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John Sandford, “Naked Prey”

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Berkley; http://www.penguin.com/book/naked-prey-by-john-sandford/9780425195444It all started on a snowy night. He followed Jane Warr to her home in Broderick, Minn., and caught her as she was parking in the garage. Inside, he found Deon Cash. He beat Cash, stripped and bound both man and woman, and drove to a nearly hidden copse of trees. There, he tied the knots, strung the rope, and hung the two, leaving the interracial couple as the victims of a lynching. Or so it seemed.

Plot Overview: Mayhem, Murder and Minnesota

Lucas Davenport is content with marriage and fatherhood, but the excitement of his position with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension only highlights the dull stability of his home life. When he’s dispatched to clean up the lynching in Broderick, Davenport rubs his hands at the challenge. With his loyal number two, Del Capslock, at his side, he makes the journey to the frozen tundra of small-town northern Minnesota in January.

Broderick is just a patch of a place, barely alive, but Capslock and Davenport catch hints of activity. The question they struggle with, however, is how much is coincidence? Could more than one ongoing crime be related? What kind of connection (if there is one) exists between the murders, a nearby kidnapping, the local bodyshop and the comings and goings of a small group of ex-nuns?

Part of the answer lies with one of the toughest Minnesotans around: 12-year-old Letty West. West stumbled upon the bodies when checking on her muskrat traps, and her know-how and know-it-all attitude help Davenport and Capslock puzzle out the town – though their dependence on West does little to keep her safe.

Criticisms and Compliments

Naked Prey, Sandford’s 14th installment in the Lucas Davenport series, has all the hallmarks of a great mystery read: an excellent, Fargo-like setting, memorable characters (Letty West, Ruth, the Singletons), and a plot with enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. Like Harlan Coben, Sandford doles out clues piece by piece, but the explanations of each come chapters later. Example (SPOILER): The reader knows that the nuns are involved in a drug-smuggling business at the Minnesota-Canadian border. It’s not until much later that Sandford reveals the drugs are actually cancer drugs supplied to the elderly and those who couldn’t otherwise afford them. It’s a sneaky technique and an effective one.

Like other series (Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series, Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta series), there is always an issue with backstory: how much is too much, how little is too little? With Naked Prey, Sandford explains the changes in Davenport and his boss, Rose Marie Roux’s, careers, but there’s no background given on their previous positions. Of course, it also doesn’t really matter; Naked Prey is about Broderick, about Letty, and about Davenport and Capslock doing what they do best: kicking some ass

Naked Prey is a good one. Check it out.

Source:

  • Sandford, John. Naked Prey. Berkley, 2004 ISBN 9780425195444


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