Prey
30 primary works • 33 total works
Book 23
Murder, scandal, political espionage and an extremely dangerous woman. Lucas Davenport's going to be lucky to get out of this one alive.
A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks.
Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart.
Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen.
No matter who gets in the way.
A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks.
Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart.
Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen.
No matter who gets in the way.
Book 24
The extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from the number one New York Times-bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner John Sandford.
'He knows where the bodies are buried.' A familiar expression, often said with a laugh. But in Lucas Davenport's line of work, it's sometimes all too true....
When a county deputy is called out to an abandoned farmhouse in the cornfields of Minnesota by a couple of terrified teenagers, he finds that a body has been stuffed down a cistern. And then another, and another.
By the time Lucas Davenport is called in, the police are up to fifteen bodies, and counting. And when Lucas begins to investigate, he makes some disturbing discoveries of his own. The victims have been killed over a great many years, one every summer, regular as clockwork. How could this have happened without anybody noticing?
Because one thing was for sure: The killer has to live close by. He is probably even someone they see every day...
'He knows where the bodies are buried.' A familiar expression, often said with a laugh. But in Lucas Davenport's line of work, it's sometimes all too true....
When a county deputy is called out to an abandoned farmhouse in the cornfields of Minnesota by a couple of terrified teenagers, he finds that a body has been stuffed down a cistern. And then another, and another.
By the time Lucas Davenport is called in, the police are up to fifteen bodies, and counting. And when Lucas begins to investigate, he makes some disturbing discoveries of his own. The victims have been killed over a great many years, one every summer, regular as clockwork. How could this have happened without anybody noticing?
Because one thing was for sure: The killer has to live close by. He is probably even someone they see every day...
Book 25
They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes-they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them.
Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she'd befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody's killing her friends, she's afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She's hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn't know what to do.
Letty tells Lucas she's going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty's getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman's story, though, he begins to think there's something in it. Little does he know. In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has ever seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger-but just may change the course of his life.
Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she'd befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody's killing her friends, she's afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She's hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn't know what to do.
Letty tells Lucas she's going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty's getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman's story, though, he begins to think there's something in it. Little does he know. In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has ever seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger-but just may change the course of his life.
Book 26
A Lucas Davenport thriller by internationally bestselling novelist John Sandford
After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation—no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend the governor is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun!” he says, and it kind of is—until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor . . . and anyone who gets in the way.
***READERS LOVE THE PREY SERIES***
'John Sandford knows all there is to know about detonating the gut-level shocks of a good thriller' The New York Times Book Review
'The best Lucas Davenport story so far. The man has a fine touch for outlaws' Stephen King on Golden Prey
'Sandford’s trademark blend of rough humor and deadly action keeps the pages turning until the smile-inducing wrap-up, which reveals the fates of a number of his quirky, memorable characters' Publishers Weekly on Golden Prey
'It appears there is no limit to John Sandford’s ability to keep new breath and blood flowing into his Lucas Davenport series. This is a series you must be reading if you are not already' Bookreporter.com
'Sandford has always been at the top of any list of great mystery writers. His writing and the appeal of his lead character are as fresh as ever' The Huffington Post
'Sandford is consistently brilliant' Cleveland Plain Dealer
After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation—no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend the governor is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun!” he says, and it kind of is—until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor . . . and anyone who gets in the way.
***READERS LOVE THE PREY SERIES***
'John Sandford knows all there is to know about detonating the gut-level shocks of a good thriller' The New York Times Book Review
'The best Lucas Davenport story so far. The man has a fine touch for outlaws' Stephen King on Golden Prey
'Sandford’s trademark blend of rough humor and deadly action keeps the pages turning until the smile-inducing wrap-up, which reveals the fates of a number of his quirky, memorable characters' Publishers Weekly on Golden Prey
'It appears there is no limit to John Sandford’s ability to keep new breath and blood flowing into his Lucas Davenport series. This is a series you must be reading if you are not already' Bookreporter.com
'Sandford has always been at the top of any list of great mystery writers. His writing and the appeal of his lead character are as fresh as ever' The Huffington Post
'Sandford is consistently brilliant' Cleveland Plain Dealer
Book 27
His job is to hunt down criminals. But he's about to become the hunted... Find out why Stephen King calls John Sandford 'one of the great novelists of all time'!
Lucas Davenport has a job with the U.S. Marshals Service - an unusual one. He gets to pick his own cases, whatever they are, and follow wherever they lead him.
And where they've led him this time is into real trouble.
