Lesa's Book Critiques: Revenge Prey by John Sandford

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Revenge Prey by John Sandford

Publication Day Review: Revenge Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford

 

Revenge Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford finds Lucas Davenport and Shelly White at a house on a cul-de-sac in a rural area. It is February in Minnesota as a cold overcast day is working steadily closer to what will be a brutally cold night. It is a safe house and the two Deputy U. S. Marshals are awaiting the arrival of a defecting Russian and his family under escort by Witness Protection Marshals and others.

 

The defector used to be a very high-ranking person in the Russian spy agency. Now his name is Leonard Summers and he and his family have spent the last eighteen months hidden in a CIA facility near Washington. They worked on learning and perfecting English while the CIA and others squeezed them for intelligence. The plan is for them to hide out in the house for the next two weeks or so to see if everything is okay.

 

It isn’t.

 

Within minutes of their arrival, a Russian kill team makes their presence known by firing shots into the house. A chase and resulting gun battle is on and so is the hunt for the elusive kill team.

 

What follows is an intense and fast moving read as Lucas and others chase the assassins. Assassins who have to try again or be executed by Putin’s regime.

 

The name of the game here is action and Revenge Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford delivers in every way possible. It also has several laugh out loud dialog moments that may or may not include Virgil Flowers.

 

A fast and fun read, Revenge Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel, by John Sandford is very much worth your time.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4orOUls

 

 

I received this as a digital ARC from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, through NetGalley, in late October 2025, with no expectation of a positive review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Lesa's Book Critiques: Lethal Prey by John Sandford

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Lethal Prey by John Sandford

Publication Day Review: Lethal Prey: A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford

 

Back in 2003, Doris Grandfelt was brutally murdered and her body was dumped in a park. Law enforcement did what they could, but were unable to solve the case. That included the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension based in St. Paul and two young investigators, new to the organization, Jenkins and Shrake. Because they were new and the body was a young white woman, they were regulated to the periphery and not really able to work the case. They had some ideas on investigative leads that were not taken seriously by their bosses and slowly the case fizzled to a halt.

 

In the here and now of Lethal Prey: A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel set more than two decades later, Lucas Davenport is seeing 60 coming at him fast and is a bit depressed and bored. It has been a few months since the events in Toxic Prey and he misses having a smart killer or killers worth chasing. Both Letty and Weather think he needs a hobby. What he needs is a case worth doing as his current assignment, which has been marginally interesting, is about to be over in a few hours.

 

Soon he gets a call from Senator Elmer Henderson. While Davenport is a US Marshall, Henderson is pretty much his boss and likes to put him on projects that are very important and need results. At roughly the same time Davenport got his call, BCA Agent Virgil Flowers got his phone call from his boss telling him that he was assigned to work with Lucas and to attend a meeting with Lucas and numerous other folks the next day.

 

Davenport and Flowers go to the meeting at the house of Laura Grandfelt along with Senator Henderson and several other power brokers. Grandfelt has money and pollical connections and is tired of waiting for the wheels of justice to get her sister’s killer. It has been over twenty years and she wants the killer caught and dealt with by the justice system. She wants Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers to lead the new investigation as they had no role at all in the original investigation. She is also aware that they both have a reputation of getting killers. She is putting up a five-million-dollar reward for information that identifies the killer or killers and will go public with the offer later in the day.

 

She knows that announcing her offer on numerous True Crime websites will cause a huge media interest and bring out the crazies. She doesn’t care and won’t take no for an answer. Neither will their bosses who are present to pressure Flowers and Davenport to take the case. Not that any pressure is really needed as they are interested. They both realize that a storm is about to be unleashed and the best they can do is ride it out and work the case.

 

What follows is a complicated and fast-moving read. As often happens in this series now, readers know from the opening pages the identity of the killer. What is left is the chase and it is a good one.

 

Lethal Prey: A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford is another good read. Much of the backstory of Davenport and Flowers is repeated here so readers new to the series can jump in here. Us old hands at this series are reminded how much has gone on over all these years. A mighty good read and one that is well worth your time.

 

Strongly Recommended.

Amazon Associate Purchase link: https://amzn.to/42EBuM2

 

My digital reading copy was an ARC from the publisher, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, by way of NetGalley with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – JOHN SANDFORD’S TOXIC PREY

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – JOHN SANDFORD’S TOXIC PREY

Review: Toxic Prey: A Lucas and Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford

 

The fate of the world and most of its inhabitants is the subject of Toxic Prey: A Lucas and Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford. Dr. Lionel Scott has a vision to save a planet besieged by global warming and human overpopulation. Kill a lot of people. Create a new pandemic far more lethal and wider ranging than Covid. Kill billions of people to stop the strain on the world and possibly reverse the coming collapse.

