TOXIC PREY

5 stars out of 5

As I said back in 2022 when Letty Davenport, the adopted daughter of U.S. Marshals Service officer Lucas Davenport and his physician wife, Weather, got a starring role for the first time in The Investigator, I enjoyed the book but kind of hoped it was a one-off. That's because I never really connected with Letty - maybe because I loved her dad (and mom and their friend Virgil Flowers) so much that I saw and resented her as some kind of intruder. Well, after reading the second book, both Letty and I grew up (well, she got older and wiser; as an octogenerian, I was already there physically, at least) and now we're cool.

Anyhow, this story hits a timely - and frightening - topic of biological warfare. Early on, we see Dr. Lionel Scott, a fervent believer in "Gaia" - the theory that all living things on the planet interact with each other to create and maintain a synergetic system. Now, he is certain, the human side of that equation has gone out of control, thus threatening its delicate balance. To that end, he's come up with a deadly solution.

But oops, he's nowhere to be found. Fortunately,
Letty is reachable; she's called in to find him even before anyone realizes the consequences of his disappearance and the potential fallout thereof, so to speak. Since Scott is British, Letty is first sent to London, where she meets hunky (well of course!) M-15 agent Alec Hawkins, who will accompany her to Scott's alma mater, Oxford, to learn more about the guy - plus a few hangers-on who have drunk Scott's version of Kool-GaiAid. And what they learn is terrifying; immediately, Letty calls in the big guns including her father, Lucas. From that high-level meeting of the minds comes a plan to contain a deadly virus before it kills millions of unsuspecting and innocent people - even if it means killing more than a few unsuspecting and innocent people in the process.

The rest of the book, really, is Lettie and all the "good" guys and gals trying to figure out how to outwit the "bad" guys and gals before they set loose a viral killer that could wipe out half of the world's population. Pretty heady stuff that sure grabbed my attention. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Toxic Prey by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam's Sons, April 2024); 400 pp.