MT Review: Gathering Prey (Hardcover)

I've finished "Gathering Prey" the 25th book in his Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford.

Product Description

The extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from #1 New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winner John Sandford.

They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes — they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them.

Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she’d befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody’s killing her friends, she’s afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She’s hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn’t know what to do.

Letty tells Lucas she’s going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty’s getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman’s story, though, he begins to think there’s something in it. Little does he know. In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has ever seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger — but just may change the course of his life.

About the Author

John Sandford is the author of twenty-five Prey novels; eight Virgil Flowers novels, most recently Deadline; and seven other books. He lives in New Mexico.

Product Details
Series: Prey (Book 25)
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; First Edition edition (April 28, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399168796
ISBN-13: 978-0399168796

My Review:

Storyline:  Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she’d befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody’s killing her friends, she’s afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She’s hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn’t know what to do.
Letty tells Lucas she’s going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty’s getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman’s story, though, he begins to think there’s something in it.

Characters:  Letty is her father's daughter because they both love expensive cars, clothes, talk and think alike, stubborn and both love speed.

Villain(s):  Man were they vicious, psychotic and terrifying.   I believe the leaders idol is a real life group from the 60's but a whole lot worse.

I feel so sorry for the victims because they were killed in a cruel and viscous way.  It wasn't a fast and swift killing but an agonizing and slow death with a whole lot of hurt.  It was pretty descriptive!

4/5

MT Review: Deadline (A Virgil Flowers Novel)

I've finished "Deadline" the 8th book in his Virgil Flowers series by John Sandford.

The thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times–bestselling series.

In Southeast Minnesota, down on the Mississippi, a school board meeting is coming to an end. The board chairman announces that the rest of the meeting will be closed, due to personnel issues. “Issues” is correct. The proposal up for a vote before them is whether to authorize the killing of a local reporter. The vote is four to one in favor.

Meanwhile, not far away, Virgil Flowers is helping out a friend by looking into a dognapping, which seems to be turning into something much bigger and uglier — a team of dognappers supplying medical labs — when he gets a call from Lucas Davenport. A murdered body has been found — and the victim is a local reporter.

Product Details
Series: A Virgil Flowers Novel (Book 8)
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (October 7, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399162372
ISBN-13: 978-0399162374

My Review:

3/5

MT Review: Storm Front (A Virgil Flowers Novel) Hardcover

I've finished "Storm Front" the book in his Virgil Flowers series by John Sandford.

The thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times–bestselling series.

In Israel, a man clutching a backpack searches desperately for a boat. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a message from Lucas Davenport: You’re about to get a visitor. It’s an Israeli cop, and she’s tailing a man who’s smuggled out an extraordinary relic — a copper scroll revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon.

Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those Da Vinci Code deals? The secret scroll, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses?

He looks at the cop. She’s not laughing. As it turns out, there are very bad men chasing the relic, and they don’t care who’s in the way or what they have to do to get it. Maybe Virgil should start praying.

About the Author

John Sandford was born John Camp on February 23, 1944, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the public schools in Cedar Rapids, graduating from Washington High School in 1962. He then spent four years at the University of Iowa, graduating with a bachelor's degree in American Studies in 1966. In 1966, he married Susan Lee Jones of Cedar Rapids, a fellow student at the University of Iowa. He was in the U.S. Army from 1966-68, worked as a reporter for the Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian from 1968-1970, and went back to the University of Iowa from 1970-1971, where he received a master's degree in journalism. He was a reporter for The Miami Herald from 1971-78, and then a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer-Press from 1978-1990; in 1980, he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and he won the Pulitzer in 1986 for a series of stories about a midwestern farm crisis. From 1990 to the present he has written thriller novels. He's also the author of two non-fiction books, one on plastic surgery and one on art. He is the principal financial backer of a major archaeological project in the Jordan Valley of Israel, with a website at www.rehov.org. In addition to archaeology, he is deeply interested in art (painting) and photography. He both hunts and fishes. He has two children, Roswell and Emily, and one grandson, Benjamin. His wife, Susan, died of metastasized breast cancer in May, 2007, and is greatly missed.

Product Details
Series: A Virgil Flowers Novel (Book 7)
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (October 8, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399159304
ISBN-13: 978-0399159305

My Review:

4/5

MT Review: Silken Prey [Hardcover]

I've finished "Silken Prey" the book in his Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford.

