In my pre-book blogging life, one of my go-to authors was John Sandford - particularly his Lucas Davenport (Prey) and Virgil Flowers series.

For some reason Sandford's novels are never really offered for review and as I tend to have no time for reading anything OTHER than books I get for review, I've missed the last book or two in both series.

However, stars and planets aligned and the latest Lucas Davenport novel recently appeared on my request list. Thankfully I'd only missed one novel but was surprised to discover Lucas has left his lone-wolf gig with Minnesota BCA and has now joined the US Marshals!

Again Lucas is a political appointment and pretty much has free reign. It’s not all easy going though as he’s struggling to make the contacts and connections he had in his old world.

"One thing he thought about was the difference between his new job and his old one. He'd already realized that he was now a small fish swimming in the ocean—and now, he thought, he hadn't realized how different the various parts of the ocean might be." 31%

However, his dogged determination, street smarts and quick mind mean he’s still able to pick up an old investigation and get further than any of his predecessors ever did.

As is often the case with Sandford’s novels (and now I think of it, it’s weird I don’t mind, cos it usually pisses me off), we meet the baddies early on and get their story as well. So, we meet Garvin Poole who’s trying to set himself up for retirement with one last job. He doesn’t actually seem like a bad guy… keen to get out of the business and go legit. Until that is, we see him in action and realise how few qualms he has about killing anyone – and I mean anyone – who gets in his way. Indeed, even the brains behind his operation struggles with Poole's ease at killing a child.

We follow along as Davenport unpicks the trail Poole has left behind over the years, although he’s up against a sadistic duo hired by the drug king Poole’s robbed. His game of cat and mouse on this occasion is less about finding Poole first, but rather finding the connections that lead to Poole before the duo get them... cos what they do to them is not pretty.

I very much enjoyed this book from Sandford (who I only just discovered is actually Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp). I wondered how the series would play out with the change in Lucas’s workplace, but it’s offering something new and different. I also loved his two partners in this outing – fellow Marshals Bob Matees and Rae Givens - and hope we see them again.

I’ve been reminded how much I enjoy these fast-paced meaty novels and I’m now determined to keep up with Lucas's exploits and catch up on the latest in the Virgil Flowers series.

Golden Prey finds Lucas in a new chapter in his life, and it suits him well. Great story, great action and great characters, two sets of villians in this one that are top notch.

Lucas Davenport always comes out smelling like a rose. Another great Prey novel!

I stopped buying the Prey series a few years ago, although I still read the Virgil Flowers series. I love Virgil, because he still seems fresh. Lucas Davenport though was getting stale and tiresome. Much to my surprise, Mr. Sandford has changed it up. Yea! Lucas is now a U.S. Marshall who works throughout the States, which also means new people. Golden Prey has some genuinely funny moments. I do love Davenports dry humor! But, I really liked the characters. Even the bad guys, though we all know they will die in the end. This story takes place mostly in Texas, and I'm real curious to see where the next book is headed. Reading this felt like old times, and that's a definite plus. Yep, I'd recommend this book.
I received a free copy from Netgalley and Penguin Group/Putnam for review.

We meet Lucas Davenport, a very skilled no-nonsense U.S. Marshall, who will do everything to get the job done and to get justice for the victims. It all begins with two individuals who think they will be able to rob a mega huge drug cartel in Biloxi, Mississippi. The planning was superb and had taken months to watch and follow the actual process of drug distribution and money laundering of drug money. They thought that they had everything under control, but ended up with a huge surprise they weren't expecting. One of the thieves was hit and left his DNA at the scene. One of the individuals who counting money had brought his granddaughter to the shack with him. Since she saw the murder of her grandfather take place, one of the perpetrators gunned this little girl down. News travels fast when a drug cartels safe houses are hit. The drug cartel was ruthless in getting their money back, and they want to send a message that they are not to be trifled with. They unleashed two ruthless contractors, who actually enjoyed torturing, dismembering, and killing on known family members and relatives. These contractors are determined to obtain information on the men who stole the cartels money. Lucas was brought in to find these ruthless killers and to keep them from reaping havoc on anyone else. He also had to hunt down the two men who stole the cartels money, as well. Will the drug cartel get their money back? How many people other people will be killed in the process? Will the thieves get away with the money and leave the U.S.? Will Lucas get additional law enforcement assistance he needs to solve this crime? What a great read. The plot was well laid out and keeps the reader totally enthralled in the book. The action was constant. The reader could definitively relate to all of the characters and their emotions. What a thriller!! Just love Lucas Davenport!!

