This is where Sandford's suspense-making skills really kick in, keeping us fascinated as Davenport-revitalized by an affair with a jaunty colleague-tries to turn what we all know into hard evidence. There are many reasons for him to be killed, and many people who would do the deed. We find out about halfway through the book who the real killer is, just a few pages before Lucas does, and that villain is a masterful creation. A wealthy banker is dead, shot once in the chest during a hunting trip. Any of Kresge's four fellow hunters-all employees at his Polaris Bank-could have shot him, and all had motives (as did his "soon-to-be-ex-wife"). Newcomers can plunge in without backstory research all they need to know is that Davenport and his fellow cops are still nursing the wounds they garnered in Sudden Prey and that a depressed Lucas has gotten dumped by Weather, his girlfriend in that novel, when he is sent to investigate the murder of banking executive Daniel Kresge in a hunting lodge north of Minneapolis. ![]() Fans of the series will be glad to hear that this is the best installment in years-full of smart suspense and deduction as well as explosive action. ‘‘ So what’s happening?’ Lucas asked, looking at Del.After his muscle-stretching sidestep in 1997's The Night Crew, Sandford is back with his ninth Prey novel featuring dapper, dangerous Minneapolis cop Lucas Davenport. Del was already wearing his winter parka, olive drab with an East German army patch on one shoulder, an Eat More Muffin sweatshirt, fire-engine-red sneaks with holes over the joints of his big toes, through which were visible thin black dress socks-Del had bunion problems-and the oversized Calvin Kleins. When I wear jeans, I look like I’m gonna paint something.’ ‘‘When you wear a tuxedo, you look like you’re gonna paint something,’’ Del said. ![]() ‘‘You get your jeans dry-cleaned?’ he asked. He nodded at Del, and to Sloan said, ‘‘Get out of my chair or I’ll kill you.’ Sloan yawned, then eased out of the chair. He was wearing a black silk sweatshirt showing the collar of a French-blue shirt beneath it, jeans, and a. His hair was dark, touched by the first few flecks of gray, and his eyes were an unexpectedly intense blue. Another scar slashed across his throat, where a friend had done a tracheotomy with a jackknife. A thin line of a scar dropped through one eyebrow onto a cheek, like a piece of fishing line. Was a tall man, hard-faced, broad-shouldered, showing the remnants of a summer tan. I don’t think so.’ ‘‘What about the moral equation- would it be…’ ‘‘Oh, it wouldn’t be a moral problem for him. He’d start imagining all the things that could go wrong, and, you know, being thrown in prison with a bunch of sodomites. But as for pulling off a calculated killing… I don’t think so. He’s got a violent streak, and he can be sneaky about it. If he was drunk and angry, he might strike out. ‘‘I can see him killing somebody, but it’d be in hot blood, not cold blood. You’re barking up the wrong tree with Susan.’ ‘‘Wilson McDonald.’ Jones frowned. I’m not even sure she could do it in self-defense, to be honest with you. I really don’t think she could kill anyone. ‘‘ People from out there, out on the prairie, farmers, have a whole different attitude toward the life and death of animals than they do the life and death of people. The Kelly Group International (KGI): A super-elite, top secret, family-run business. ![]() ‘‘You mean the hunting? That’s cultural,’’ Jones said. She’s crusty and calculating and all that, but she’s got a soft interior.’ ‘‘ I’ve seen a deer that would disagree with you,’’ Lucas said. I really don’t.’ ‘‘Susan O’Dell?’ ‘‘Susan couldn’t do it. But it would have to be deadly serious, and it would have to be deadly personal.’ ‘‘What about Terrance Robles?’ ‘‘I don’t know him well enough to answer. That’s the only way I see Bone deliberately killing somebody.
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