Solid read, great thriller. I think if I had read the Lucas Davenport books I'd be more attached, but will still be recommending this to everyone. I was on the edge of my seat and the book took me by surprise plenty of times, which is hard to do!

I thoroughly loved The Investigator! It is the first book in the new Letty Davenport series. Letty Davenport is the adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport. She is a real go getter, tough as nails, extremely smart, witty and makes very ballsy decisions. Her sidekick, Kaiser, keeps her grounded and focused. They are sent on a mission to investigate thefts of oil in a small Texas town. Along the way they run into a situation with a Militia group.
Fast paced and action packed is what you will get reading The Investigator.
I enjoy reading all of John Sanford’s books and I can’t wait for the next one in this series.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was very into John Sandford’s Prey series for a long time, but I haven’t picked up one of his books in probably a decade. My interest was piqued again though when I saw that Letty was going to the main character in this one — seems brilliant to me to retire your main character, who is getting up there in age, and move on to his adopted daughter. It keeps things familiar while making a fresh start! This tone and pacing of the book feel similar, but this one read a little drier to me, for some reason. There is also A LOT of discussion about guns, which I don’t remember from past books (though I may have forgotten), and that was a lot for me, even though it’s more about the responsible use of them. There are flashbacks to Letty’s past that will fill in first-time readers and remind fans of her beginnings. The book is very focused on current-day politics, and reading it while driving through the Midwest surrounded by Trump 2024 signs was a jarring experience. My favorite part was Letty’s partnership with an ex-soldier, and I hope he returns in the future. She was a little too much of a chip off the old block for me, so I hope she gets to develop a little bit more of her own personality as the series develops.

With The Investigator, John Sanford introduces a new series with Lucas Davenport’s daughter Letty as the protagonist. Fresh out of Stanford, Letty’s first major case as a DHS investigator involves stolen oil in Texas. The case morphs into a tale of disenfranchised Americans, right wing militias and illegal immigrants. Letty is, as we know from previous Sanford books, close to her law enforcement dad and smart as a whip. At first it appeared that her character might be leaning a little too heavily on her dad’s reputation to move ahead professionally. But she quickly began to come into her own in this very engaging thriller. The Investgator relies heavily on a good plot— not so much on character development. That said, I loved seeing her relationship with her co-investigator evolve into one of mutual respect and enjoyed her quick witted approach to solving problems. Looking forward to getting to know Letty better in future books in the series!

A new series from John Sanford was a fun way to get some new action. It was cool to see a Sandford villain chase through another lens; that of a 24 year old woman rather than the seasoned cops.

Letty fits the mold of Lucas and Virgil in all other Prey/Flowers novels. It helped to have known Letty’s backstory before diving in, but there were enough flashbacks to understand why she was such a competent investigator.

The one drawback was that it was a long and complex plot that didn’t allow for any investigative failures, but also a quick ending. It almost seemed too perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A new series featuring Davenport's daughter Letty is just what we need. Even if you haven't followed her growth from the Prey series, you will understand what made Letty the woman she is. This book will keep you turning the pages as you enjoy the chemistry of the characters. Looking forward to the next one.

Lettie's all grown up and gets her own series. This young lady is very much Lucas Davenport's daughter - adopted or not, she's definitely following in his footsteps. She's also very much her own woman with a sharp wit, take no guff attitude, and a determination to take care of business. At first, I thought it would've been nice to see Lettie work her way up the ranks - earn her place, so to speak - but with Lucas's connections, it makes sense that she'd have a leg up. That's not to say she doesn't deserve it because she's every bit the strong woman she grew up to be in Sandford's Prey series. This is a spin-off series, but you won't be lost if you're new to this author or the characters. We get Lettie's background little by little throughout the book, so her actions, some that would seem rash or out of character, make more sense. I'll stop there so I don't give away the book's secrets. Suffice it to say this is everything I expect from John Sandford. It's sharp and engaging, and I'm already invested in Lettie and dying to know what's next.

