Righteous Prey: A Lucas Davenport & Virgil Flowers thriller

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Now, for the bad news. Although Sandford’s writing is fast-paced, fluid, and full of the sharp sarcastic style he’s known for, his villains are not as captivating and dangerous as they used to be. At least not in this one, anyway. In my opinion, none of the members of “The Five” are on the same level of Davenport and Flowers. They are interesting to some degree and the Bitcoin angle had some potential, although it was rather weakly developed throughout the book. They just weren’t strong enough adversaries to bring any kind of a serious challenge to either Davenport or Flowers. From the first two chapters, I was already trying to figure out how Davenport was going to get his first lead to “The Five”. As soon as the dynamic duo made a connection to the vigilante group, the hunt be on, and it would only be a matter of time before they stopped the bad guys. Overall, for me the good things about Davenport and Flowers made the book worth reading, but they didn’t fully outweigh the weak vigilante team opposing them. My guess is that most Sanford fans will find this an easy and fun read, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that. But for me, this will not be one of the more memorable ones from a mystery perspective. For now, I will just look forward to Virgil’s budding career as a mystery writer, as well as how he and Lucas will physically and emotionally recover from their climax ending experiences from this book.

Righteous Prey by John Sandford - Publishers Weekly Righteous Prey by John Sandford - Publishers Weekly

Just like the more recent novels that followed this same pattern of weak villain strategy, this one also followed strategy number two, by turning it into one long chase down the villain scenes, to only lose the villain at the last moment, and then start another hunt the villain scene. It makes for a fast read, but the trade-off is not having a strong and worthy adversary for the dynamic duo to fight against. Unlike the last book, “Ocean Prey” which had formidable bad guys which made the stakes high risk and intense for the reader, this one had little risk. That is, until the last two chapters in which Sanford suddenly inserted a Davenport/Flowers impression of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to end things in a surprisingly violent manner. For me, that wasn’t enough to make the bad guys tougher.This book tells the story of a vigilante group calling itself "The Five". They are bound and determined to wipe out what they consider the worst of society- rapists, murderers, and thieves. Oh, and they are Bitcoin billionaires! Can Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport stop this smart and carefully choreographed group, when the group has no apparent direct connection to the victims?? Isn't it funny what bothers one person but not another? I read a review written by someone who was offended by the end of the book because Weather and Frankie expressed their opinions on guns. That didn't bother me at all. On the other hand, all of the f-bombs drove me a bit batty. I started feeling as though these characters couldn't speak a sentence without one or two of them. I wanted to yell "Use your words! You're being lazy!!" I'll bet there are a lot of readers who couldn't care less about that, right? There is no pleasing everyone!! 😉 Righteous Prey is like the others, the conflict is well motivated and intriguing. It's also very, unique. I truly don't know where he comes up with some of these ideas. I love Davenport and Virgil Flowers each of which have their own series. They both appear in this one, play off each other and don't vary an inch from their already established characters. Sanford is one of the best out there and if you haven't given him a try you are missing out. Its better to start the Prey series from the beginning because Davenport's personal life continues to evolve. His Daughter Letty who appears in earlier books now has her own series. Love that one as well.

Righteous Prey by John Sandford: 9780593422502

In a wealthy Minneapolis neighborhood, two elderly women are bludgeoned to death. They are apparently the victims of a random robbery, though nothing of value appears to have been taken. But ... During his career as a journalist, Sanford published two fascinating non-fiction books, both under his real name, John Camp. Lucas Davenport investigates a vitriolic blog that seems to be targeting the children of U.S. politicians in the latest thriller by #1 New York Times-bestselling author John Sandford.

Otherwise it was a great read, I especially love Lucas and Virgil’s relationship, and when they had to hold hands and pretend to be gay – well that just made my heart leap.💝 Full review: I don't think I have laughed this hard while reading a Davenport novel in a while. Lucas and Virgil have great bro chemistry and the way that Sandford had them playing off of each other really works. I wonder if now we won't see the character of Rae again? The plot was interesting and it keeps you on your toes. I also loved for once we didn't seem to have Lucas bogged down in a stupid political storyline. I guess Sandford has the Letty Davenport stories to do more of that now, (no I won't read book #2, book #1 was awful). Virgil is writing a mystery novel and so a couple of mystery writers are mentioned: John D. MacDonald, C.J.Box and Carl Hiaasen. Sandford also makes a veiled reference to another Twin Cities mystery writer that most people will identify as him. Virgil mentions that the cop in those mysteries never has to do paperwork. Righteous Prey by John Sandford, the pen name for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp, is the thirty-second book in the Prey novels series featuring Lucas Davenport. Besides the Prey novels, Sandford is the author of the Kidd novels, the Virgil Flowers novels, and six other books.

Lucas Davenport Series by John Sandford - Goodreads Lucas Davenport Series by John Sandford - Goodreads

For twenty years, John Sandford's novels have been beloved for their "ingenious plots, vivid characters, ...

The Investigator is a procedural action thriller in which the technical sleuthing only heightens the tension. Letty is such a capable character, and Mr. Sandford such a fine tactician, it would seem incomprehensible and even cruel to deny readers a swift follow-up.”– Wall Street Journal

The Complete List of John Sandford Books in Order

Since those early days, John Sandford has become a household name, thanks to his three hugely successful crime thriller series and standalone novels. After qualifying as a journalist, he started his career as an army reporter before joining The Miami Herald, where he eventually became an editor. John Sandford’s Righteous Prey is due to be published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in North America on October 4th, 2022. (At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any information about a UK edition, but previous novels by the author are published by Simon & Schuster, so I expect the same will be true for this one.)Sandford has written fifty-five gripping titles to date, and if history is anything to go by, we can expect plenty more to come. Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude, Colles tells her. 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 fairly ugly militia group—led by a woman known only as Lorelai—might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning.