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.💝 It starts in San Francisco followed by Houston. Each victim has a number on their forehead. When a woman is murdered in the Twin Cities Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers enter the investigation. The killings are well planned, carefully choreographed and there is no apparent connection to the victims. Lucas and Virgil have their work cut out for them. It started with an interesting plot line. Five bitcoin billionaires have vowed to murder five “scumbags” of their choosing and then donate “blood money” to a worthy cause. The killings and donations are announced over the media. After the first couple of killings, in San Francisco and Houston respectively, the action moves to Minneapolis; Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to help the FBI solve the third homicide.

Book Review: Righteous Prey by John Sandford

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. Sandford story is told throughout from the point of view of both the chasers and the chased. The result is that it feels like we, the reader, are often a step ahead of the law enforcement agencies as the action plays out. We want to know about the Five and their targets. And Lucas and Virgil? Well, their interactions are sarcastically witty at times. They look out for each other and put themselves in precarious positions to get the bad guys. They work well together and really like each other, something you would expect from law enforcement officers with a history of solving crimes. However, I’m still not sold on this idea of Sandford teaming up his two biggest characters and merging what used to be two books a year into one. I know the man has certainly earned a rest at this point, but it seems like splitting time between Lucas and Virgil does something to the flow of the story so that it doesn’t hum with quite the same energy that their solo books do. Sandford’s characters seem to have limitless unexplored nooks and crannies to their personalities. A solid entry from a writer who consistently gives his readers just what they want.”– BooklistI think that John Sandford is tired of his characters, even Virgil Flowers, who has, until recently, been far more interesting than Davenport. You can always rely on Sandford to serve up an imaginative plot, but with this novel I think he outdid himself. Two other things make Righteous Prey a notable addition to the series. First, it contains a lot of current events like the waning COVID pandemic, the growing prominence of Bitcoin, and current growing division and animosity between conservatives and liberals in the United States. The other is the side story about Virgil Flowers and his budding side gig as a crime fiction author. Both add interest to the story. This is vintage Davenport with a full slate of psychopathic evil doers and Lucas treating every murder investigation as a competition to be won. Sandford’s first Letty Davenport novel is a violent, topical, fast-paced story that’s sure to please action fans.”– Library Journal (starred review)

Righteous Prey by John Sandford | Goodreads

So why did I give it 4/5 for the first time in the entire series? Two reasons. One, I’m a little worried about the anti-police bent, mostly in Flowers. He is a clever detective I've respected because he does his job based on justice and fair play. He eschews guns, will do whatever possible to spare a life, but understands their part in police work. In this book, he seems to be losing his perspective on where the line is between a nation of laws and taking care of people (admittedly a difficult balance). The novel has a very good conclusion, but one that leaves the door open for a directly-connected follow-up (something Sandford has done a few times over the course of this series, but is not the norm). I’m certainly looking forward to that book, whenever it happens to surface. John Sandford is one of the world’s most acclaimed thriller writers. His bestselling novels have captivated readers around the globe for decades, and with two brand new books and plenty more to come, there’s no better time to explore this electrifying author’s work. Many thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons and to NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Righteous Prey. 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).From the murky waters of the dark net surfaces a group of killers who claim to be cleaning America of the worst of society. They target those that they despise, people who don’t fit into their model of who deserves a place in this country. The second is an unbiased examination of the booming plastic surgery industry, written in collaboration with distinguished surgeon Bruce Cunningham. 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.