John Sandford has done it again in Golden Prey. Lucas Davenport has gotten a position as a Deputy U.S. Marshall due to political influence. After a recent hit on a drug smuggling bank in Louisiana fit the profile of a suspect high on the wanted list, Lucas had a case he could sink his teeth into. But not too long into the case, he realized he had competition as someone was killing off leads. In the end, it cam down to thinking outside the box, following all leads possible, and cell phones. Those can kill you if you are not careful. Read and enjoy all the action!

The twenty-seventh book in a series would be when you’d really expect an author to run out of gas and just coast along on the fumes of creativity and the goodwill of hard core fans. So how do you explain John Sandford writing one of the most exciting Prey novels in the entire series now?

You can’t. So just enjoy it.

Lucas Davenport is now a deputy US marshal, and he got the gig thanks to his political connections. In fact, Lucas has so much juice that he gets to pick and choose his cases, and he’s still got a taste for hunting the worst of the worst. That’s why he decides to track down Garvin Poole, an armed robber who shoots first and doesn’t bother asking any questions later because he killed anyone who could have answered.

Poole dropped out of sight until he recently ripped off a massive amount of cash, but a small child was collateral damage on that caper so Poole is back on the government’s radar. He also mightily pissed off a drug cartel because it was their money Poole stole, and they want it back so badly that they’ve dispatched a pair of cold blooded thugs to viciously torture and kill anyone who ever knew Poole on the off chance that they might know where he is.

Giving Davenport a new gig with the US Marshal’s Service was an inspired choice because Sandford writes great manhunts and a big part of what marshals do is chase fugitives. (It also makes me fantasize about a crossover between Lucas and the late Elmore Leonard creations Raylan Givens and Karen Sisco.) So the book immediately plays to Sandford’s strength as Lucas first sniffs around for a lead on Poole, and then finds himself in a race against the cartel to find him.

Having Davenport run around various Southern states gives the whole thing a sense of momentum, and the cat and mouse games between him, Poole, and the cartel killers shows off the kind of fantastic plotting and pacing that Sandford can seemingly do in his sleep. He almost always manages to make everything seem realistic, natural, and intelligent while keeping a reader turning pages as fast they can to see what happens next.

Taking Davenport out of his usual Minnesota setting also freshens things up. I don’t think that Sandford ever fell into a rut, but any long running series is going to develop a certain rhythm to it after a while. Lucas had his home life to ground him, and his cop buddies as well as a bunch of friends he’d turn to for help, and while it was all still good it was also very familiar. This isn’t the first time that Sandford has mixed things up because Davenport has changed jobs before, and he’s grown and mellowed as a character over time.

That’s all still here, but by putting Lucas into a completely new branch of law enforcement as well as changing his geographic location it took away all the old support systems. Which means that Sandford has to develop new characters, new ways of handling things, and new problems for Davenport. All of which he’s done very well, but Sandford also knows where his bread is buttered so it still seems very much like a Prey novel. It’s like he’s given Lucas a makeover. He’s still the same old ruthless bastard he's always been when he's on the hunt, but now with a new haircut and a spring in his step as he does it.

Also, since I've reviewed a lot of Sandford on here, and I regularly get asked if it's the kind of series you can read any book or if you need to read the whole series to understand. My standard answer is that most are self-contained stories that can be enjoyed by themselves, but this one in particular would make a great place to jump in for anyone looking to try it out.

Davenport has a new job with the US Marshalls, but he's still doing his own thing. This time he has to head to the South...how much trouble will he find??? love this series..love this book

About ten years ago I had a job that required me to undertake a lengthy commute - it resulted in me being cocooned in my car for about three and a half hours each day. That’s when I started listening to audiobooks. The radio was driving me crazy – how many times can you listen to the same news headlines before madness sets in? So I was making regular trips to my local library to grab any audiobooks that took my fancy. They didn’t have great variety, but they did have a good stock of John Sandford books, which in itself is a little strange because I'd have to search pretty hard to find any of his books in my local book shop.

