Field of Prey. Finished 11-6-15, rating 4.25/5, thriller, pub. 2014

Lucas Davenport series #24    (book 17) (book 18) (book 19) (book 20) (book 21) (book 22) (book 23)

Unabridged audio read by Richard Ferrone, who did an excellent job, 11.5 hours.

The night after the fourth of July, Layton Carlson Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky. And unlucky.

He’d picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, an abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private, and quiet. The only problem was . . . something smelled bad—like, really bad. He mentioned it to a county deputy he knew, and when the cop took a look, he found a body stuffed down a cistern. And then another, and another.

By the time Lucas Davenport was called in, the police were up to fifteen bodies and counting. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, when Lucas began to investigate, he made some disturbing discoveries of his own. The victims had been killed over a great many years, one every summer, regular as clockwork. How could this have happened without anybody noticing?    from Goodreads

I love this series, obvious by the fact that I’ve read the series from the beginning.  Lucas, a detective, handles only those cases that the politicos need to have disappear.  His role is more of a mentor as he works with the police all over Minnesota, but he still manages to get his hands dirty.  He is great at what he does and possesses an authority that others look to in a time of crisis.

This was a strong story in the series. There was one scene where a girl gets killed that really bothered me but other than that it was all the usual violence.  I’ve missed Lucas and his family and co-workers, who all show up at some point.  I’ve always loved his relationship with Letty, his daughter who he adopted in one of the earlier books and this was no exception. Letty wants to do what Lucas does and he’s both scared and proud.  Letty is on her way to Stanford but has time to work with Lucas on this last case.

This series is perfect for anyone who likes police procedurals or detective series that are quick and satisfying reads.  I’d start at the beginning so that you can see the transformation of Lucas over the years.