We’re long-time Sandford fans and wouldn’t miss a Prey novel for anything. In this 22nd entry in the über-detective Lucas Davenport series, the plot starts out rough as the Brooks family of four are found murdered, obviously hideously tortured in the process. Since Lucas tends now to work just high-profile cases, he assists the assigned homicide cop, Shaffer, in pursuing what appears to be a complicated money-laundering scheme involving Mexican drug criminals. Meanwhile, early in the story, Lucas is mugged at an ATM machine, losing $500 and getting a broken wrist in the process, and you know he’s gonna get those perps if humanly possible. Interestingly, he recruits Virgil Flowers (who has his own Sandford series) to help him find the culprits in that crime.

As usual, there is no shortage of further violence as more parties get identified as part of the scheme (of the main plot) and start double-crossing each other; and the tale ends with a chilling and dangerous episode at Davenport’s house. While we won’t say “Stolen” was our favorite story, Sandford manages to deliver novels of consistent entertainment quality despite his swelling bibliography – and has done so herein once again.