The author of the Prey series and Virgil Flowers novels lets another Davenport out into the world. Letty Davenport gets her turn at a series in The Investigator.

Letty is just out of college and bored in her job working for US Senator Chris Colles. He offers Letty a chance to partner with an experienced Department of Homeland Security agent, John Kaiser. Letty and John are investigating an oil theft and the subsequent disappearance of an oil executive and his wife in Texas.

Letty is not taken seriously by anyone because she is young and female. But she soon proves that she has the chops for espionage work (and a little wet work as well). Is there anything Letty cannot do?

The Investigator is a good start to a new thriller series—though I miss Virgil’s laid-back sense of humor. There is humor here, but it reminds me more of the Prey series. The criminal mastermind that Letty and John are trailing, Jane Jael Hawkes, is the leader of a right-wing militia. She is also female making this book very different from the traditional testosterone-fueled shoot-em-up.

If you are looking for excitement within a feminist plotline, look no further than The Investigator. It is an exhilarating look into Letty’s new world. 4 stars!

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars
I didn’t find anything thrilling about this effort. The plot is about Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter Letty trying out her investigative skills as she is bored with her job at a desk job for a US Senator. She is offered this job in conjunction with homeland security, DHS, and partners with another investigator looking into some oil thefts in Texas.

While there are some interesting facets to the novel, it is at times repetitive. Background is given about Lucas and his daughter from previous novels which is helpful if you haven’t read previous works. I have read just about all of Stanford’s works and love the Davenport series. This this left me a little underwhelmed. If a series with Letty is in the works, perhaps book 2 will kick it up a notch.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/Putnam for the comped e-ARC releasing on 4/12/22.

John Sandford has two interconnected series going; the "Prey" books about Lucas Davenport, and the books about Virgil Flowers. Apparently he is adding a series which features Letty Davenport, the adopted daughter of Lucas and Weather Davenport. This is excellent news for Sandford's fans who are legion.

I well remember when Lucas met Letty, I think it was in "Winter Prey." (I could be wrong.) She was an interesting child and she developed into an interesting adult. In this book she has graduated from Stanford and is working in a senator's office where she is bored silly. I don't like spoilers so I am not going to give any., suffice it today that Letty as the protagonist is a gem.

With a John Sandford book the reader can expect suspense, twists and turns, some level of violence, and fine writing. "The Investigator" has these in spades, all the while focusing on a young female hero. I expected to thoroughly enjoy this book and I did. It is not every day that a favorite author takes an existing character and starts a new series, but Sandford's fans got lucky. Welcome, Letty Davenport, I hope to see much more of you.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The investigator by John Sanford A special Thanks to GP Putnam’s sons NetGalley for the arc of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book our thoughts and opinions are my own.
John Sanford introduces Letty Davenport the adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport. Letty had an unconventional tragic and violent childhood prior to Lucas adopting her. She’s now 24 and a graduate of Stanford and is working for Senator Colles. She’s offered a position as a liaison between the senators office and the Department of Homeland security. Her first assignment she’s a researcher paired with John Kaiser. It’s their job to investigate the complaints about missing oil. John and Letty start out on somewhat rocky ground when they first meet but this is soon resolved by getting to know each other. They each have their own approaches to the investigation but they quickly learn to trust and depend on each other. I enjoyed the fact that not all of the book was from Letty‘s point of you the antagonist had his chapters to. If you enjoyed John Sanford’s Prey series you’ll love Letty too.

John Sandford's The Investigator features Letty Davenport, the adopted daughter of U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport and a frequent recurring character in the Prey series. Brilliant, sassy, and tough-as-nails, she's long been a fan-favorite. By age twenty-four, Letty Davenport has seen more action and uncovered more secrets than many law enforcement professionals. Now a recent Stanford grad with a master’s in economics, she’s restless and bored in a desk job for U.S. Senator Colles.

After a sojourn to Florida which she ends up breaking and entering to expose fraud, Letty’s ready to quit. But her skills have impressed Colles, and he offers her a carrot: feet-on-the-ground investigative work, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security as well as her own cubby hole office. Some petroleum companies in west Texas think that someone has been stealing oil from them. He isn’t so much concerned with the oil as he is with the money: who is selling the oil, and what are they doing with the profits? Rumor has it that a militia group led by a woman known only as Hawkes. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning.