 

Letty Davenport is sent to England by her boss, Senator Christopher Colles. Officially, she works for the Department of Homeland Security, but the reality is that she is sort of a fixer type for Colles. She is sent to England to talk to three of Lionel Scott’s friends and find out what they know about Scott and if they know where he is.

 

There is a concern as the good doc previously worked at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and was currently working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Scott is an infectious disease specialist and has a lot of knowledge in his head. That knowledge could be dangerous if used by others.

 

Met by Alec Hawkins of MI5, Letty is shown Oxford, and A few other things. It soon becomes clear that Lionel Scott has a history of depression and a fascination with the possibilities of the Gaia hypothesis. 

 

Simplifying greatly, the theory is that the Earth is a living organism and all life on Earth live in a sort of harmony and are protected by the Earth. That balance has been destroyed by human overpopulation. If you remove billions of humans from the planet, the survivors would live in a world that would steadily improve as nature healed itself. Climate change would immediately stop and would probably reverse. Species and plants would rebound, improving the quality of life for the humans that remained. Those humans would have improved access to housing, resources, etc.

 

It becomes clear to Letty that Scott might be trying to make that event happen by way of a virus. He has the medical skills to engineer one. He probably has folks with him that believe in the same mission. She knows she needs help and starts raising the alarm.

 

Before long, Lucas Davenport, Letty, Hawkins, and many others are in New Mexico on Scott’s trail and trying to stop the end of the world before it starts.

 

A top-notch thriller that offers an all too real scenario, Toxic Prey is a mighty good read. Intense, often violent, it carries readers along at a rapid pace as Lucas, Letty, and others do everything they can to stop a group of people committed to wiping out the vast majority of the human population. Toxic Prey is not only a mighty good read, it is also a scary predicator of what could be done by one man with knowledge and resources easily bought online. 

Make sure you read Lesa's review here.   

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:    https://amzn.to/48HmDAz

My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, through NetGalley with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Lesa's Book Critiques: TOXIC PREY BY JOHN SANDFORD

 Lesa's Book Critiques: TOXIC PREY BY JOHN SANDFORD

Lesa's Book Critiques: JUDGMENT PREY BY JOHN SANDFORD

 Lesa's Book Critiques: JUDGMENT PREY BY JOHN SANDFORD

Review: Judgement Prey by John Sandford

It is October as Judgement Prey by John Sandford opens and Lucas Davenport is still dealing with the aftermath of the violent events of earlier in the year. He still has some pain from his various injuries. The bigger issue is the nightmares of the shootout that killed FBI agents, wounded others, and damn near killed Virgil Flowers and himself. The pain is worse at night, as is depression, but he is making slow progress. Getting back physically is slightly ahead of getting back mentally. When he is not trying to exercise, he spends his days reading or watching way too much tv while thinking about how close he and Virgil came. Everything could have easily ended that night. It very well might have been his closest call yet in his long law enforcement career.

Then U.S. Marshal for the Minnesota District, Eddie Lamb, calls and claims that she is just checking on how he is doing. They both know that is not at all why she called. What she really wants to know is if Lucas can work. She wants him to take a look at a murder scene nearby. Lamb is out of town or she would probably do it herself. A federal judge who she very much liked and respected is dead and she is mad.

Federal Judge Alex Sands and his two sons were murdered a few hours ago in their home. The only reason his wife and newborn daughter are also not dead is because they were not home. Unfortunately, they were also the first to discover the bodies.

St. Paul Police, The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the FBI are all there at the scene, among others. It is a bad deal and Lamb is sure that the various members of the assembled law enforcement still have no idea who did it or why. She gets that Lucas is in no shape yet to be actively chasing a fugitive. All she wants is for him to get out of the house, go over to the nearby crime scene, and take a look while making the presence and interest of the U. S. Marshal Service known to all. The FBI is the lead agency and they have the case. He may see something or suggest something they are not coming up with and can show the flag. The plan is for him to be present in an advisory capacity and nothing further.

Lucas is bored as things stand and is immediately interested in the case. Long time readers know that when Lucas is interested in a case, he always stays involved. It isn’t long after he reviews the scene that he is actively working it, alongside Virgil Flowers, and back doing what he does so well--- hunting killers.

What follows is a complicated and fast-moving thriller that works well in all areas. While, as with any other series it is best to read in order, if you don’t mind knowing major details of the last book-- Righteous Prey  – via the extensive recap in the first pages here, then you could start with this read. It is a solidly good one and recommended.

 

 

My reading copy came by way of the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, through NetGalley.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – DARK ANGEL BY JOHN SANDFORD

 KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – DARK ANGEL BY JOHN SANDFORD

Lesa's Book Critiques: DARK ANGEL BY JOHN SANDFORD

Lesa's Book Critiques: DARK ANGEL BY JOHN SANDFORD 

Review: Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford

 

I first told you about this book back in early February. As today is publication day, I am running my review again.

