Neon Prey by John Sandford

This US Marshall Service thriller featured justice, some vengeance, but no redemption. It’s the first Sandford novel I’ve read. This one features Lucas Davenport, who seems to be the lead US Marshall with a special setup. He’s politically connected and uses that connection throughout.

The novel is thrilling. It’s a chase story that starts in New Orleans, goes to California and ends in Las Vegas. We get the story told from the point of view of Davenport as well as a couple of the bad guys, though when in their point of view, it’s an omniscient narrator.

In this book the bad guys are excessively bad. One has a particularly nasty predilection that I’ll let the reader discover on their own. The writing is crisp. The action is intense. And the story kept me reading to find out if and how they’d catch the bad guys. There’s a surprising twist about a third of the way in. I’m not quite sure why this situation was put in. Maybe to fuel Lucas Davenport, but I didn’t think it necessary.

This is definitely not a clean novel. Profanity throughout, sex scenes, including rape, and violence. Some of the violence is graphic and brutal. If this doesn’t bother you, then it’s an exciting story.

I’ll rank this one ahead of the other book I’ve read this year. Even though it’s a four out of five star for me, I probably won’t read another Sandford due to the excessive profanity, sex, and violence. It’s not needed to make a thrilling story.

1. Neon Prey by John Sandford
2. Perfect Daughter by Ion Esimai

Commission earned