Letty is partnered with DHS agent John Kaiser, a 47-year-old former Army Master Sergeant and war veteran. When the case quickly turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger than anyone is prepared for, including DHS, Border Patrol, and Texas Rangers. Jane Jael Hawkes is a disgruntled former Army veteran who has lost confidence in the country that she served. She organizes a whole passel of like-minded folks who blame big corporations for keeping people like “Jael” and themselves from making decent wages. Jael and her group have set in motion an explosive plan and the clock is ticking down.

I really liked catching up with Letty. She's had such a curious life. She's literally faced death on 3 different occasions, and walked away. She also takes after Lucas in several ways including her proficiency and knowledge of guns and her love of fashion. John and Letty start out on somewhat rocky ground when they first meet, but this is soon resolved via showing their areas of expertise and how they balance one another. Their personalities and approaches to an investigation are somewhat different, but they quickly learn to trust and depend on each other.

Both characters have depth and show growth. Soon enough Letty and Kaiser figure out that something big is in the works, and they may be the only people who might be able to stop a catastrophic attack. Letty has come a long way since we first met her when she was a desperately poor kid who had to depend on herself rather than her alcoholic mother. Her life got much better once Lucas Davenport and his wife Weather took her in. Letty is smart, resourceful, and capable of pulling a sneaky and/or illegal move when necessary, but what sets her apart is that Letty has what might best be described as a mean streak.

Although the story is mostly wrapped up, there is a tantalizing cliffhanger and I really want Sandford to write another novel. We, as readers, need to have closure. It has been awhile since I read the Prey series, and honestly wasn't aware that Lucas had joined the US Marshal's. Kind of drives me to go back to the novels I haven't read and get caught up.

3.5 ⭐
I enjoyed it but I need some balance. This was an entertaining read despite some character drawbacks.

I love John Sandford's writing and his storytelling. My following of his Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series proves that I'm a huge fan. When I heard he has a spinoff, I was ecstatic! This is a well-written mystery crime thriller involving stolen crude oil. Oil companies want to capture the thieves, while Homeland security is concerned about what the right-wing militia group is doing with the money. Letty and John Kaiser, DHS investigator and a former Delta Force head to Texas.

If you haven't read Lucas Davenport series, you won't be lost. The backstory of Letty Davenport is told seamlessly by the author. Letty had a tragic childhood. She grew up with an alcoholic single mother whom she looked after as a pre-teen. She hunted and trapped animals to sell or feed them both. She killed multiple bad people in self-defense and when her mother was murdered, twelve-year-old Letty was adopted by Lucas and his wife, Weather.

A little problem I have is that the NOW Letty is exceptional in every way; a Stanford grad, good-looking and fit, wears fashionable clothes and expensive jewelry (including high-end underwear), a sharpshooter (beats Delta Force guy at a shooting range), she owns a variety of firearms (the kind that made gun nuts droool) just to name a few.

Letty has an interesting background but is too perfect. I understand that Letty represents a strong modern woman. She's extremely confident for a twenty-four-year-old who just start working. She leads the investigation while John Kaiser sort of tags along as partner. I'm happy he was given a chance to demonstrate his experience in one scene which was refreshing!

Letty's spin-off from the Lucas Davenport series reminds me of how Renee Ballard is Harry Bosch. The authors created a new series with a female lead a carbon copy of their successful male characters. I would love this more if Letty's perfection is more understated. Despite my mini-rant, I'm still all-in for the next one!

Audio note: I saw that Richard Ferrone narrates this, an interesting choice. He does all Lucas books which I love and I'll listen to this at some point.

I tend to lean towards the romance or women's fiction genres but when I want to take a break from them - I tend to grab a book by John Sandford. My mom got me hooked on his Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers books years ago! As soon as I finished, I texted my mom and told her she had to make sure to buy this book on publication date.