I quickly identified that Sandford’s front man, Lucas Davenport, is the coolest cop around. He is big and tough, good looking (in a slightly battered sort of way) and has a penchant for the good things in life: expensive clothes, high end cars and beautiful women. As the series progresses he works his way through an awful lot of suits, a number of expensive German cars and a progression of attractive women. And he solves a lot of crimes, shoots up quite a few felons and decorates his body with a collection of scars, courtesy of the bad men (and women) he comes up against.

This is the twenty seventh book in the ‘Prey’ series, featuring Lucas. You might think it’s all got a bit samey by now, a bit ‘been there, done that’ – but you’d be wrong. One of the things that Sandford has cleverly done is to move Davenport on. Gone are the womanising days – he’s happily settled with a wife and family now – and he’s changed jobs a couple of times, finding improbably titled appointments that seem to offer him an ever increasing level of freedom to do whatever he likes. The result is that the supporting cast has grown and diversified: we’ve lost a few good ‘uns along the way but gained some new, interesting characters too.

In his latest role Lucas is a U.S. Marshall, but not in the conventional sense. His level of freedom to pick and choose his cases is unprecedented. Here he decides to go on the hunt for a career criminal who’s just shot-up a drug cartel counting-house in Biloxi, Mississippi, leaving behind five bodies including one of a six-year-old girl. There’s a brilliant collection of characters here which includes a female torturer known as ‘Queen of home-improvement tools’. It all rattles along at a decent pace, with lots of dry humour and plenty of action. It’s a book I really didn’t want to end. In my view it’s one of the best in the series.

I really think that Sandford is under-rated as a crime fiction writer, certainly in the UK. I believe he pushes out material that rivals Michael Connelly in its readability and power to hook you into a story and in Lucas Davenport he’s certainly created one of the all time great fictional cops. If you’re already a fan of Sandford’s writing, then you’ll certainly not be disappointed with this one. If you’ve yet to catch up with him but enjoy good well crafted crime fiction, I’d really urge you to give him a try.

Again a favorite, Lucas Davenport has a new job, with new people and it looks as though he will be able to do as he pleases with no interference from his boss. We're out of Minnesota with this one, but have the same crazy murderous people to find. Excellent choice, excellent read

John Sandford knows how to keep me occupied while reading the latest exploits of Lucas Davenport by taking him out of his usual situation and expanding his world in his new job as a U.S. Marshal. This story pulled me in immediately and I fell in love once again with Lucas as he took on this new role with doing what he does best and that is “hunt.” There’s a little give and take in his new assignment and the author does a great job of letting it percolate with narrative that had me sitting closely by the bodies and calamity rears its ugly head. The fast-paced, action-packed, and riveting drama kept me involved in all that was happening and the warning at the end…pure Lucas influenced. Love this book and look forward to more good times with Lucas and his associates.

Sandford does it yet again! I'm in awe of how he manages to keep up the quality of his writing when that of so many once-good mystery writers (I won't name names, James and Patricia...) has fallen to the point that I haven't read their novels in years.

In this novel, Lucas Davenport is adjusting to a new job with the US Marshals. Because he has friends in high places, Davenport is given freedoms other marshals don't have, including the ability to choose his cases. This time, he is in pursuit of a killer who is also being stalked by the drug cartel whose money he stole. I look forward to further adventures.

Really enjoyed this book.I'm so glad he's back to his dark,hard hitting,fast paced novel!!!
Looking forward to the next one!!!

John Sandford does it again! Lucas Davenport is back, only this time he's a U.S. Marshall. All the great characters, action and intrigue that makes Sandford favorite. Don't miss it.

