John Standford - Stolen Prey (Lucas Davenport #22)
What's amazing is after 21 Davenport novels, Lucas is still one of the coolest detectives around.
Working in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he gets called to check out a grisly crime scene where a family of four were tortured and murdered, including the dog. Located in a high scale neighborhood, the father a banker, the circumstances don't fit in Lucas's mind with that of revenge killing and drugs. To further complicate matters, Lucas becomes the victim of a mugging, suffers a broken wrist, and assigns the task of apprehending said muggers to Virgil Flowers.
I enjoy the interaction between these two characters, Lucas knowing Virgil's strengths and the need to keep him focused, employs the perfect hound dog when setting Virgil on the trail. Virgil, always thorough, finds more than either man bargained for.
The books rely on a heavy dose of police procedure, the methodology of piecing a crime together, and the part that makes these books work so well, is the reader gets both sides of the story simultaneously, knowing what the criminals actions are, while the authorities slowly tighten the web around them.
Sandford hasn't lost any of his ability to tell a decent story using a multitude of characters, and allowing the reader to view both sides of the playing field. It's his ability to cover the grey areas, those places where things aren't quite as clear as they should be, and yet allow his characters to react naturally to them that keep me coming back for more. The best example of this is the talk Lucas has with his adopted daughter Letty near the end of the book.
Still a highly recommended series,
Working in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he gets called to check out a grisly crime scene where a family of four were tortured and murdered, including the dog. Located in a high scale neighborhood, the father a banker, the circumstances don't fit in Lucas's mind with that of revenge killing and drugs. To further complicate matters, Lucas becomes the victim of a mugging, suffers a broken wrist, and assigns the task of apprehending said muggers to Virgil Flowers.
I enjoy the interaction between these two characters, Lucas knowing Virgil's strengths and the need to keep him focused, employs the perfect hound dog when setting Virgil on the trail. Virgil, always thorough, finds more than either man bargained for.
The books rely on a heavy dose of police procedure, the methodology of piecing a crime together, and the part that makes these books work so well, is the reader gets both sides of the story simultaneously, knowing what the criminals actions are, while the authorities slowly tighten the web around them.
Sandford hasn't lost any of his ability to tell a decent story using a multitude of characters, and allowing the reader to view both sides of the playing field. It's his ability to cover the grey areas, those places where things aren't quite as clear as they should be, and yet allow his characters to react naturally to them that keep me coming back for more. The best example of this is the talk Lucas has with his adopted daughter Letty near the end of the book.
Still a highly recommended series,