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Thursday, January 19, 2017

John Sandford Extreme Prey Book Review

Extreme Prey by john sandford book cover

First off, a confession. I have not read a SINGLE solitary John Sandford book. There are, however, many of them in my household.

Over the course of the last couple of years, my husband Chris discovered John Sandford and worked to collect and read his way through every single one of Sandford's books. I have a feeling there will be a Sandford book in my future.

Chris' most recent read was Extreme Prey and what follows is his review, which I thought I would share with you here.

John Sandford’s Extreme Prey is an exceptional read.

In the previous novel, the protagonist Lucas Davenport was leaving the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) with his daughter Letty asking, “What are you going to do next?” Extreme Prey flawlessly transitions Davenport from a badge carrying cop to a private citizen doing a favour for the state governor Elmer Henderson; a favour that finds Davenport investigating a potential threat against a presidential candidate. The fact that Davenport is not carrying a badge and has no authority kicks the story up a notch. Davenport uses old contacts and his reputation to gain support from local police while trying to convince others that there is a real and credible threat. Of course the threat is real and time is short, so the action is non-stop.

As the story unfolds, Davenport chases loose threads of evidence as he puts pieces of the puzzle together until the climactic scene arrives that is so engulfing that it will make you miss your bus stop; at least that happened to me.

For long-time fans of John Sandford, Extreme Prey effectively interweaves characters from previous books into the action as well as providing cameo roles for characters from the Virgil Flowers and Kidd series, also by John Sandford. If this is your first time reading a John Sandford book and don’t insist on starting at the beginning of a series, you will find a great read that can stand alone. Sandford gives you enough information to introduce every character without slowing down the action or distracting from this story.

Extreme Prey is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for anyone who likes police mysteries. For current fans of the “Prey” books you will find it an exciting surprise as Lucas Davenport adapts to not having a badge and the official support of the BCA. Personally I am already looking forward to Golden Prey scheduled for release in April 2017 to see what’s next for Lucas Davenport.

Extreme Prey definitely sounds like an excellent read to me and I have to thank my husband for the introduction to another author and for writing this post. I am especially thankful that he shared the fact that this book caused him to miss his bus stop. What a hoot!

Will there be a John Sandford book in your future?

Happy Reading!
Brenda & Chris

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Saturday, January 20, 2024

Book Review of Judgment Prey by John Sandford

Author John Sandford has written 32 books in his 'Prey' series. Each book in the Prey Series has the word 'Prey' in the title and the main character is Lucus Davenport. In the earliest novels, Lucus is a police officer for the Minneapolis Police Department. Later novels have him with the Minnesota BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) and then with the U.S. Marshall's office.

Sandford has also written another series of books starring Virgil Flowers, who once worked with the St. Paul, MN police department and now for the Minnesota BCA.

Throughout these two series, the reader finds intermittent interaction between Lucus and Virgil. Now, for the first time, Sandford has combined these two characters in their own Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers novel in his latest book, Judgment Prey.

Judgment Prey, a Lucas Davenport & Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford

Synopsis of Judgment Prey

Judgment Prey (A Prey Novel)

As the story begins, Lucus is home recovering from a shoot-out several months earlier at which he was severely wounded. One afternoon he receives a call from his U.S. Marshall's boss about a high-profile murder that just took place near his home in St. Paul. A federal judge and his two young sons have been murdered in their home. Since he's only 5 miles away, his boss wants Lucus to meet up with Virgil Flowers at the Judge's residence to just see what the scene looks like. Reluctantly, he does so.

As it turns out, the FBI and local law enforcement are all stymied as to who the killer is and what reason the killer would have to shoot this family in cold blood. As they hit dead end after dead end, Lucus and Virgil team up to follow both leads and theories until they figure out who killed the Sands family.

Summary

As with all Sandford novels, the interplay between the characters is fascinating and humerous and interesting. Both Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are delightful characters and Sandford's plots are always outstanding.

Now that John Sandford has combined my two favorite characters in one novel, I hope he will continue with more books starring them. This Sandford fan would love that, and I loved Judgment Prey (A Prey Novel #33 of 34)!

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*Review of the novel Judgment Prey is written by Wednesday Elf

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Saturday, August 13, 2022

The Investigator by John Sandford – A Book Review

A Letty Davenport Novel

John Sandford has written 31 books in the 'Prey' series starring Lucus Davenport.

In an early Prey novel, Lucus, an agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) meets Letty, a 12-year-old living in rural Red River valley. Letty ends up the center of a series of killings, and when her mother becomes one of those murdered, orphaned Letty becomes a ward of Lucus and his wife, Weather.

