Book Review – Ocean Prey by John Sandford – Exciting Sequel
Table of Contents
My Rating – 4 out of 5
Plot Summary – Ocean Prey
The much awaited Lucas Davenport annual installment is here, releasing to mixed feelings. For the past few years, there have been a Lucas Davenport and a separate Virgil Flowers novel, though both series have few mentions of the other. Ocean Prey has both, in ample doses. Meaning – there’s double the excitement in this one and twice the disappointment – that there will be no separate Virgil Flowers series release in 2021. Be that as it may, let’s get around to discussing this book, for all it’s worth.
Off the coast of Miami, an off duty Coast Guardsman spots an upmarket Mako boat doing something suspicious, while he was out fishing. He calls it in, and the tails the boat – which has now picked up a diver from the middle of the sea – back to shore. His colleagues come charging in and are shot dead by the guys in the Mako! The one of the shooters are also killed, the others escape after setting the boat on fire. It seems that they were pulling drugs out of the ocean and were disturbed. Now the DEA, Coast Guard and eventually FBI get involved, but months pass without any breaks in the case.
Senator Christopher Colles, in his search for an answer to the puzzle as to who killed the Coast Guards men, is guided towards Lucas Davenport and the US Marshals’ service. Lucas and Bob set out for Miami to solve the riddle. The FBI-DEA Task Force is demotivated at the lack of progress and welcome the Marshals’ arrival if that can help stir up something. Lucas and Bob don’t do anything fancy, just start speaking to anybody who might have an idea who the drugs were for and to get some leverage through some weak link in the supply chain.
But this rattling the bushes approach stir the wrong type of attention towards Lucas’ investigation and results in the death of a task force member. This is where Virgil Flowers appears and plays a significant role till the end of the book. Well, it begs the question here, for months the huge machinery of the US Federal Government could not even interrogate the right people and get the right information? Rather shoddy, I would say. But Lucas and Bob, just do a series of interrogations and one thing leads to the other, resulting in the case breaking wide open!
Conclusion – Book Review of Ocean Prey
Well, typical to the series, there are a lot of wisecracks, the suave charm of Lucas and his devilish brain along with the smart operations of Virgil which keeps the pages turning furiously. In this, the author mentions that Lucas has just turned fifty two, so understandably, the physical aspect of the investigation is left to the younger Virgil Flowers. There is a budding romance shown between Virgil and Marshal Rae Givens’, but nothing really comes off it.
All in all, a much awaited read, which I finished in four days or so and am now suffering from a withdrawal symptom! Have to wait another year for the next one!! But anyway, coming back to this one, for longtime fans of the series, this will not come as a disappointment. It’s pacy, full of action and the humor between Lucas and Virgil keeps the story flowing along smoothly! Recommended for a read, my friends…
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