When I noticed there was a book coming that would center around Lucas' daughter, Letty, I knew I had to read it. I was blown away by this book and felt all the emotions with it. Mr. Sandford did a fantastic job of taking the state of things today and capturing it so realistically in this book. The partnership between Letty and Kaiser was so in sync, you find yourself anticipating their next moves. I sincerely hope that there are more Letty Davenport novels in the works.

Another exciting thriller from author John Sandford. This time around he's launching a spinoff series featuring Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty. She's been working for Senator Christopher Colles (R-Florida) but is getting bored and resigns. As the chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Office, Colles decides to enlist her as an investigator for the Homeland Inspector Inspector General and sends her to Texas, along with DHS agent John Kaiser, to look into the suspicion that someone is siphoning off oil. An oil company executive and his wife have gone missing so their first job is to figure out what's happened to them. Have they run off or are they dead? They follow the money, which seems to point to a militia group working the Texas border.

Smart investigative work that occasionally crosses the line of legality drives this thriller. Lots of guns and exciting action, if you are into that sort of thing. Letty is young and a little bit of a loose canon--after all, she's a product of her crazy life experiences. I liked how she seems willing to learn from Kaiser, the seasoned ex-Army soldier, as well. There's a satisfying ending that leaves the door open just a little for future stories. Fans of Sandford's Prey series will certainly enjoy this new spinoff.

I received an arc of this new thriller from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.

The Investigator by, John Sanford. The book started out with a slow build up to Letty’s character about who she was and how she got to be in the position of where she is at the current point in the book. I absolutely love the John has almost made Letty’s character a twin of her a father Lucas. I was so happy to read these parts. Having Letty team up with an older military vet (Kaiser) as a partner was great for Letty as well.
Partnering with his skill sets will only enhance Letty’s character to be a bad butt investigator. I hope that she decides to go for being a detective. The book has a lot of narrative talk that provides readers a fast pace outline of the behind the scenes action to the plot. The book has tons of information related to guns, oil and militia groups.Wow!
I thought that the book had some entertainment here and there. The action was pretty good. Until next time my fellow readers… read on!

I tend to read a lot of female authors but one of the first authors I started reading religiously was John Sandford. Lucas Davenport, to this day, is the only character I’ve fallen in love with. I followed every escapade and then began following Virgil’s. When I saw that Sandford’s newest book, The Investigator, was about LETTY(!!!!), I requested immediately. I needed to see how Sandford would do with Letty being the main character. When I tell you, not one word in this book disappointed me, it’s not an exaggeration. Letty is a character that comes alive, layered and nuanced and a thrill to read about. This was addictive and I finished it in one sitting.

Letty Davenport is very much the daughter of John Sandford’s regular series hero, US Marshall Lucas Davenport: tough, smart, and more interested in justice than the law. She’s also a bored 24 year-old working as a researcher for Senator Christopher Colles. When she tries to hand in her resignation after a routine (for her) look into missing campaign funds, the senator offers her a position that actually piques her interest: investigator for the Department of Homeland Security. As chairman of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Senator Colles takes an interest in DHS operations, and has found to his dismay that most of their investigators are mere paper pushers. He wants someone a little more proactive, who’ll answer directly to him as his DHS liaison. Letty, with her somewhat flexible interpretation of legality, strikes him as the perfect candidate.

More importantly to Letty, the position comes with both her own, if tiny, office, and the possibility of a carry permit once she’s demonstrated proficiency with firearms. As a self-proclaimed gun nut, Letty is all about that. John Kaiser, a forty-seven year-old DHS agent and ex-Army master sergeant, is assigned to check her proficiency and to subsequently partner her. Their relationship starts out rocky, but as they each discover that she isn’t just an “office chick” and he isn’t just an “overmuscled hulk”, their mutual respect grows, especially as their first assignment lands them in serious danger, with no one to count on but each other. In the aftermath, Letty reflects on what she’s learning, and what she still has to learn:

QUOTE
First: she had to pay more attention to Kaiser. He knew things that were valuable to her, but he was not an instinctive teacher. That valuable information remained dormant until something occurred to bring it up.