As the Prey series continues, Letty is featured in several other stories. First as the Davenport's ward, then as their adopted daughter, fans of this series of novels enjoy following the antics and adventures of Letty as part of the Davenport family, watching her grow up and go off to college.

The Investigator Novel

Available on Amazon

The Investigator is the first novel to star Letty Davenport as the central character. Now 24 years old and a college graduate, we find Letty working in Washington, D.C. in a desk job for a U.S. Senator. Restless and bored, Letty is ready to quit when she is offered a task she can't refuse: a real investigator job through the senator's office in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.

The Plot

Image Source: Pixabay

Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude oil. Letty's assignment is to uncover not only who is stealing and selling the oil, but learn what the thieves are doing with the profits. Rumors link this to a radical militia group and the Department of Homeland Security is extremely worried about the stolen profits financing a domestic terrorism plot.

Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser. As the two head to Texas, the case quickly turns deadly. Letty and John now know they are on the track of something bigger. This militia group, led by a woman, has set in motion an explosive plan and time is running out for them to stop it.

Summary

This fan of Sandford's Prey Series is delighted to see a favorite minor character become the main character in her own crime fiction story. I have a feeling that the author is planning a new series starring this delightful and talented young lady ~ Letty Davenport.

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Stop, You're Killing Me! Website Review

As the site administrators state in their banner,

Stop, You're Killing Me! is a website to die for...if you love mysteries!

It is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books.

A Mystery Book Website

The Stop, You're Killing Me! name is perfect for fans of the mystery/suspense genre. It is a list filled with over 5,500 authors, each with a page having a chronological list of their books. Over 66,000 titles are listed on this site, both series (6,600) and non-series.

There are two sets of the alphabet at the top of the page – one for authors and one for characters – each with a clickable link. Say you are interested in books by John Sandford (one of my favorite authors!). Click on the 'S' in the authors alphabet and it brings up all the authors whose last name begins with 'S'. Scroll down that page to find 'John Sandford', then click on that link. Now you have a page of all the books written by Sandford, divided by series and then non-series.

Each section in a series is preceded by a description of the main character. (Ex: Lucas Davenport, police detective and war games designer in Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Under the character description, you will find a list of every book in that series ~ the title followed by the date published, should you wish to begin with book one in the series and read them in order. Each title has a clickable link which takes you to an Amazon page where you can read a description of the story (and/or purchase the book). The administrators of the site use these links to Amazon as a way of financing their website and because just about any book on the list is available there.

Conversely, say you know the name of a story character (Lucas Davenport), but you cannot remember the name of the author. Use the 'character alphabet', click on 'D' for Davenport, again scroll down the list, click on the name and it will take you to the same page with a list of books starring Lucas Davenport.

At the top of each author page is also the name of the author, DOB, and link to his/her Author Website. Interesting facts are also included at times; for instance under John Sandford's name at the top of his page is the name John Camp, which is Sandford's real name.

Image Source: Pixabay

Mystery lovers who are searching for a new or favorite author or character have several other ways they can search this website. Down the left-hand side of the page is a box with more links for searches. Do you really love stories that take place in Australia? There is a Location Index by country which denotes the location of the stories' character's home base.

Ex: Jean Bedford (author)

• Anna Southwood: private enquiry agent in Sydney, Australia

Then, should you want even more information, you can click on the character's link and it will take you to the author's page and list all the books starring that character.

Another fascinating way to search, depending upon your interest in this genre, is by the Genre Index. What! You say! It's a mystery book site; isn't THAT the Genre?

Actually, there are various forms to this genre. Under the Genre Index you can find books in the Cozy Mysteries field. There are stories based around Holidays. There are books listed from Humorous Mysteries to Romantic Suspense to Psychological Suspense to Police Procedural to Thrillers. You can even find books in the Science Fiction & Fantasy area and also True Crime stories. There is a field and a subject for just about anyone.

And that is just a few of the many categories in the mystery field on this website. Look here for the Stop, You're Killing Me website and check out all the information it offers.

History of SYKM

The site was originally begun by Bonny Brown in 1998. She wanted to create a resource for anyone who loves a good mystery. When Bonny had to leave due to illness, the website was taken over in 2006 – and is maintained to this day – by Mystery lovers and readers Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich. They put out two newsletters each month – on the first and on the fifteenth - with the latest updates to new books released in hardcover, paperback, e-books, audio books and Large Print. One newsletter per month will also list books selected for one of the many awards this genre gives out. Another feature of a newsletter lists some new books Lucinda and Stan are currently reading, with a synopsis of each book.