Product Description

The extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner.

Murder, scandal, political espionage, and an extremely dangerous woman. Lucas Davenport’s going to be lucky to get out of this one alive.

Very early one morning, a Minnesota political fixer answers his doorbell. The next thing he knows, he’s waking up on the floor of a moving car, lying on a plastic sheet, his body wet with blood. When the car stops, a voice says, “Hey, I think he’s breathing,” and another voice says, “Yeah? Give me the bat.” And that’s the last thing he knows.

Davenport is investigating another case when the trail leads to the man’s disappearance, then — very troubling — to the Minneapolis police department, then — most troublingly of all — to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness, and sheer will to make it happen.

No matter who gets in the way.

About the Author

JOHN SANDFORD is the author of twenty-three Prey novels; six Virgil Flowers novels, most recently Mad River; and six other books. He lives in California and New Mexico.

Publisher Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (May 7, 2013)
Language English
ISBN-10 0399159312
ISBN-13 978-0399159312

My Review:

Lucas Davenport is an Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent who is asked by the State Governor to investigate why child porn was found on a leading Senate Candidate's office computer days before the election.

Porter Smalls is a Republican who is running for the US Senator position who is leading in the polls when he is hit with child porn on his office computer. The Governor despite their opposing views doesn't believe that Porter would hurt his chance of winning the US Senator position.

As Davenport investigates he soon finds out that Bob Tubbs is a member of a conspiracy to bring down Porter Smalls and has disappeared (everyone believes he has been murdered). With the help of Kidd a combination of an artist and computer whiz he uncovers the other members of the conspiracy which includes the beautiful and wealthy Democratic candidate Taryn Grant. She is a narcissist with an over sized ego, ambition and uses dirty tricks to get what she wants no matter who gets in the way.

This was a very fast paced read with some interesting characters with intriguing twist and turns. I loved that Kidd and his wife Lauren (formerly a cat burglar LuAnn) and Virgil returned to help in the investigation.

4/5

Buried Prey [Hardcover]

I've finished "Buried Prey" the 22nd book in his Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford.

Product Description

Some secrets just can't stay buried, in the brilliant new Lucas Davenport thriller from the number - one New York Times - bestselling author.

A house demolition provides an unpleasant surprise for Minneapolis - the bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic. It looks like they've been there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long.

In 1985, Davenport was a young cop with a reputation for recklessness, and the girls' disappearance was a big deal. His bosses ultimately declared the case closed, but he never agreed with that. Now that he has a chance to investigate it all over again, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried. It was the truth.

About the Author

John Sandford is the author of twenty-one Prey novels and ten other books of fiction, most recently the Virgil Flowers novel Bad Blood. He lives in Minnesota.

Product Details
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1st Printing edition (May 10, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399157387
ISBN-13: 978-0399157387
My Review:

Storyline:  Lucas has risen from patrol to detective who is now a top investigator in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. There is one case that has burdened Davenport's conscience, the abduction and assumed murder of two young girls that occurs just as Lucas is breaking out of patrol work and angling for detective. Davenport accepts his superior's resolution to the case in spite of serious reservations. In the present twenty-five years later, the bodies of the Jones sisters are discovered at a construction site and Lucas is reexamining the case that has haunted his career. 

Characters:  The first half of the book is set in 1985 and we get to see a young Davenport. It was so much interesting to see how Lucas was then to now.   We first see when Lucas and Del Capslock are first paired up.   Their witty banter has continued to this day. The characterization is set for what we know of Lucas today (his way with women, his obsession with clothes and his 'outside the box' methods).

Although the supposed perpetrator was killed while resisting arrest, Davenport was dissatisfied with the resolution, feeling that there were too many unanswered questions related to the incident. Other cases were initiated, however, and Davenport never followed through on his intent to further investigate the matter.
The second part deals with Lucas possessed by overwhelming guilt in resolving to bring the true perpetrator to justice, inspired by the all - but - certain knowledge that the fiend who killed the sisters so long ago has claimed other victims as well.

There was a very interesting twist in the storyline and the suspense ends in a awesome conclusion.