A house at the center of a drug-smuggling ring is attacked and briefcases full of cash are stolen. But whoever took the money left something behind: five bodies, including that of a six-year-old girl. Davenport vows to track down the cash and find the killers. But he's not the only one on the hunt... the drug smugglers want their money back, and they've sent two assassins, including an infamous torturer known for her creative use of home-improvement tools, after Davenport.
It'll take every ounce of Davenport's predatory instinct to track down the killers and money before he becomes the prey.
* * * Readers can't get enough of GOLDEN PREY * * *
'Rattles along... with lots of dry humour and plenty of action. It's a book I really didn't want to end. In my view it's one of the best in the series' Andrew, Netgalley and GoodReads reviewer
'[Sandford is] a master of pacing & the story clips right along before the race to a satisfying finish' Sandy, GoodReads reviewer
'It's been several years since I have read one of Sandford's "Prey" novels. I'm happy to say that I picked the right one to jump back into the series. This was a highly enjoyable book, and I had a hard time putting it down' Randal, GoodReads reviewer
'Trademark Lucas Davenport with some suspense, characteristic humor, and action' Debra, GoodReads reviewer
'An excellent story by a great, great writer. 10 of 10 stars' Tim, GoodReads reviewer
'This book is fantastic! I cannot wait to go back and catch the rest of the series' Dawn, GoodReads reviewer
Lucas Davenport has a job with the U.S. Marshals Service - an unusual one. He gets to pick his own cases, whatever they are, and follow wherever they lead him.
And where they've led him this time is into real trouble.
A house at the center of a drug-smuggling ring is attacked and briefcases full of cash are stolen. But whoever took the money left something behind: five bodies, including that of a six-year-old girl. Davenport vows to track down the cash and find the killers. But he's not the only one on the hunt... the drug smugglers want their money back, and they've sent two assassins, including an infamous torturer known for her creative use of home-improvement tools, after Davenport.
It'll take every ounce of Davenport's predatory instinct to track down the killers and money before he becomes the prey.
* * * Readers can't get enough of GOLDEN PREY * * *
'Rattles along... with lots of dry humour and plenty of action. It's a book I really didn't want to end. In my view it's one of the best in the series' Andrew, Netgalley and GoodReads reviewer
'[Sandford is] a master of pacing & the story clips right along before the race to a satisfying finish' Sandy, GoodReads reviewer
'It's been several years since I have read one of Sandford's "Prey" novels. I'm happy to say that I picked the right one to jump back into the series. This was a highly enjoyable book, and I had a hard time putting it down' Randal, GoodReads reviewer
'Trademark Lucas Davenport with some suspense, characteristic humor, and action' Debra, GoodReads reviewer
'An excellent story by a great, great writer. 10 of 10 stars' Tim, GoodReads reviewer
'This book is fantastic! I cannot wait to go back and catch the rest of the series' Dawn, GoodReads reviewer
Book 28
"Lucas Davenport confronts an old nemesis, now a powerful U.S. senator, in the thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Prey series. Lucas Davenport had crossed paths with her before. A rich psychopath, Taryn Grant had run successfully for the U.S. Senate, where Lucas had predicted she'd fit right in. He was also convinced that she'd been responsible for three murders, though he'd never been able to prove it. Once a psychopath had gotten that kind of rush, though, he or she often needed another fix, so he figured he might be seeing her again. He was right. A federal marshal now, with a very wide scope of investigation, he's heard rumors that Grant has found her seat on the Senate intelligence committee, and the contacts she's made from it, to be very ... useful. Pinning those rumors down was likely to be just as difficult as before, and considerably more dangerous. But they had unfinished business, he and Grant. One way or the other, he was going to see it through to the end"--
Book 29
Lucas Davenport tracks a prolific serial killer in this nail-biting #1 New York Times-bestseller from John Sandford.
Clayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him. They don't much care about a low-level guy--it's his boss they want--but Deese might be their best chance to bring down the whole operation.
Then, they step onto a dirt trail behind Deese's rural Louisiana cabin and find a jungle full of graves.
Now Lucas Davenport is on the trail of a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice. His quarry is ruthless, and--as Davenport will come to find--full of surprises . . .
Clayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him. They don't much care about a low-level guy--it's his boss they want--but Deese might be their best chance to bring down the whole operation.
Then, they step onto a dirt trail behind Deese's rural Louisiana cabin and find a jungle full of graves.
Now Lucas Davenport is on the trail of a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice. His quarry is ruthless, and--as Davenport will come to find--full of surprises . . .
Book 30
Lucas Davenport investigates an anonymous threat to the children of US politicians in this edge-of-your-seat thriller from the internationally bestselling author John Sandford.