*Note: I enjoy the way each newsletter ends with a note from the website administrators:

You made it to the end — go find a book to read!

Summary

I absolutely LOVE this website and use it several times a month. I also look forward with great anticipation to the bi-monthly newsletters to keep track of new books coming out by my favorite authors. Sometimes I use the site simply to look up a mystery author I've recently discovered to see a list of other books by the same author or about the same character I've enjoyed getting to know. (I DO love mystery series).

I've been a fan of the SYKM website for more than 15 years. I even keep a notebook of author's pages I print off from the site, listing all the books by my favorite authors (filed alphabetically) which I add to regularly and mark 'own' or 'read' after each title. I would miss so many good 'Reads' in mysteries without this wonderful website.

Sherlock Holmes book image with a magnifying glass

Source: Pixabay

So if you love mysteries like I do and are looking for a new book to read, or want a list of all books by a favorite author, Stop You're Killing Me! (SYKM) is the site for you!

For Reviews of many mystery books read by our contributors, check out: ReviewThisReviews:Mystery Books

*Stop, You're Killing Me Website Review written by Wednesday Elf, who reads mysteries all the time!

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*For Your Reading Pleasure, here is a Selection of the Most Recent Best Sellers in Mystery Books on Amazon

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Saturday, June 22, 2024

Toxic Prey by John Sandford - A Book Review

A Lucas and Letty Davenport Novel

Bookcase filled with John Sandford novels

Lucas, and his daughter Letty, team up to track down a dangerous scientist whose latest project could prove disastrous for the entire world.

Synopsis

Toxic Prey (A Prey Novel)

Lucas Davenport is a US Marshal. His adopted daughter Letty Davenport is an investigator for the Department of Homeland Security. When it is discovered that a dangerous scientist has a project that could prove disastrous for the entire world, father and daughter team up to track him down.

Dr. Lionel Scott, an expert in tropical and infectious diseases, has come to believe that society is in danger of becoming nonexistent due to Earth’s out of control population levels. He thinks the disorder that has been allowed to run rampant will destroy Gaia (the earth) if the threat to the planet is allowed to continue. With a small group of dedicated followers, Scott thinks Gaia is dying and he has decided the only way to save it is to eliminate at least one-half of the world’s population. He plans to do this by releasing a deadly virus he has developed through his knowledge of infectious diseases. He has combined two toxic diseases, making them extremely infectious, that will create a world-wide epidemic worse than any the world has yet seen.

Summary

About the time the threat is discovered, Dr. Scott has disappeared completely. Lucas and Letty, working with a group of specialists, set out to find Scott as soon as possible. When their worst fears are confirmed, it becomes a frantic race to find Scott before the virus he created turns into the perfect weapon.

Toxic Prey is book #34 of 34 in John Sandford’s Prey Series, published in April 2024.

Related Reviews:

More John Sandford novels reviewed here on Review This Reviews!
More Book Reviews on ReviewThisBooks.com

Toxic Prey (A Prey Novel)

*Toxic Prey book review written by Wednesday Elf

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Saturday, September 16, 2023

Dark Angel by John Sandford – Book Review

Book #2 in the Letty Davenport Series

Readers of the book review of The Investigator here on ReviewThisReviews will remember who Letty Davenport is – the adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport from John Sandford's Prey novels.

Now Letty returns in Dark Angel, Book 2 of 2 of what I suspect will be a continuing series. Fans of the Prey series starring Lucus will be delighted with the adventures of Letty Davenport. As always, anything by John Sandford is an excellent read!

Dark Angel Synopsis

In the first Letty Davenport novel, Letty proved herself as an investigator with incredible skills with firearms. Her actions drew the attention of several branches of the US government. Thus, the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA have now tasked her with infiltrating a hacker group intent on wreaking havoc.

Letty and her reluctant partner from the NSA (Rod Baxter, a computer whiz) pose as free-spirited programmers for hire. They drive to Los Angeles, headquarters of the hacker group, and begin the process of getting accepted by the Ordinary People group in order to uncover their plans.

Come to find out, the Ordinary People hacker group are not the real enemy. It seems the Russians have ulterior motives to eliminate the hacker group who have the ability to disrupt railway travel at a time when Russia is about to invade Ukraine.

Summary

Letty and a couple friends from other government agencies become bodyguards to the Ordinary People group while the group works on the solution to hindering Russia's plans, thus putting their lives in grave danger.

An exciting new Letty Davenport novel I highly recommend.

Dark Angel is available in a variety of formats here on Amazon

For more book reviews of John Sandford books, click here.