Romance:   Lucas is happily married to Weather and they have a baby boy.  But back in 1985 he was a womanizer and didn't really have a steady relationship.

Killer:  The killer was very sneaky with very few people actually seeing him.  He was a mystery man named John Fell whose presence in and around the case was very suspicious.  I'm surprised he actually stopped kidnapping and killing girls (he had an affinity for young girls).

5/5

Wicked Prey (Hardcover)

I've just finished reading "Wicked Prey" the

From Publishers Weekly

The 2008 Republican convention serves as the backdrop for bestseller Sandford's amped-up, ultra-violent 19th thriller to feature Lucas Davenport of the Minneapolis Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (after Phantom Prey). An assassination plot aimed at John McCain turns out to be just a sidebar to another criminal operation—extremely slick thieves have come to the twin cities to rob Republican political operatives loaded down with millions of dollars of street money, illegal handouts for low-level campaign workers. Mastermind Rosie Cruz handles the gang's complicated planning, while gangster Brutus Cohn does the robbery and killing aided by a couple of lesser thugs. A subplot involving Davenport's teenage ward, Letty West, who's provided interesting complications in the series, establishes her as a brave and intrepid investigator. A slam-bang shootout climax proves that Davenport still has what it takes when it comes to guts and gunplay.

Product Description

Danger stalks Lucas Davenport at work and all too close to home, in the superlative new thriller by the #1 New York Times – bestselling author.

The Republicans are coming to St. Paul for their convention. Throwing a big party is supposed to be fun, but crashing the party are a few hard cases the police would rather stayed away. Chief among them is a crew of professional stickup men who’ve spotted several lucrative opportunities, ranging from political moneymen with briefcases full of cash to that armored-car warehouse with the weakness in its security system. All that’s headache enough for Lucas Davenport — but what’s about to hit him is even worse.

A while back, a stray bullet put a pimp and petty thief named Randy Whitcomb in a wheelchair, and, ever since, the man has been nursing his grudge into a full head of psychotic steam. He blames Davenport for the bullet, but it’s no fun just shooting him. That wouldn’t be painful enough. Not when Davenport has a pretty fourteen-year-old adopted daughter that Whitcomb can target instead. . . .

And then there’s the young man with the .50 caliber sniper rifle and the right- wing-crazy background, roaming through a city filled with the most powerful politicians on earth.

My review:

I really enjoy reading this series by John Sandford.

4/5

Heat Lightning (Virgil Flowers) (Hardcover)

I've just finished reading "Heat Lightning" the 2nd book in his Virgil Flower series by John Sandford.

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Sandford's solid second thriller to feature officer Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (after Dark of the Moon), a gunman shoots Bobby Sanderson as he's walking his dog one night in Stillwater, Minn., then places a lemon in the dead man's mouth. Sanderson's killing is one in a series, and Flowers soon discovers that all the victims served together in Vietnam. When Flowers learns that Vietnamese firing squads stuck lemons in the mouths of their human targets, he pursues leads in the local immigrant community, where he hooks up with the attractive daughter of a radical professor who'd written a paper about Agent Orange. Eventually, he settles on the owner of a security company involved with the upcoming Republican National Convention as his prime suspect.

Product Description

Fresh from his “spectacular” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) debut in Dark of the Moon, investigator Virgil Flowers takes on a puzzling—and most alarming—case, in the new book from the #1 bestselling author.

John Sandford’s introduction of Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers was an immediate critical and popular success: “laser-sharp characters and a plot that’s fast and surprising” (Cleveland Plain Dealer); “an idiosyncratic, thoroughly ingratiating hero” (Booklist). Flowers is only in his late thirties, but he’s been around the block a few times, and he doesn’t think much can surprise him anymore. He’s wrong.

It’s a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, and Flowers is in bed with one of his ex-wives (the second one, if you’re keeping count), when the phone rings. It’s Lucas Davenport. There’s a body in Stillwater—two shots to the head, found near a veteran’s memorial. And the victim has a lemon in his mouth.

Exactly like the body they found last week.

The more Flowers works the murders, the more convinced he is that someone’s keeping a list, and that the list could have a lot more names on it. If he could only find out what connects them all . . . and then he does, and he’s almost sorry he did.

Because if it’s true, then this whole thing leads down a lot more trails than he thought—and every one of them is booby-trapped.