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Thursday, September 22, 2022

RIGHTEOUS PREY

5 stars out of 5

I love Virgil Flowers. I love Lucas Davenport less, but only a titch. Put 'em together and my heart is all a-flutter; tie the action to the timely topic of  cybercurrency and well, you've hooked me from the git-go.

It's about, you see, a group of uber-wealthy Bitcoin investors dubbed the "Five" who have concluded that it's their responsibility to rid the world of deplorables. The first one to go down gets a "1" on his forehead, a hint that there may be more to come. An anonymously issued press release makes that a certainty by announcing the group's intentions as well as their huge Bitcoin donation to a charitable organization (should they choose to accept it) that's related to how the victim earned his deplorable status.

Law enforcement powers-that-be are flummoxed until there's a No. 2 and a  No. 3, pretty much cementing the notion that this pattern will continue unless someone puts a stop to it. Enter Lucas, a U.S. Marshal living in frigid Minnesota with his surgeon wife Weather, and Virgil, an agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who leaves partner Frankie and their twins at home). For the most part, they and the rest of the investigative team are pretty much flying blind; the killers leave no trace, so connecting any of them to a potential killer seems impossible.

That's frustrating for the characters in the story, of course, but less so for readers, who get the benefit of seeing what's happening through the eyes of the Five (and their choreographer) plus the always entertaining repartee between Virgil and Lucas. Revealing details would spoil it for everyone except me, so I'll say only that the whole adventure is fast-paced right up to the end, making for a book you won't want to put down. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the pleasure of reading a pre-release copy. Loved it!

Righteous Prey by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam's Sons, October 2022); 412 pp.

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