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: 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

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...