Publication Date April 9, 2024
Over the years, I have read MANY books by John Sandford, and have reviewed at least a dozen, with several being part of the Prey series. In 2019, writing about John Sandford’s Neon Prey, I wrote “There aren’t many authors whose latest book I eagerly await, and who maintain a consistently high level in terms of plot, character, and entertainment value. John Sandford has been one of those (along with Michael Connelly, Michael Robotham, Robert Crais, and Elizaeth George (OK, a few clunkers in the Lynley series, but overall still a fave). I was a bit surprised to realize that his latest, Neon Prey, is #29 in the Lucas Davenport series. I’m pretty sure I have read them all, and over the years I’ve come to know and love Lucas and some of his cronies, so I was happy to receive…”
It was just last year that I 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???). 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.
So far, so good. Two titles a year: Lucas and Virgil. Then along comes Letty Davenport, Lucas’s adopted daughter, and in 2023 we got Dark Angel, featuring Letty on her own. And if that weren’t enough, 2024 brings us Toxic Prey, billed as “A Lucas and Letty Davenport Novel.” Thanks to Penguin Group/Putnam and NetGalley,I received a copy of this 34th in the Prey series in exchange for my honest review. I was REALLY looking forward to reading this one, because I love the interplay between Lucas and Letty, and the premise was interesting. In this one, we don’t have Virgil, but we do have a bunch of wackos who believe that, thanks to humans, the earth is dying and the best way to save it would be to turn a deadly virus loose and kill more than half the people alive. The genius behind this is Dr. Lionel Scott, an expert in infectious and tropical diseases, whose recent experience deals with crossing the Marburg virus with the fast-spreading measles we all know and love. Dr. Scott has disappeared, along with an unknown quantity of the new virus and several highly contagious people tasked with going to airports worldwide and unleashing the horror. OMG, what a scary premise!
Letty works with Lucas and other specialists to track down Dr. Scott, his virus, and the “volunteers” who are working to “save the earth” (Gaia, as they call it). It’s very tension-filled, clever, and scary AF. I love Letty and Lucas both, but this one was VERY unsettling for me. I’m unclear how to rate it because it clearly was very well done to have scared me so much. But it’s such an awful premise I hate to give it five. But…it IS Sandford. And Lucas. And Letty. Five stars.