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Book Review of Buried Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 21)

Buried Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 21)
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There's nothing like Sandford's "Prey" series to get you out of the reading doldrums. In Buried Prey, Sandford is at the top of his game, featuring fan favorite Lucas Davenport. Over the years, Lucas has risen from patrol to detective, now a top investigator in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. And like every seasoned detective, one case has burdened Davenport's conscience, the abduction and assumed murder of two young girls that occurs just as Lucas is breaking out of patrol work, angling for detective. Davenport accepts his superior's resolution to the case in spite of serious reservations. Now, twenty-five years later, the bodies of the Jones sisters are discovered at a construction site and Lucas is reexamining the case that has haunted his career. How many other victims have died through his willingness to acquiesce to authority?

In an inspired plot device, Sandford reintroduces the young and ambitious Lucas Davenport ("Then"), walking him through the Jones investigation, his eagerness to advance and the political realities he has yet to appreciate. Unfortunately, lack of training and seniority hamper Lucas in a system that doesn't reward renegades. "Now" examines the consequences of Davenport's decision not to buck the system, the found bodies a grim reminder that the real killer has remained free. Balancing his personal life with the finely-honed instincts of a successful career, Lucas is not exempt from the risks in this particular investigation, nor immune to the violence that follows in the killer's wake.

Of all his characters, Lucas Davenport is the most iconic, Sandford developing his protagonist over time, his personal and professional life grist for the series. This novel is a skilled blend of personalities and circumstances, pitting the mind of a serial killer against the determination of a dedicated career detective. Once the chase is on and Davenport scents the killer, it's only a matter of time. As fans of this series know, getting there is the best part, from the outrageous crime to the final confrontation, a cold-blooded killer matching wits with a BCA agent who needs to close a painful period in his history and grieve a heartbreaking loss