Amazon.com When twelve-year-old muskrat trapper Letty West stumbles on the naked bodies of Jane Warr and Deon Cash， deep in the snowy woods of northern Minnesota， it's more than another bizarre episode in her already unusual life， as Lucas Davenport discovers in this new outing in Sandford's popular series featuring the midwestern lawman who moonlights as a computer game designer. Lucas has a new wife， a new baby， and a new job as a political troubleshooter for his old boss Rose Marie Roux， but the blunt-spoken Davenport's instructions to hush the racially charged implications of what looks suspiciously like a lynching won't deter him from whomever left Warr and Cash twisting in the wind. The well-peopled plot， involving a hot car ring， an ex-nun who smuggles cancer drugs over the Canadian border， and the usual internecine wranglings between the FBI， the local cops， and Davenport， races to a satisfying denouement， but this time it's a little girl with a difficult past and an uncertain future who lingers in the reader's mind. Fortunately， Sandford comes up with an ending that makes it all but certain that his fans will meet her again. Meanwhile， all the author's usual trademarks are on display--excellent writing， an interesting scenario， and terrific pacing. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly Sandford gets back to basics in this stellar 14th installment of his hugely popular Prey series， focusing on the long-standing duo of Davenport and Capslock. As the novel begins， the indomitable Lucas Davenport (now happily married， a contented father and bored out of his mind) is slogging through the northern tundra of Broderick， Minn.， to inspect the naked dangling corpses of a white woman and black man ("They were frozen. Like Popsicles.") that have shocked the locals as well as Minnesota's governor with the ugly specter of a lynching. Davenport， now more or less a free agent for the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension ("I kick people's asses")， is unleashed by the governor， giving Davenport and his scruffy sidekick， Del Capslock， a chance to escape their square city lives and catch the villain(s) while staving off the media vultures， Sandford's trademark subplot. As in previous novels， the original crime (rendered in a truly horrific opening sequence) is merely the gateway to a deeper， more insidious criminal enterprise， this one an international labyrinth of stolen cars， drugs， gambling and kidnapping. Some truly vicious familial machinations in the small town contrast well with Davenport's staid and stable home life. Another pleasant surprise is the precocious Letty West， whose awakening teenage sensibilities make an impression on Davenport. Sandford's usual background details (readers will learn how to run a muskrat trapline and how an Indian casino operates) are deftly woven into the fabric. This latest installment in a series now a decade and a half old is vintage Sandford.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews