Golden Prey

Cops And Outlaws

John Sandford is a best selling crime novelist, and Golden Prey is his twenty-seventh ‘Prey’ book, that comes with endorsement from Stephen King, no less.

In this book, the man in the middle of the action is Lucas Davenport, who has just been made a US Marshal due to his high-level connections, that has caused some heartburn in the force.  Davenport is wealthy, nattily dressed and, to the envy of some of his colleagues, travels business class and stays in fancy suites. But when it comes to crime fighting, he is not averse to getting his hands dirty.

When his latest prey, the ruthless killer Garvin Poole, cold-bloodedly killed a six-year-old child during a heist, the enraged cop, husband and father does not rest till he tracks down the man. 

Poole’s girlfriend Pandora Box (really!) and associate Sturgill Darling have to cope with not just the cops snapping at their heels, but the two killers, Soto and Kort, put on their trail by the Honduran drug cartel who were robbed of millions by the duo. Soto is a happy gunman, but Charlene Kort is a demented woman, who enjoys cutting up people to force them to divulge the information she wants. Evidently Sandford is not squeamish about writing gruesome scenes of torture.

The violence is a bit too much, but the pace is relentless and the adventure most entertaining. As Davenport observes, what makes their work easier is the tracking of cell phones. No matter how many burners the criminals use and throw, they can be tracked. On the other hand, the bad guys recruit hackers, who keep them one step ahead of the cops.

Sandford writes with the kind of humour and a cast of colourful lowlifes that is reminiscent of Elmore Leonard.  During the chase, Davenport is joined by the fearless pair of Bob and Rae; the latter is resigned to the responses a black female cop gets, and when she has to pass off as a maid to get information, she does, knowing that nobody pays attention to the working class.  The banter between these three is laugh out loud funny.

Golden Prey

By John Sandford

Publisher: GP Putnam’s

Pages: 440