NEON PREY

4 stars out of 5

Only a couple of authors have written separate serial books featuring two different characters I absolutely love, and John Sandford is one of them. For years, law enforcement agents Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport have been never-miss favorites. It is the latter who takes center stage here (although happily, Virgil makes a couple of appearances as well).

That said, most characters in long-running series - at least in my experience, and I'll  cite as examples works by both Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, J.D. Robb and Janet Evanovich - over the years tend to lose a titch of the pizzazz that hooked me in the first place, and Lucas and Virgil are no exceptions. But hey: most of these characters aren't exactly spring chickens anymore, so slowing down a bit is to be expected (as I approach octogenarian status. I know this all too well). 

In fact, in this, the 29th in the series; even Lucas himself has a few moments of self-doubt. But he's still filthy rich (millions earned by gaming software he developed), married (to plastic surgeon Weather, who gets in a few good lines here) and hasn't lost his sense of humor. And while the thrill of the chase may have dropped a notch or two, it hasn't lessened my love of the books, including this one. It begins with a chase to find a hired killer named Deese; the marshals don't find him, but they do find graves filled with dead bodies. That's bad enough, but evidence shows this killer has a particularly nasty habit (let's just say if you put him in a room with Hannibal Lecter, one of the two wouldn't go home hungry and the other wouldn't go home at all). 

Lucas has an office in Minneapolis, but he works out of Washington, D.C., for the U.S. Marshals Service. Finding Deese is important to the feds not only because of his eating habits, but because it's believed that he's been hired by a bad guy named Roger Smith (no relation, I presume, to the late husband of Ann-Margret), who's the real target they're after. The chase brings together a few familiar (and likable) characters from previous books as well as a slew of law enforcement agencies from New Orleans to Los Angeles to Las Vegas. One raid in particular turns out not all that well for Lucas (triggering, so to speak, that self-doubt mentioned earlier).

All in all, it's another great adventure that doesn't disappoint (telling more might spoil the fun for other readers, so I won't). I must, however, note one of the highlights for me: The ever-dapper Lucas dressed in cargo shorts. Now that would be a sight to see!

Once again, many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy. 

Neon Prey by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam's Sons, April 2019); 400 pp.