The daughter of a US Senator is monitoring her social media presence when she finds a picture of herself on a strange blog. And there are other pictures . . . children of other influential Washington politicians, walking or standing outside their schools, each identified by name. Surrounding the photos are vicious political rants from a variety of radical groups.
It's obviously alarming – is there an unstable extremist tracking the loved ones of powerful politicians with deadly intent? But when the FBI is called in, there isn't much they can do. The anonymous photographer can't be pinned down to one location or IP address and, more importantly, no crime has actually been committed. Yet.
There’s only one person who has a hope of finding the person behind this, one person who can operate outside the FBI's constraints: Lucas Davenport. And he’ll have to act first before someone gets hurt . . .
***READERS LOVE THE PREY SERIES***
‘One of the great novelists of all time’ Stephen King
‘A series writer who reads like a breath of fresh air’ Daily Mirror
‘John Sandford knows all there is to know about detonating the gut-level shocks of a good thriller’ New York Times Book Review
‘John Sandford has the Midas touch’ Huffington Post
‘Delivers twists to the very last sentence’ Daily Mail
‘Crime writer John Sandford is one of the best around’ Sun
The daughter of a US Senator is monitoring her social media presence when she finds a picture of herself on a strange blog. And there are other pictures . . . children of other influential Washington politicians, walking or standing outside their schools, each identified by name. Surrounding the photos are vicious political rants from a variety of radical groups.
It's obviously alarming – is there an unstable extremist tracking the loved ones of powerful politicians with deadly intent? But when the FBI is called in, there isn't much they can do. The anonymous photographer can't be pinned down to one location or IP address and, more importantly, no crime has actually been committed. Yet.
There’s only one person who has a hope of finding the person behind this, one person who can operate outside the FBI's constraints: Lucas Davenport. And he’ll have to act first before someone gets hurt . . .
***READERS LOVE THE PREY SERIES***
‘One of the great novelists of all time’ Stephen King
‘A series writer who reads like a breath of fresh air’ Daily Mirror
‘John Sandford knows all there is to know about detonating the gut-level shocks of a good thriller’ New York Times Book Review
‘John Sandford has the Midas touch’ Huffington Post
‘Delivers twists to the very last sentence’ Daily Mail
‘Crime writer John Sandford is one of the best around’ Sun
Book 31
Fan-favorite heroes Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces on a deadly maritime case in the remarkable new novel from #1 New York Times-bestselling author John Sandford.
An off-duty Coast Guardsman is fishing with his family when he calls in some suspicious behavior from a nearby boat. It's a snazzy craft, slick and outfitted with extra horsepower, and is zipping along until it slows to pick up a surfaced diver . . . a diver who was apparently alone, without his own boat, in the middle of the ocean. None of it makes sense unless there's something hinky going on, and his hunch is proved right when all three Guardsmen who come out to investigate are shot and killed.
They're federal officers killed on the job, which means the case is the FBI's turf. When the FBI's investigation stalls out, they call in Lucas Davenport. And when his case turns lethal, Davenport will need to bring in every asset he can claim, including a detective with a fundamentally criminal mind: Virgil Flowers.
An off-duty Coast Guardsman is fishing with his family when he calls in some suspicious behavior from a nearby boat. It's a snazzy craft, slick and outfitted with extra horsepower, and is zipping along until it slows to pick up a surfaced diver . . . a diver who was apparently alone, without his own boat, in the middle of the ocean. None of it makes sense unless there's something hinky going on, and his hunch is proved right when all three Guardsmen who come out to investigate are shot and killed.
They're federal officers killed on the job, which means the case is the FBI's turf. When the FBI's investigation stalls out, they call in Lucas Davenport. And when his case turns lethal, Davenport will need to bring in every asset he can claim, including a detective with a fundamentally criminal mind: Virgil Flowers.
Book 32
Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are up against a powerful vigilante group with an eye on vengeance in this thrilling novel in the beloved series by the #1 New York Times bestselling author.
“We’re going to murder people who need to be murdered.”
So begins a press release from a mysterious group known only as “The Five,” shortly after a vicious predator is murdered in San Francisco. The Five is made up of vigilante killers who are very bored…and very rich. They target the worst of society—rapists, murderers, and thieves—and then use their unlimited resources to offset the damage done by those who they’ve killed, donating untraceable Bitcoin to charities and victims via the dark net. The Five soon become popular figures in the media …though their motives may not be entirely pure.
