Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel opens, as many of the recent books in
the series do, with bad guys doing bad things to somebody. Readers know from
almost the start the identities of some of the bad actors though the motivation
for the criminal events has yet to become apparent. In this case the victims are a United States
senator and his mistress who are run off the road as they attempt to return to
Washington. In the aftermath, Senator Smalls is lucky to be alive. He also has
pretty good idea regarding the identity of the person who tried to take him
out.
Not that Senator Taryn Grant would have
done it herself. She would not have gotten her hands dirty directly. But, as a
member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she may have been making use of
her contacts in the intelligence community and elsewhere as Small has been an
ongoing problem for her. Especially recently after he brought her a fresh round
of unwanted media attention which seems to have impacted her carefully crafted
media image just a little bit.
U. S. Marshal Lucas Davenport has been
bored. Very bored with routine boring cases. The kinds of case he did not sign
up for when he joined the United Sates Marshal’s Service. Senator Smalls knows
the automobile accident was no accident and is sure that Senator Taryn Grant is
behind it all just like she was two years ago. Smalls is convinced she is not
going to stop until he is dead. He also knows Lucas Davenport might be the only
one to not only understand his situation but to appreciate the threat from Grant
and be able to do something about it. He wants Lucas to investigate and
hopefully by doing so, keep him alive, and stop the next attempt to kill him.
What follows is a straight action
adventure read with Lucas Davenport on the hunt for professional Killers,
probably ex-military members who are now most likely private contractors, and
proof that Grant is behind it all. Of course, that means Lucas and others he
cares about become targets for retaliation.
Straight action and adventure with
little character depth or development for any of the new characters in this
series—several of which will most likely pop up again in coming books--- the
read is about action and moving forward by way of following numerous characters
as they go about their criminal and otherwise activities. The story structure
is very reminiscent of an EKG with regular spikes of action and the predictable
lulls between events. Overall, the book moves forward at a rapid pace despite the
occasional segue into politics (that clearly inflames some conservatives who
are reading something, based on their “reviews,” far beyond what is actually in
the book), sight-seeing destinations in Washington, and other reading
suggestions regarding various books and magazines made during those lulls in
the action.
While a good read for what it is – a
straight action/adventure book – it is not nearly as good as many previous Prey
books in this long running series. Sheer escapism, Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport
Novel, settles some scores and keeps the reader fairly well entertained
and turning pages. For those readers who prefer more escapist type read for
their trips to the beach or mountains, this latest read in the series should do
very nicely.
Twisted Prey: A Lucas
Davenport Novel
John Sandford
Random House Large
Print
April 2018
ISBN#
978-0-5255-9378-2
Large Trade Paperback
(also available in hardback, audio book, and eBook formats)
512 Pages (497 pages
of actual story)
$31.00
Material supplied by the good folks of
the Dallas Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
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