When I get a new book from one of my favorite authors, I tend to just dive in and start reading without  spending much time thinking about the series it may be part of, or whether I liked the last released title, etc. And John Sandford is definitely one of my favorite authors, BUT. I came to realize the inconsistency of my opinions, noticing the last several titles my opinions were anything but consistent. Two prior releases, The Investigator and Dark Angel, both featured Letty Davenport, Lucas’s adopted daughter. I loved both, they were 5 stars for me. And not that many years ago, I wrote “I JUST realized that for the past several years, Sandford has released two books a year: A Lucas Davenport/Prey book in the spring, and a Virgil Flowers title in the fall. (Am I the only one who never realized this???). And although I have been less than thrilled with a couple of fairly recent titles, looking back I realize those were Flowers books, and the Lucas Davenport series has been more to my liking.”

The two most recent Davenport books (Masked Prey and Neon Prey) were solid four stars, while I found  Bloody Genius and Holy Ghost (both of which featured Virgil Flowers) to be quite disappointing, with each earning only 2-3 stars. So when I received a copy of Judgment Prey from  Penguin Group Putnam and Net Galley (in exchange for this honest review), I was finally thinking about a Sandford book BEFORE I started it, and wondering how a story featuring BOTH Lucas and Virgil would be…

Virgil Flowers is to Lucas Davenport as Joe Pike is to Elvis Cole, or as Clete Purcell is to Dave Robicheaux, or as Hawk is to Spenser. If that makes sense, you have likely read novels by Robert Crais (Pike/Cole) or James Lee Burke (Purcell/Robicheaux) as well as by John Sandford, for whom Lucas has been a solid character, working away in Minnesota, solving crimes in the “Prey” series – once again, he has the help of his buddy Virgil Flowers. Lucas, a former Minneapolis cop, now works for the U.S. Marshal’s Service, while Virgil works for the BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension). They work well together, although they sometimes drive members of other agencies nuts. This time, the FBI and St. Paul police are also involved, as they all try to solve a complex murder of a federal judge named Alex Sand and his two sons, ages 10 and 12.

The story starts with a shocking scene, as the three victims are gunned down in their home, while the wife/mother , Margaret Cooper, is out.  The Sand-Cooper family is very wealthy, and had just been about to give a hefty donation ($100-150,000) to a local charity, and it looks like that may have been related to the murder.

There is a ton of public interest and pressure to solve the case, and Lucas and Virgil start to uncover  leads where the local cops and the FBI have struck out. It’s twisty and puzzling, and well plotted. It doesn’t move at breakneck speed, but I was glued to it for 2 days, and enjoyed the storyline, the characters, and the surprises. Guess their working together improves both of them for me! Five stars.