befriends a young woman and her boyfriend who she meets in San Francisco. Skye and Henry are Travellers, people who choose an itinerent lifestyle, supporting themselves by panhandling, odd jobs, occasionally by petty theft; an essentially invisible group of perpetual wanderers existing on the fringes and living by their wits. On impulse she gives them her phone number and tells them to call her if they ever get to Minnesota.

Skye considers herself to be street-smart, but even she is not wary enough to avoid becoming the target of a gang of thrill seekers under the spell of a Charles Manson-like killer who calls himself Pilate. When Henry disappears in South Dakota, Skye panics and calls Letty for help. Letty arranges for Skye to get to Minneapolis, and persuades her father to listen to Skye's story.  Lucas believes Skye and gets involved. From there the story becomes a blood-soaked juggernaut careening across three states to the final showdown. I started this book at 6 o'clock in the evening and finished it at 1 a.m. after a fast, furious and viscerally satisfying read.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read a review from the Huffington Post,

Click HERE (SPOILER ALERT) to read a review and Sandford talking about Davenport's future.

Field of Prey by John Sandford

Field of Prey: A Novel by John Sandford --- 392 pages

Field of Prey is Sandford's twenty-fourth novel in the Lucas Davenport series of crime novels. I got a definite sense while I was reading this book that Sandford is getting ready to wind down the Lucas Davenport series, and I was interested to find a recent interview in the Huffington Post (click HERE) that seems to confirm my hunch.

It's been a great series, compulsively readable, but Sandford seems ready to move on to new interests. I just hope he continues to write.

In Field of Prey Davenport and his team in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are facing one of their biggest challenges when two randy teenagers stumble on evidence indicating that a serial killer has been murdering women for over twenty years and dumping their bodies in an old cistern on an abandoned farm. The Bureau is working with local law enforcement in the rural county where the bodies were found to try to figure out how so many women could have disappeared without anybody noticing.

The killer has been clever; he's left almost no evidence that could be used to identify him other than the assumption that he must have a local connection since only someone familiar with the area could have known about the cistern. But that's not much to go on. The news media is going wild with the story, and the Governor (who has national political ambitions) needs this case solved fast. But Lucas knows this is not the kind of case that is going to be solved fast. And his biggest concern is making sure the killer doesn't add any new victims to his tally before they catch up with him,

Meanwhile the killer is enjoying watching the media feeding frenzy, and looking for his next trophy, when he notices a tall, rangy blonde, Catrin Mattsson, the investigating officer from the County Sheriff's Department, being interviewed on TV.

I read the book in one sitting and wound up staying up until 1 a.m. to finish it. Sandford is one of those authors who just sucks you in and you can't stop until you finish it. Warning: this book is not for the squeamish.

Fields of Prey by John Sandford

In this latest installment of John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series (400 pages) a killer is on the loose. He's gone undetected for years until a couple of kids stumble upon his burial ground it soon becomes clear that he is a serial killer. His chosen victims - young, blonde, and well endowed - just like the local law enforcement.

Full of surprises, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Storm Front by John Sandford

Storm Front by John Sandford, 384 pages.

The seventh installment of Sandford's Virgil Flowers series, but the first book I've read in the series. I was familiar with Flowers through the Lucas Davenport series, but wasn't sure I wanted to start a new series, until now.

The story begins at an archeological dig and the finding of a rare stone, and its subsequent disappearance. It's not long before the action lands smack in the middle of Minnesota - and Flowers' back yard. Lots of characters to keep track of and several biblical references will keep readers on their toes. No one will see the surprise ending coming!
I will definitely be reading the first 6 books in the series!

Silken Prey by John Sandford

Silken Prey: A Novel by John Sandford --- 406 pages

In the latest of Sandford's best selling thrillers featuring Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Sandford posits the theory that it takes a sociopathic personality to succeed in contemporary politics.

When a right wing Republican Senator is the target of a particularly vicious sex scandal on the eve of a too tight to call election, Lucas Davenport is tasked by the Governor for a quick and quiet investigation.

When Lucas discovers a possible link between the dirt that was planted on the Senator and a minor political operative who's suddenly dropped out of sight, he follows a trail that leads him to the inner circle of the Senator's Democratic opponent.

Fast-paced, tightly plotted, morally ambiguous; Sandford's books are totally addictive. Save this one for the weekend, because you won't put it down until you're done.