After The Five strike again in the Twin Cities, Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport are sent in to investigate. And they soon have their hands full--the killings are smart and carefully choreographed, and with no apparent direct connection to the victims, the killers are virtually untraceable. But if anyone can destroy this group, it will be the dynamic team of Davenport and Flowers.
“We’re going to murder people who need to be murdered.”
So begins a press release from a mysterious group known only as “The Five,” shortly after a vicious predator is murdered in San Francisco. The Five is made up of vigilante killers who are very bored…and very rich. They target the worst of society—rapists, murderers, and thieves—and then use their unlimited resources to offset the damage done by those who they’ve killed, donating untraceable Bitcoin to charities and victims via the dark net. The Five soon become popular figures in the media …though their motives may not be entirely pure.
After The Five strike again in the Twin Cities, Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport are sent in to investigate. And they soon have their hands full--the killings are smart and carefully choreographed, and with no apparent direct connection to the victims, the killers are virtually untraceable. But if anyone can destroy this group, it will be the dynamic team of Davenport and Flowers.
For twenty-five years the unsolved kidnapping of two young girls has haunted Minneapolis homicide detective Lucas Davenport. Today, the bodies have been found. Today, he returns to a crime—and a nightmare—darker than any before...
A block on the edge of the Minneapolis loop is being razed when a macabre discovery is made: two girls buried under a rotted old house. Lucas Davenport knows how long they’ve been there. In 1985, he was part of the manhunt to track down two kidnapped sisters. They were never found—until today. With the bodies discovered, Davenport has the chance to return to the crime that has haunted him for years. The deeper he probes, the more one thing becomes clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried. It was the truth.
A block on the edge of the Minneapolis loop is being razed when a macabre discovery is made: two girls buried under a rotted old house. Lucas Davenport knows how long they’ve been there. In 1985, he was part of the manhunt to track down two kidnapped sisters. They were never found—until today. With the bodies discovered, Davenport has the chance to return to the crime that has haunted him for years. The deeper he probes, the more one thing becomes clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried. It was the truth.
Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers team up to crack an unsolvable case in this thrilling new novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.
Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there’s no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can’t imagine how or why anyone would target her husband.
With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth.
Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there’s no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can’t imagine how or why anyone would target her husband.
With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth.
Lucas Davenport and his daughter, Letty, team up to track down a dangerous scientist whose latest project could endanger the entire world, in this latest thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.
Gaia is dying.
That, at least, is what Dr. Lionel Scott believes. A renowned expert in tropical and infectious diseases, Scott has witnessed the devastating impact of illness and turmoil at critical scale. Society as it exists is untenable, and the direct link to Earth’s death spiral; population levels are out of control and people have allowed disarray and disorder to run rampant. While most are concerned about deadly disease, Scott knows that it is truly humanity itself that will destroy Gaia. It’s only by removing the threat that the planet can continue to prosper, and luckily, Scott is just the right man for the job…
When Scott then disappears without a trace, Letty Davenport is tasked with tracking down any and all leads. Scott’s connections to sensitive research into virus and pathogen spread has multiple national and international organizations on high alert, and his shockingly high clearance levels at various institutions, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, make him the last person they’d like to go missing. As the web around Scott becomes more tangled, Letty calls in her father, Lucas, help her lead a group of specialists to find Scott as soon as possible. But as Letty and Lucas begin to uncover startling and disturbing connections between Scott and Gaia conspiracists, their worst fears are confirmed, and it quickly becomes a race to find him before the virus he created becomes the perfect weapon.
Gaia is dying.
That, at least, is what Dr. Lionel Scott believes. A renowned expert in tropical and infectious diseases, Scott has witnessed the devastating impact of illness and turmoil at critical scale. Society as it exists is untenable, and the direct link to Earth’s death spiral; population levels are out of control and people have allowed disarray and disorder to run rampant. While most are concerned about deadly disease, Scott knows that it is truly humanity itself that will destroy Gaia. It’s only by removing the threat that the planet can continue to prosper, and luckily, Scott is just the right man for the job…
When Scott then disappears without a trace, Letty Davenport is tasked with tracking down any and all leads. Scott’s connections to sensitive research into virus and pathogen spread has multiple national and international organizations on high alert, and his shockingly high clearance levels at various institutions, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, make him the last person they’d like to go missing. As the web around Scott becomes more tangled, Letty calls in her father, Lucas, help her lead a group of specialists to find Scott as soon as possible. But as Letty and Lucas begin to uncover startling and disturbing connections between Scott and Gaia conspiracists, their worst fears are confirmed, and it quickly becomes a race to find him before the virus he created becomes the perfect weapon.