Hidden Prey FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Six months ago, Lucas Davenport tackled his first case as a statewide troubleshooter, and he thought that one was plenty strange enough. But that was before the Russian got killed. On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Vladimir Oleshev is found shot dead, three holes in his head and heart, and though nobody knows why he was killed, everybody - the local cops, the FBI, and the Russians themselves - has a theory. And when it turns out he had very high government connections, that's when it hits the fan." A Russian cop flies in from Moscow, Davenport flies in from Minneapolis, law enforcement and press types swarm the crime scene - and, in the middle of it all, there is another murder. Is there a relationship between the two? What is the Russian cop hiding from Davenport? Is she - yes, it's a woman - a cop at all? Why was the man shot with ... fifty-year-old bullets? Before he can find the answers, Davenport will have to follow a trail back to another place, another time, and battle the shadows he discovers there - shadows that turn out to be both very real and very deadly.
FROM THE CRITICS
Patrick Anderson - The Washington Post
In his new Hidden Prey, however, Sandford has outdone himself, plotwise, not only in terms of ingenuity but also in sheer perversity … It's just good, dark, perverse, bloody fun. There are crime writers who are more challenging than Sandford, who plunge more deeply into the human condition, but it's hard to think of anyone who is more consistently entertaining. You want to know the only thing wrong with this guy? He makes it look easy.
Publishers Weekly
Det. Lucas Davenport has battled some real demons over the past 15 Prey novels and drifted in and out of lust and love with a host of women. But now he's happily married to the lovely Weather; has a nine-month-old son, Sam; and takes care of his 12-year-old ward, Letty West. Sure, he's got a measure of the old angst, but he's growing accustomed to the good life, spending quality time alone on the couch drinking beer and watching TV golf. His new job is running the Office of Regional Research at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension where he looks into various crimes and "fixes shit" for the governor. So when a dead Russian shows up on the docks in Duluth, Lucas is assigned to shepherd the lady investigator, Nadya Kalin, being sent by the Russian government. From the very first pages, the reader knows it's teenager Carl Walther who has killed the Russian. What makes the book intriguing is the manner in which the sagacious Davenport goes about uncovering the rest of the co-conspirators-a gang of Minnesota-based Communist spies headed by Carl's grandpa, 92-year-old ex-KGB colonel Burt Walther. That Sandford makes this unlikely plot believable is a mark of his mastery of the technical aspects of the mystery form and a testament to his overall writing skills. Readers will be pleased with this relaxed version of the moody Minneapolis investigator. In past novels, the womanizing Davenport would have romanced the good-looking Russian lady, but the new Davenport is content to play the part of friend and protector and go back to his cozy family with an unstained and remarkably contented soul. (May 11) Forecast: Expect this to hit #1-Sandford's last Prey book, Naked Prey, opened at the top of the Times bestseller list and was only knocked to #2 by The Da Vinci Code. 500,000 first printing; main selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery Guild; 10-city author tour. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
When a Russian man is found murdered on the shores of Lake Superior, Lucas Davenport must join forces with a cop from Moscow to track down the culprit. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
AudioFile
Sandford's well-known Prey mysteries feature state police Detective Lucas Davenport. This time the setting is Duluth, and the iron mining towns of the Mesabi Range. The action begins with the murder of a Russian merchant seaman on the Duluth docks. More murders follow, and a mixed group of good guys, including police, sheriffs, the FBI, and a female Russian investigator, set out to solve them. After 12 Prey novels, Richard Ferrone has the drill down pat. His pacing is excellent; it keeps the listener involved in the action and conveys the ambience that the events create. He's particularly good with female voices, and he does well with the Russian agent speaking accented English. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
As the brilliant Prey series (Naked Prey, 2003, etc.) moves adroitly to number 15, Lucas Davenport discovers and exposes your basic family Soviet spy ring. Homogeneously American on the surface-hardworking dads, dutiful soccer moms-this family of subversives, headed by a former KGB colonel, has been for 70 years secretly diligent on behalf of the Soviet Union, undeterred by the Soviet Union's demise. At first, the murder of Oleg Moshalov seems unconnected to the group's efforts, seems, in fact, fairly routine, a bit confusing as to motive, to be sure, but not much more so than homicides often are in the early stages of an investigation. Even after Oleg Moshalov is correctly identified as Rodion Oleshev, ex-KGB agent, the various antennae involved remain at rest. And then suddenly there are the Russians demanding action, clamoring for results, and flying a cop from Moscow to Duluth to make certain the Americans understand that they're serious. All of which means that Lucas Davenport, still settling into his recent appointment as major-crimes troubleshooter for Minnesota Governor Elmer Henderson, is about to be activated. Russian cop? Well, not quite, Lucas decides almost at once (cops don't flinch at the sight of corpses, though intelligence officers might). He manages to bear up under the deception, however, since Major Nadezhda Kalin-she of the delicious diastema between her two front teeth-turns out to be Ninotchka for the new century. To charm, smarts, and guts, add investigative flair, and what you've got is a matched pair, the Kalin-Davenport team, essential for coping with a crafty, resolute villain desperate to elude the denouement he really always knew was in store for him. Deft,action-packed, and slyly funny. Just when you thought the silky smooth Sandford couldn't possibly get better, he does. First printing of 500,000; Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club/Mystery Guild main selection. Agent: Esther Newberg/ICM
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