Naked Prey

Lucas Davenport finds some changes in store — and a few of them are nasty — in this chilling novel by the number-one-bestselling author.

After thirteen years and thirteen Prey novels, John Sandford’s writing is as fresh as ever. His last book, “Mortal Prey,” was “a model of the genre” (People) and “the cop novel of the year” (Kirkus Reviews). In the words of the Washington Post: “John Sandford does everything right.”

In “Naked Prey,” he puts Davenport through change. His old boss, Rose Marie Roux, has moved up to the state level and taken Lucas with her. She creates a special troubleshooter job for him for cases that are too complicated or too politically touchy for others to handle. In addition, Lucas is married now and a new father, all of which is fine with him; he doesn’t mind being a family man. But he is a little worried. For every bit of peace you get, you have to pay — and he’s waiting for the bill.

It comes in the form of two people hanging from a tree in the woods of northern Minnesota. What makes the situation particularly sensitive is that the bodies are that of a black man and a white woman, and they’re naked. “Lynching” is the word everybody’s trying not to say — but, as Lucas begins to discover, the murders are nothing like what they appear. There’s much worse coming.