For more Book Reviews in any genre, go to ReviewThisBooks.com

*Book Review of Dark Angel written by Wednesday Elf

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Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Ocean Prey by John Sandford – A Book Review

Mystery Writer John Sandford has written 30 books in the Lucas Davenport 'Prey' Series and 12 books in the Virgil Flowers Series. With Prey Series Book #31, Sandford combines these two entertaining characters into one story and has them working together to solve a crime.

Ocean Prey is a Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel.

Main Characters in John Sandford's two well-known suspense/mystery series.

The Virgil Flowers Series

The main character of the series, Virgil Flowers, is described as tall, lean, late thirties, three times divorced, with long hair. He often wears t-shirts featuring rock bands. Virgil works at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). He is good friends with Lucas Davenport and is frequently mentioned in various 'Prey' novels.

The Lucas Davenport 'Prey' Series

Davenport has been a police officer, a Minneapolis detective and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator. In later books, including Ocean Prey, he now works for the U.S. Marshall's Office. Lucas is tall with black hair, gray at the temples, blue eyes, and dark complexion.

Although each character has been mentioned occasionally in each other's series (as they are friends), this is the first book where they are featured working together on the same case.

Synopsis of Ocean Prey

Fan-favorite heroes Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces on a deadly maritime case

An off-duty Coast Guardsman, fishing with his family, spots a snazzy craft with extra horsepower picking up a surfaced diver who was apparently alone without a boat in the middle of the ocean. This doesn't make sense. The Coast Guardsman calls in this suspicious behavior. The three Guardsmen who come out to investigate are shot and killed.

Since they are federal officers killed on the job, the FBI investigates. When the case stalls out, the FBI calls in the U.S. Marshall's office in the form of Lucas Davenport and his team.

When the case turns lethal, Davenport brings in a detective whose biggest asset is having a fundamentally criminal mind: Virgil Flowers.

Working undercover posing as a deep sea diver, with Davenport and the FBI supporting him in the background, Virgil infiltrates the group of notorious drug runners operating off the coast of Miami. They want the men responsible for the deaths of the Coast Guardsmen, but also the head of the organization which has been bringing in tons of illegal drugs in an unusual way. The main goal is to shut down the entire operation once and for all.

Summary

Ocean Prey brings us an outstanding and exciting story starring Sandford's two favorite characters, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers. This may be a suspenseful mystery story, but it is also filled with humor of the type frequently used by police personnel to lesson the tension. The jokes and wisecracks among the characters made me smile often, and actually laugh out loud in two places. A very enjoyable read.

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Ocean Prey Book Review written by

Wednesday Elf

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Saturday, June 1, 2024

Rough Country by John Sandford - Book Review

A Virgil Flowers Novel

John Sandford is the author of the Prey Series starring Lucas Davenport. He has written 32 books in this series since 1989.

In 2007, Sandford introduced his readers to a new character, Virgil Flowers. To date, he has written 12 novels starring Virgil. This is my review of Book #3 in the series ~ Rough Country.

Review of the Main Character, Virgil Flowers

Virgil is a tall, lean cop in his late thirties, three times divorced, hair too long for a cop. He is very casual in his attire, usually wearing jeans, a band T-shirt from one of his favorite Indy bands, and cowboy boots. He was a cop with the St. Paul, MN police for several years and was enticed by Lucas Davenport to join the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with the promise that “we’ll only give you the hard stuff.” The reason Lucas wanted him was because, despite his casual dress and unusual style of investigating, Virgil has a very high ‘solve’ rate when it comes to crimes.

In Rough Country, Virgil encounters a ‘hard case’ that is like none he has had before.

Synopsis of Rough Country

Rough Country (A Virgil Flowers Novel)

As Rough Country begins, Virgil is on vacation competing in a fishing tournament in northern Minnesota. Lucas Davenport (his nominal boss) calls him to investigate a murder in a nearby resort where a woman has been shot. No one else is available and Virgil is nearby, so he has to go, despite preferring fishing to investigating.

The biggest problem with the investigation is that there are too many suspects and they all seem to have secrets. Is the murderer among the woman’s work force at an ad agency in Minneapolis she is soon to take over and where she plans to fire several people? Or is it her live-in lover whom she was about to break up with? Then there are several people in the town near where this peaceful wooded resort on a Minnesota lake is located who have their own agendas and would benefit from the elimination of this woman. A suspenseful mystery that will keep you guessing as the story unfolds.

Summary

I have been enjoying all John Sandford books for many years (and own them all). I really like Lucas Davenport in the Prey Series, but I have to admit that Virgil Flowers has moved to the top of my favorites list. He is a delightful character and the humor sprinkled among the suspense is such fun to read. Murder and mayhem and humor makes for a very enjoyable read.