 

Officially Letty Davenport is still an investigator for the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security. However, her real boss is Senator Christopher Colles, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. After a few months of letting everything settle down after her last situation (The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel), he has a new mission for her in Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel.

The National Security Agency would like her to infiltrate a hacker group known as “Ordinary People.”

The group recently took control over the entire Russian train system and had control for months. For weeks they moved freight and equipment wherever and whenever as they wanted with the Russians powerless to stop it or take back any sense of control. As their final act, they completely shut the system down for days about a year before Russia invaded Ukraine. The Russians eventually paid a lot of money for them to release their control of the system.  

According to two NSA agents, based on chatter and other unspecified sources they will not reveal, the group might be planning to turn the gas off in a northern city. Winter is here and temperatures are way below freezing in a lot of cities of the United States. If the natural gas supply to a city was cut off, many people would die.

The NSA plan is to send Letty and one of their computer people out to California to work undercover. They are to try to meet folks who are in the group. There are some vague leads that they can pursue and once out there and undercover, the NSA agents hope that Letty and their computer guy can obtain more solid leads into the people and what they are planning to do. It is going to take some work, but their computer expert can talk the talk. They need Letty for her gun skills and to keep him safe.

Letty knows from the start the NSA folks are playing spook and therefore not telling her everything. Before long, things get complicated and  violently messy. Which is pretty much the way Letty likes it. Not that her undercover partner shares her enthusiasm for guns, blood, and bullets.

Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford is a complicated thriller and one that develops the Letty character a little more from the first book. She is given a hobby and an outlet that fits her to a T while also allowing her to publicly show off her skills. At the same time, the mission is complicated and constantly gets more complicated. Because of the peril of working undercover, she reveals more of herself to others as the story unfolds.

The result is a fun fast moving read that makes Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford well worth your time. Because the events of The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel are thoroughly detailed and discussed, it would be best to read that book before reading the new book.

Make sure you read Lesa Holstine's review today at her place. 

 

My reading copy was an ARC from NetGalley in advance of the April 11, 2023 publication date.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Review: Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford

 

Officially, Letty Davenport is still an investigator for the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security. However, her real boss is Senator Christopher Colles, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. After a few months of letting everything settle down after her last situation (The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel), he has a new mission for her in Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel.

The National Security Agency would like her to infiltrate a hacker group known as “Ordinary People.”

The group recently took control over the entire Russian train system and had control for months. For weeks they moved freight and equipment wherever and whenever as they wanted with the Russians powerless to stop it or take back any sense of control. As their final act, they completely shut the system down for days about a year before Russia invaded Ukraine. The Russians eventually paid a lot of money for them to release their control of the system.  

According to two NSA agents, based on chatter and other unspecified sources they will not reveal, the group might be planning to turn the gas off in a northern city. Winter is here and temperatures are way below freezing in a lot of cities of the United States. If the natural gas supply to a city was cut off, many people would die.

The NSA plan is to send Letty and one of their computer people out to California to work undercover. They are to try to meet folks who are in the group. There are some vague leads that they can pursue and once out there and undercover, the NSA agents hope that Letty and their computer guy can obtain more solid leads into the people and what they are planning to do. It is going to take some work, but their computer expert can talk the talk. They need Letty for her gun skills and to keep him safe.

Letty knows from the start the NSA folks are playing spook and therefore not telling her everything. Before long, things get complicated and  violently messy. Which is pretty much the way Letty likes it. Not that her undercover partner shares her enthusiasm for guns, blood, and bullets.

Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford is a complicated thriller and one that develops the Letty character a little more from the first book. She is given a hobby and an outlet that fits her to a T while also allowing her to publicly show off her skills. At the same time, the mission is complicated and constantly gets more complicated. Because of the peril of working undercover, she reveals more of herself to others as the story unfolds.

The result is a fun fast moving read that makes Dark Angel: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford well worth your time. Because the events of The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel are thoroughly detailed and discussed, it would be best to read that book before reading the new book.

 

My reading copy was an ARC from NetGalley in advance of the April 11, 2023 publication date.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Review: Righteous Prey by John Sandford

In Righteous Prey by John Sandford, somebody is taking out some very successful people who are also the worst of the worst. In fact, there is an organized group of folks doing it. Known as “The Five” they are taking out targets across the country and issuing press releases and donating monies to charities as they kill.

The third killing, this time in Minnesota, brings Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers in on the hunt. For U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport, a politician that he owes wants him involved and makes it happen. That roll downhill as Lucas wants Virgil Flowers and those in charge at Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension can read the tea leaves and agree. Less than thrilled are some folks at the FBI, but they recognize the fact that Lucas and Virgil are going to be hunting and will do their own thing. That hunt starts turning up leads and soon goes coast to coast. It also becomes increasingly violent at the same time the group begins to fragment from within.

