Naked Prey

 

Naked Prey by John Sandford

Lucas Davenport #14

2003

Finished on January 19, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

Lucas Davenport finds some changes — and some nasty surprises — in store, in the chilling novel by the number-one-bestselling author.

After thirteen years and thirteen Prey novels, John Sandford's writing is as fresh as ever. His last book, Mortal Prey, was "a model of the genre" (People) and "the cop novel of the year" (Kirkus Reviews). In the words of the Washington Post: "John Sandford does everything right."

Now, in Naked Prey, he puts Lucas Davenport through some changes. His old boss, Rose Marie Roux, has moved up to the state level and taken Lucas with her, creating a special troubleshooter job for him for cases that are too complicated or too politically touchy for others to handle. In addition, Lucas is married now, and a new father, all of which is fine with him; he doesn't mind being a family man. But he is a little worried. For every bit of peace you get, you have to pay — and he's waiting for the bill.

It comes in the form of two people found hanging from a tree in the woods of northern Minnesota. What makes the situation particularly sensitive is that the bodies are of a black man and a white woman, and they're naked. "Lynching" is the word everybody's trying not to say — but, as Lucas begins to discover, in fact the murders are nothing like what they appear to be. There is worse to come — much, much worse.

The night I finished Naked Prey, I stayed up reading until after midnight. I rarely do that, but I simply could not put this book down! It's been over 15 years since I read a John Sandford book (Mortal Prey), and quite honestly, I'm surprised that I enjoyed this installment as well as I did; the last few books in the Prey series were very disappointing. I'm not sure if the long break helped boost my enjoyment, but I couldn't read fast enough. The tension is taut, the dialogue snappy, and I enjoyed the introduction of the gun-toting, foul-mouthed, twelve-year-old girl named Letty West. I think Lucas and Del thought she was pretty sharp, too, and I hope to see more of her in the next book. 

Highly recommend!