Yes, this is the 26th Prey novel, but thanks to the imagination and skill of the estimable John Sandford it is fresh and new. A Pulitzer Prize winner Sanford is saluted as one of the top mystery writers working today and rightly so. If you haven’t read or listened to one of his Lucas Davenport thrillers don’t waste another minute. If you’re already a fan you know you have one of the best reads/listens awaiting you.
This time out Lucas is enjoying a rare bit of relaxation - no longer with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension he’s been renovating his Wisconsin cabin. His friend Governor Elmer Henderson is putting together his presidential campaign and asks Lucas to join in as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun,” the Governor says - far from it.
For starters Lucas rumbles through Iowa trying to find out who killed a pair of radical group members and simultaneously protect Michaela Bowden, a determined Republican presidential candidate who may or may not be threatened with assassination. Lucas has barely begun his investigation when people start dying.
One of the things that makes this tale stand out from other thrillers is that the reader/listener knows who the guilty party is and we follow Lucas’s attempts to catch him before he harms Bowden. (A particularly absorbing touch thanks to Sandford.) Along the way Lucas is running a race against the clock to find out who is out to kill Bowden. As is his wont Sandford knows exactly how to rev up tension until the last syllable.
And, there’s a bonus - Lucas discovers a decade old bombing that resulted in numerous fatalities. What is the connection?
Richard Ferrone delivers a highly listenable narration always with appropriate pauses and emphases.
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