LETHAL PREY

4 stars out of 5

My usual 5-star rating has dropped a notch on this one, almost entirely because of just one thing: the gobsmacking cliffhanger ending. I'll not explain further, of course, but after I kept flipping through the acknowedgements to see if the last few pages of the last chapter somehow got buried there, I got really, really annoyed - leaving readers hanging is one of one of the biggest no-nos an author can do, in my book.

But it is what it is. I guess I'll console myself with the thought that resolution may become the impetus for the next book in the series - this is the 35th - so I'll be watching. Other than that, I always look forward to the adventures of Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers - two of my all-time favorite characters. They meet up this time during the reinvestigation of a cold case: the murder of accounting firm employee Doris Grandfelt two decades earlier. It's been reopened because her surviving twin, Lara, is determined to find her sister's killer before she, too, dies - she's been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She's sweetened the pot with a $5 million reward for information that leads to the killer

One of those bloggers, in fact, somehow manages to dig up the murder weapon, which does provide some clues. Lucas gets the call when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul gets the case. Shortly thereafter, Bureau agent Virgil gets a similar call while he's out playing golf. Despite needing to work on his latest novel (plus spend time with his partner Frankie and their twins), he figures Lucas will be involved and agrees to be part of the investigation.

As Lucas and Virgil hone their investigative skills, they also must run interference to keep at bay the proliferation of true-crime bloggers who didn't exist back then and would kill each other for a scoop - or, failing that, turn their enthusiasm into an asset. Fairly early on, readers learn who the killer is, making it even more fun to watch Lucas and Virgil go from spinning their wheels to closing in. All told, another one well done. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Lethal Prey by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2025); 400 pp.