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The Investigator
by
John Sandford
thriller in a Kindle edition that was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on April 12, 2022 and has 400 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Rules of Prey, Shadow Prey, Eyes of Prey, Winter Prey, Silent Prey, Mind Prey, Night Prey, Sudden Prey, Easy Prey, Chosen Prey, Mortal Prey, Naked Prey, Hidden Prey, Broken Prey, Invisible Prey, Phantom Prey, Wicked Prey, Storm Prey, Buried Prey, Silken Prey, Stolen Prey, Field of Prey, Gathering Prey, Dark of the Moon, Heat Lightning, Rough Country, Bad Blood, Shock Wave, Mad River, Deadline, Storm Front, Extreme Prey, Escape Clause, The Fool's Run, Deep Freeze, The Empress File, Twisted Prey, Holy Ghost, Neon Prey, Bloody Genius, Masked Prey, Ocean Prey, Dark Angel, Judgment Prey
First in the Letty Davenport thriller series and revolving around Lucas Davenport’s daughter — all grown up.
My Take
Yep, Letty’s finished college and is bored with her job. A job that Lucas got for her.
”I quit. You guys bore the crap outta me.”
That’s Letty. She does not hold back, lol. Her childhood certainly did contribute to this. She is one self-sufficient young lady with a liking for guns. She makes for a fun protagonist, taking after her daddy, Lucas Davenport. And not only in investigating and a love for guns. Lucas’ love of fashion has infected Letty. Now there’s a switch for ya, a “rough-and-tumble” girl who likes to dress.
Letty lets us in on her back history, including her horrible childhood (Naked Prey, 14) and the life and interactions she had with Lucas and Weather. Nice. