Hidden Prey (Lucas Davenport, #15)

Six months ago, Lucas Davenport tackled his first case as a statewide troubleshooter, and he thought that one was plenty strange enough. But that was before the Russian got killed. On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Vladimir Oleshev is found shot dead, three holes in his head and heart, and though nobody knows why he was killed, everybody - the local cops, the FBI, and the Russians themselves - has a theory. And when it turns out he had very high government connections, that's when it hits the fan." A Russian cop flies in from Moscow, Davenport flies in from Minneapolis, law enforcement and press types swarm the crime scene - and, in the middle of it all, there is another murder. Is there a relationship between the two? What is the Russian cop hiding from Davenport? Is she - yes, it's a woman - a cop at all? Why was the man shot with ... fifty-year-old bullets? Before he can find the answers, Davenport will have to follow a trail back to another place, another time, and battle the shadows he discovers there - shadows that turn out to be both very real and very deadly. From Publishers Weekly Det. Lucas Davenport has battled some real demons over the past 15 Prey novels and drifted in and out of lust and love with a host of women. But now he's happily married to the lovely Weather; has a nine-month-old son, Sam; and takes care of his 12-year-old ward, Letty West. Sure, he's got a measure of the old angst, but he's growing accustomed to the good life, spending quality time alone on the couch drinking beer and watching TV golf. His new job is running the Office of Regional Research at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension where he looks into various crimes and "fixes shit" for the governor. So when a dead Russian shows up on the docks in Duluth, Lucas is assigned to shepherd the lady investigator, Nadya Kalin, being sent by the Russian government. From the very first pages, the reader knows it's teenager Carl Walther who has killed the Russian. What makes the book intriguing is the manner in which the sagacious Davenport goes about uncovering the rest of the co-conspirators-a gang of Minnesota-based Communist spies headed by Carl's grandpa, 92-year-old ex-KGB colonel Burt Walther. That Sandford makes this unlikely plot believable is a mark of his mastery of the technical aspects of the mystery form and a testament to his overall writing skills. Readers will be pleased with this relaxed version of the moody Minneapolis investigator. In past novels, the womanizing Davenport would have romanced the good-looking Russian lady, but the new Davenport is content to play the part of friend and protector and go back to his cozy family with an unstained and remarkably contented soul. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist A Russian sailor is the victim of a professional assassination on the docks of Duluth. Wary of international implications, the governor of Minnesota asks Lucas Davenport, the chief investigator for the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, to investigate. Major Nadezhda Kalin, a representative of Russian law enforcement, assists Davenport. The murder may be linked to the remnants of a dormant Soviet Union network established between the world wars but forgotten by the motherland. The descendants of the original network members have all melded into the American mainstream. Davenport and Kalin pursue the case through the rural mining towns of northern Minnesota even as they become the targets of the shadowy assassin. The sixteenth Prey novel is less harrowing and not as dark as many of its predecessors. It's also more humorous--even the suicide of a key character is accompanied by a sly, graveyard one-liner--with deft Davenport observations on the curious behavior of the opposite sex in general and on Russian women in particular. Similarities to previous Prey thrillers: high entertainment value; deftly rendered characterizations; and clever, believable dialogue. Expect another best-seller and stock up accordingly. Wes Lukowsky Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved Enter Series Index : 15 of 24 Has Cover : Yes Record Notes : Found Part of Series ES Group : Serified_E Calc Series A (group): Prey Series Test Search : Hidden Prey / John Sandford Number of Words in Auth: 2 ES Cover Quality : ICBF ES Suffix : _ Quick Search : John Sandford Prey Series Test Text Series Index: 15 Single Author : John Sandford Test Compare Series to Entered: eq Compare Author : eq Sorted Author by LN, FN: Sandford, John Calc Series Group : Prey Series Title Length : 11 Calc Force Series : .Prey Series Title Parm A : Hidden Prey Formats : EPUB Raw Title : Hidden Prey Record ID : 1482 Enter New Series (Calced): Serified_E.Prey Series.Thriller.15 of 24._.ICBF ES Name : Prey Series EBook : Have Custom Series : SIPY.Prey Series.Thriller.15 of 24._.ICBF Calc Genre : Prey Series Num of Aut : 1 Uncomma Author : John Sandford ES Genre : Thriller Calc New Series : Prey Series.... Calc ESI Part 3 : 24 Calc ESI Part 1 : 15 ABook : E_Only Calc ESI Combined : 15 of 190 Calc ESI Part 2 : of Theories abound when a Russian gets himself killed by the shore of Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota - shot with fifty-year-old bullets. "What's going on here?" When it turns out he had very high government connections back home, state troubleshooter Lucas Davenport gets the call. Well actually, Lucas and a mysterious Russian cop with secrets all her own. Together, they'll follow a trail back to another place and another time, and battle the shadows they discover there - shadows that turn out to be both very real and very deadly."One of the strongest in Sandford's Prey series" says 'Entertainment Weekly.' "Good, dark, perverse, bloody fun," adds 'The Washington Post Book World.'