Those of you who have read my column for the past 20 years know that John Sandford is one of my most favorite authors. I can't remember ever reading a bad Prey book. It's possible that some are better than others; however, because each of them is so much better than 95 percent of the mysteries being published, they all shine. His latest is no exception: in fact, one fellow Sandford fan told me she thinks it is his best yet, and I'm not about to argue with her.
Three of the most hapless crooks you've ever met rob a hospital pharmacy with the help of a cocaine-addicted doctor. The pharmacy worker goes for his cell phone, and one of the bad guys kicks him. Unfortunately, the older guy takes Coumadin, a blood thinner, and by the time he gets to the ER, he's a goner. He managed to scratch one of the thieves so the cops can use the skin (i.e.DNA) found under his fingernails to identify the guy he scratched.
Normally, the robbery would be a case for the Minneapolis cops. But a surgeon at the hospital got a look at the bad guys as they drove out of the parking lot after pulling the job. The surgeon, Weather Karkinnen, as Sandford fans know, is married to Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which means that Lucas and his merry band take over the case. Weather is part of a team of surgeons working to separate conjoined twins. Lucas makes sure she's protected, usually by Virgil Flowers, who has lately starred in his own Sandford series.
Kicking the pharmacist was only the first of many stupid mistakes the robbers make, each of which gets them deeper in trouble. "'The whole problem was, we're stupid people,'" one of the bad guys tells Lucas. "'That's what caused all this trouble. . .We sure as shit weren't smart enough to pull off a big-time robbery. . . I'm stupid. I know that. Everybody knows that.'"
As always, Sandford blends perfect plotting with memorable characters and enough cop banter to make me crack a smile more than once. The only thing I dislike about reading one of his Prey mysteries is that they go by too fast, and I have to wait a whole year for the next. So is Storm Prey the best of the best? It may well be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I read Storm Prey in the 2 days following it's release. I agree that it is one of the better Prey installments (the last one wasn't one of my favorites).
ReplyDeleteSeems very few authors can maintain a series this long without few bumps in the road. As an example, I used to be a huge fan of Patricia Cornwell, but her novels since Scarpetta leaving Virginia have steadily declined, in my opinion.
Sandford and (Lee) Child are two that I find to be rather consistent in excellence.
I will be heartbroken the day Sandford retires Davenport, though "that effin Flowers" is a reasonable protege. I only hope that Sandford and Child do not end their respective series in the same year or I may need medication!