I missed Davenport. This is the first Davenport book I’ve read in a while. For years, I read them all. The beauty of John Sandford’s Prey series is being able to pick up any book in the series and enjoy…doesn’t really matter if you’ve read earlier books or not. I think I started on book 4 or 5, then found the earlier books and kept up with new releases through Amazon. And then…I bought my first kindle. I gave away all my paperback books and had a long love affair with paranormal, forgetting how much I love mystery, suspense and cop dramas. But I never forgot Lucas Davenport…the hottest, best dressed, most ruthless cop in fiction. You know what they say about friends…even if you don’t see each other for years, you can pick up right where you left off. Well, Lucas and I have always been friends. We were friends before he married Weather. Now Weather and I are friends, too. I remember everything. I remember when he was shot in the throat. OMG! I thought for a moment that Sandford was going to let Davenport die. It’s been an intense friendship.

So here we are again, Lucas and me, and his life and job are just as wild and reckless as ever. His wife and I are the only ones who really understand that he’s a hunter. He hunts. Period. He wants to find the criminals who hurt, kill and terrify the innocent. He wants them. It’s a burning passion. He’s no different in his new job as a US Marshall that he was as the top cop in Michigan. He just has a bigger hunting ground, and it’s great!

Texas is one of the places that Davenport travels to while searching for this group of completely ruthless killers. I know the area where Davenport is searching very well. Desolate and sparsely populated, it makes you wonder if the apocalypse has really happened and you’re the last human on earth. It can be a little freaky at night. John Sandford nailed it.

John Sandford nailed everything, which is no less than I expected from one of my all time favorite authors. This book is an exceptionally good example of his skill. There is not a slow moment. Every word and phrase leads deeper into a damn exciting and dangerous chase. There are two great new characters, Bob and Rae. Rae is a very tall black woman who played basketball, as a starter, for UCONN. She’s a great character, and I hope we see more of her in future books.

If you like mystery, suspense or great cop dramas, don’t worry if you haven’t read the previous books in this series. Lucas Davenport will rock your world! Pick up a copy and…

Enjoy!

2shay

Having read all of the Prey series I'm always looking forward to the next one. Golden Prey takes us to a new level with Lucas Davenport's first outing as a US Marshall. No longer bound to his Minnesota environment Lucas embarks on a manhunt across the US, finding his way within the Marshall service (although he does have quite a bit of leeway as he's been posted there by the potential next President), hooking up with new partners and chasing down a pair of killers and thieves, all the while trying to outrun the people the cartel have sent to find the same pair. It's an exciting and fast read from start to finish and one of the best Prey books yet. 5 stars

So, when I started reading this book, I was surprised. I was kind of…bored.

You see, I like this series and I like Davenport. But the people they start out chasing just bored the spit out of me. Evil? Sure. Violent? Absolutely. Dull as dishwater? Yup!

I was tempted to give up.

Enter Kort. Sociopathic. Unattractive. Bat (insert expletive here) crazy. Able to saw your limbs off you with a smile. Hello!!! I was in. And if Kort wasn’t enough, we eventually end up with a fierce foursome of females who completely own this book. These women aren’t just kickass. They are bloody (emphasis on the bloody) brilliant. I loved them.

Yeah, I had to get through Davenport’s bespoke suits (yawn). I had to get past the people Davenport was actually chasing (oh, they got feels – they aren’t just evil). But I didn’t care because our four girls took over this book and went wham bam over everything.

So a surprising four stars. The main plot was ho hum, but man, the sub plots more than made up for it!

John Sandford never disappoints! This latest in the Lucas Davenport series is no exception. In fact it is exceptional!!!

Thank you for the ARC! I'm sure many readers will enjoy this novel!

It's been several years since I have read one of Sandford's "Prey" novels. I'm happy to say that I picked the right one to jump back into the series. This was a highly enjoyable book, and I had a hard time putting it down.
Sandford's protagonist, Lucas Davenport, has found himself in a new and exciting position. He has now been assigned to the U.S. Marshal's Service, as a special appointee. This move has allowed Sandford to move beyond the Minnesota area and expand the scope of Davenport's adventures.
Golden Prey's focus is on the robbery of a drug money counting operation, the people who stole the money, the cartel employee's trying to get the money back, and Davenport's team trying to apprehend them all. The novel moves across several states in the South, ending in the finale in Texas.
The novel moves along very fast, with action in every chapter. The characters are well developed. The action sequences are loads of fun. And the novel ends well, with enough of a teaser to keep readers coming back for the next one.
All in all, a great, fun read!