Righteous Prey follows the same format of many of the recent thrillers from this author. Readers know from the start most of the players, who is killing and why, and are shifted back and forth as both the good guys and the bad guys are followed in their movements. The group of bad guys begins to fall apart as the pressure of law enforcement increases. Things are escalating, on both sides, and on a collision course. The only question is the setup of the eventual violent final confrontation.

You have to read the book for the answer to that question and the read is very well worth it. Righteous Prey is marketed as the 32nd book in the series and it is another fast, very intense, read.

For another take on the book, make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s review from early October here.

 

My reading copy came by way of the OverDrive/Libby app via the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

Lesa's Book Critiques: RIGHTEOUS PREY BY JOHN SANDFORD

 Lesa's Book Critiques: RIGHTEOUS PREY BY JOHN SANDFORD

Lesa's Book Critiques: A BLUE BOOK GIVEAWAY

 Lesa's Book Critiques: A BLUE BOOK GIVEAWAY

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Investigator: A Letty Davenport novel by John ...:  We are delighted to welcome back Kevin Tipple to the BPL Bookblog!  Kevin is an award-winning blogger and author.  Check out Kevin's Co...

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – JOHN SANDFORD’S THE INVESTIGATOR

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – JOHN SANDFORD’S THE INVESTIGATOR

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE INVESTIGATOR BY JOHN SANDFORD

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE INVESTIGATOR BY JOHN SANDFORD

Review: The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford

Many of us longtime fans of the Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford have expected a spin off series featuring his adopted daughter, Letty. That series is now here with the first book, The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel which releases in April.

In the aftermath of a black bag style operation for Senator Christopher Colles, Republican of Florida, Letty Davenport is getting some blow back from his staff. She accomplished the mission she was sent to do, skirted the lines legally, and got the goods. Some of his staff have questions about her methods. It does not help that she comes from a radically different life experience, dresses nothing like her Washington, D. C. coworkers, and has absolutely nothing in common with them. They bore her. She does not fit in or play well with others and is sick of the internal crap from folks who don’t see the world and people like she does. Her unique childhood gives her a different perspective. It also gave her a set of skills that she has built on over the years with the help of her father.

Letty hates her job and plans to quit. The recently completed assignment in Tallahassee was the most interesting thing she has done during her tenure working for Colles. It also serves a reminder that it is time to quit and find something else to do. Instead of allowing her to quit, Colles has an idea about a different job that could be far more interesting.

Senator Colles sits as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee. That means he is very aware of numerous issues in the Department of Homeland Security. What he wants is for her to stay, become his liaison to the Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office, label her a “researcher” (code for Investigator), and turn her lose on cases that Colles believes are important and fit her skill set. The Inspector General’s will give her carry permit. That means she can carry a gun to protect herself. She won’t have arrest powers, but she will be able to work cases and investigate things. Colles will give her own small office and freedom to do her job. The rest of the staff will, for the most part, leave her alone.

It isn’t long before her and DHS agent John Kaiser are grating each other’s nerves due to age and far different life experiences while headed south to work a case. First stop is Oklahoma City where they get a slew of briefings about oil thefts that are happening in the Permian Basin of West Texas. Somebody is stealing a little bit here and there from various operators. While it is not hurting or endangering the big operators who are losing a very small percentage of their oil, for the person doing it and getting the money, the financial haul could be huge.

Where the oil is going, who is selling it, and what that money being raised is used for, are three important questions. Especially the final question in this time of concern over domestic terrorism. Letty and Kaiser need to identify the thieves as well as their method and their endgame.

That means a trip to the oil fields in Texas, stakeouts at night, and day time surveillance while dealing with the locals, civilians and police. It isn’t long before they are in the thick of it with many lives, including their own at stake.

The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford is a fast moving and enjoyable read. Folks who believe the author is a left leaning idiot who hates the right, far and otherwise, will no doubt righteously scream on social media about how they quit very early in the book and will never read another.  Those of us born and raised Texans will see some of the obvious criticism about life here, wince a little, and nod as the criticisms are accurate. Those who expected, as this reader did, a more obvious distinction between a Letty novel and a Lucas Davenport novel might be a little disappointed. If one removes the flash back scenes, the book reads as if it is a Lucas Davenport novel and not a separate series.

Though in the big picture that is a good thing. Letty can hold her own when she finds herself in violent confrontations. The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford is a violent action filled read, that moves forward at a steady pace as events escalate. As often happens in Sandford’s books the last few years, the bad actors are identified early on, and readers soon understand why they are doing what they are doing.

The result is a solidly good novel and a good foundation for what should be an interesting series. The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford is well worth your time. Might just make you think about things as well, regardless of your pollical party lens.

 

 

My reading copy was an ARC via NetGalley. Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, the book is currently scheduled to be released on April 12^th in a variety of formats.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022