*Book Review of Rough Country is written by Wednesday Elf

Rough Country (A Virgil Flowers Novel)

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Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Neon Prey by John Sandford – Book Review

Neon Prey, a mystery suspense thriller in John Sandford's Lucus Davenport series.

Main Character

Lucus Davenport is a former Minneapolis homicide detective and later worked as an investigator with the Minnesota Bureau of Apprehension. He is now with the U.S. Marshall's Service. In Neon Prey he is given the assignment of finding a small-time criminal (Clayton Deese) who skipped out on bail after being arrested.

Plot Synopsis

Deese worked as a muscle-for-hire for a loan-shark. The Marshalls are looking for him mainly because they think he might be their best chance to bring down his boss and the whole illegal loan-sharking operation.

Lucus and his team, Rae and Bob, track Deese to his home in rural Louisiana where they discover he has disappeared. When they check out a dirt path behind Deese's cabin, they find a jungle full of graves. Now Deese is no longer a simple crook who beats people up for his loan-shark boss; he is a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice.

Tracking a serial killer instead of just a low-level criminal who skipped bail, the Marshall's office teams up with the FBI. The search takes them to Los Angeles where Deese has a brother who may be harboring him. It is soon discovered that the brother is also a crook and has a gang of thieves who rob wealthy people in home invasions. A Los Angeles police detective is extremely anxious to catch up with the brother and his gang. Deese and his brother are finally located in L.A., but a planned swat team attack fails to catch all of the gang members. Deese and his brother, along with two other gang members, manage to escape.

Through evidence found in the quarry's house, they figure out the four remaining criminals have gone to Las Vegas.

Now, not only are Lucus Davenport, Bob and Rae from the U.S. Marshall's Office looking for them, but also the FBI, the L.A. Detective and the Las Vegas police.

Except - the quarry is ruthless and – as Davenport will come to find – full of surprises.

Summary

Available on Amazon

Neon Prey is #29 of 31 in the Lucas Davenport 'Prey' series. As with all of Sandford's books, this one has clever plotting, is genuinely suspenseful, and is interspersed with cop-type humor.

Neon Prey Book Review written by

Wednesday Elf

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Wednesday, May 31, 2017

A Man Called Ove Book Review

Fredrik Backman's novel, A Man Called Ove, is a story about the grumpiest man ever. I really, really had to struggle to put Ken Follett's enthralling Fall of Giants down in order to read Ove for my next book club meeting. This problem seems to keep happening to me; that is, having to put one book down for a book club book. That's okay though. Part of the reason for joining a book club is to read books you might not have chosen on your own.

My husband, as always, was good at pushing me to the book I needed to be reading. Whenever Chris saw me with the wrong book in hand, he’d raise an eyebrow and I would reluctantly put Fall of Giants down in trade for Ove. My heart, however, was not in it. At least, not at first...

In the end, I cared. I cared about Ove and how he had come to be such a grumpy old curmudgeon. The cover suggests that reading this book will cause you to feel sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life, which might well be true but I am so very glad to say that I do not know anyone even a little bit as grumpy as Ove. He is, as Amazon says, "the bitter neighbor from hell."

Ove complains about everything. He is a strict believer that rules are meant to be followed, signs obeyed, things put in their place. If you do not feel the same way, be prepared to hear about it. He rejects most of modern technology believing computers, mobile gadgets and even modern vehicles to be bad news. He has strict routines and principles to be adhered to.

Despite Ove, or perhaps I should say because of Ove, A Man Called Ove is an entertaining book. It tells his life story and the story of the people who become his friends despite his off-putting personality. It does a good job of illustrating how one life affects the next and then the next.

Believe it or not, I would RECOMMEND this grumpy old man’s story. You will laugh and you will cry though I do remember laughing more than crying.

There were a number of surprises in this book. The one that bothered me is the age of this grumpy old man. I was jaw smacked when I finally found out how old he was and I see from other reviews online that I am not the only one who takes exception to the age that author Backman set for a grumpy old man.

If you pick up and read A Man Called Ove, be sure to come back and let us know what YOU think about Ove’s story (and about his age.) You can find it quickly and affordably priced on Amazon by clicking right here.

If you are looking for more books by Fredrik Backman, you might like to check out this review of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by another contributor here on Review This.

Stay tuned for more book reviews!

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

More Book Reviews:

Steve Berry's Amber Room.
John Sandford's Extreme Prey.
The One Man by Andrew Gross.

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