[...]Kaiser hadn’t panicked or argued when she’d told him to drive away from the metal building without her. He hadn’t called her when she was being shot at. He could pick locks with silent manual picks. He knew a lot about a lot of guns, she knew a lot about a few.
END QUOTE

This first assignment of theirs has Letty and Kaiser digging into a case of missing Texas oil. Someone has been siphoning off amounts small enough to barely register as a loss in the ledgers of the multibillion dollar industry, but still significant enough to pad the coffers of wrongdoers. After Letty and Kaiser come across the corpses of people who discovered too much about the thefts, they deduce that they’re up against a dangerous militia that won’t hesitate to kill in order to further its sinister plans. Our heroes must race against time to uncover exactly what those plans are and to foil the militia before anyone else gets hurt.

Fans of the Lucas Davenport series will find much to like in the adventures of his adopted daughter. Letty often reads like a younger version of Lucas, albeit one whose sharp edges haven’t yet been sanded off with experience. Even Weather, Lucas’ wife and Letty’s adopted mom, is struck by their similarity, though she probably worries more about Letty’s psychological health and make-up than anyone else in their family:

QUOTE
“You think I’m a psychopath?” Letty asked.

“No, of course not. You’re exactly like Lucas, and I <i>know</i> he’s not a psychopath,” Weather said. “And I know you’re not. You’re just…”

Letty grinned at her: “A high-functioning sociopath, maybe?”

“I’m trying to be serious, here,” Weather said. “I’m saying that you make very cold judgments about people, about their worth. You don’t cut them any slack for being…human.”

Letty had shrugged. “People are what they are.[”]
END QUOTE

I found Letty quite sympathetic, myself. Her disinterest in people doesn’t make her incapable of empathy or kindness, but she also refuses to waste time and energy on being a people pleaser. Her efforts are far better spent on getting to the bottom of mysteries and foiling bad guys. If that includes shooting murderers and not feeling any guilt about it, then so be it.

Like the book overall, Letty is perhaps strangely apolitical, a point of view I can appreciate from a young woman of her particular background. But, as she proves from the evolution of her own relationship with Kaiser, she is capable of growth. I’m hoping that The Investigator is only the first in a series featuring her, so we can follow along as she continues to mature and learn and entertainingly kick the butts of deserving bad guys.

Letty finds herself getting to investigate a group who appears to be stealing oil. When Congressman Colles asks her to investigate where the money from the stolen oil is going, she is teamed up with John Kaiser. He underestimates her at first, but soon realizes she is much more than he thought. For 24, Letty has seen and done a lot in her life. She knows how to compartmentalize when necessary and get the answers she needs. She is almost a clone of Lucas Davenport and you know she is gong to find out what is really going on.
When Letty and John discover a murdered couple, they soon realize that there is more going on than they first thought. They then get some information about a militia run by a woman and start to figure out what may be going on. Letty and John worked well together and realized each one of them had strengths to help the other out.
In true Sandford fashion, there are a few twists and turns in this. It was quite entertaining and truly compelling at points. I was really excited to see Letty using her brains and chutzpah to get what she needed done. The ending was perfect for this book. Can't wait to read more about Letty in the future.
I was given a copy of this book via NetGalley by the publisher for my honest review.

I’ve been a long time fan of John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series and was excited to see that he was writing a spin off featuring his daughter Letty. I thought this was an entertaining action packed book that made for a fun read. The plot is terrifyingly realistic when it came to the villain side, but perhaps a tad far-fetched in what a 24 year old untrained investigator could accomplish with just one other person. I was a little disappointed in Letty as a character, she felt much too similar to Lucas including mannerisms, hobbies, even her dialog. I think if you had replaced her name with his, it would feel like another edition in the Prey series. That being said, it still was a really enjoyable read and I think fans of his books will enjoy this one too. 4/5⭐️

Thanks to Putnam Books and NetGalley for this DRC. The Investigator will be out on April 12!