Ocean Prey
-
-
4.2 • 194 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Who knew a mystery set in such a relaxing, sun-drenched locale could still make our pulses race? A triple murder off the Florida coast is threatening to go cold, but the FBI still has one card left to play. Well, actually, two: U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport and his favourite expert on the criminal mind, Virgil Flowers. We were swept away by this dark thrill ride as the investigators knocked down doors looking for clues. From a dope dealer named Footlong who works out of a sub shop to the hotshot mafia bosses shuffling product up and down the U.S. East Coast, every shady character adds even more colour to this gritty modern-day noir. It turns out that an oceanside setting is an excellent fit for Lucas Davenport—but this adventure at sea is no pleasure cruise.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murder, theft, and shady real estate dealings feature in the convoluted plot of Andrews's so-so latest (after Hello Summer). Letty Carnahan, 33, flees Manhattan with her four-year-old niece Maya after Letty's charming but troublemaking younger sister, Tanya, dies. Letty believes Tanya was killed by Tanya's abusive and unscrupulous husband, Evan Wingfield, who's under investigation by the FBI for running illegal Airbnb properties, because Tanya had recently confided her fear of Evan to Letty. Guided by a magazine clipping in Tanya's "go-bag," which also contained $19,000 in cash, Letty stops at the Murmuring Surf motel in Treasure Island, Fla., where owner Ava Decurtis offers her a job in exchange for a place to stay. Letty endears herself to the older guests and catches the eye of Ava's handsome cop son, Joe, while untangling Tanya's involvement with a pair of local criminals who swindled the motel's guests out of their jewelry. In one of many contrivances, one of the criminals might also be Maya's biological father. Meanwhile, an FBI agent sets up a sting to prove Evan wants Letty dead. Andrews is great at making the motel community come alive, but a host of one-note villains weakens the narrative, as does the overly complicated story and unconvincing romance with Joe. This one is a miss.
