A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel
I have been a fan of John Sandford’s books since his first one (Rules of Prey) published in 1989. Sandford has written 35 books in the ‘Prey’ series, featuring Lucas Davenport as the main character. In 2007, Sandford began the Virgil Flowers series ~ now totaling 12 books.
Both series are police procedurals in the mystery/thriller genre, with the main characters being in law enforcement. By the time we meet Virgil Flowers (in Book #1 - Dark of the Moon), both Virgil and Lucas work for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and Davenport is nominally Virgil’s boss.
By Book 31 in the Prey series, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers have begun handling difficult cases together. Lethal Prey is the 4th novel starring this pair of investigators, providing, as always, a very interesting mystery to solve, plus giving the reader an extremely amusing time with their delightful ongoing ‘cop’ humor.
Synopsis of Lethal Prey
In Lethal Prey, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers have once again joined forces, this time to try and solve a 20 year old cold case crime and track down a ruthless killer who will do whatever it takes to keep the past buried.
The crime was the murder of Doris Grandfelt, an employee at an accounting firm who was brutally stabbed to death. Despite her twin sister Lara Grandfelt’s persistent calls to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the killer was never found.
Now Lara, diagnosed with breast cancer and confronted with the possibility of her own death, is determined to find Doris’ killer. She offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest. To this end, she releases the entire investigative file online onto true crime sites. Dozens of true crime bloggers show up looking for new evidence and leads (toward a share of the reward). The problem is, all discoveries have to be reviewed and followed up by Lucas and Virgil.
The crime bloggers DO end up providing new clues and leads, which is helpful to the detectives. But they also blast every clue online, allowing the killer, whose identity the reader knows in Chapter One, to keep one step ahead. As the killer eliminates more people to prevent the detectives from discovering the identity of the murderer, Lucas and Virgil find the whole case not only frustrating, but deadly.
Summary
The ending leaves some things unresolved, thus leaving the reader to decide how things work out both for the killer and with Virgil's future plans. Or, perhaps Sandford is just leaving it open for a future follow-up book).
This non-standard Sandford ending has caused readers’ reviews to be mixed, with some finding this lack of conclusion disappointing. Others, such as myself, found the story very interesting, and the witty banter between Virgil and Lucas highly entertaining. I am never disappointed with any John Sandford novel and enjoyed Lethal Prey very much.
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*Book Review of Lethal Prey is written by Wednesday Elf
Sounds like two great book series with wonderful characters. I can certainly understand how this book would be captivating. I would imagine a lot of chatty crime bloggers could be quite a problem for detectives.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think I would find the non-conclusive conclusion a bit frustrating, this does sound like a very captivating mystery with terrific characters. Not sure whether I could handle all the violence, but I’m increasingly tempted to try the first book in this series and see how I do. Thanks for another great book review, Elf.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an excellent series to get into for those who enjoy this genre. I wonder if my mom ever read his books? I bet she did.
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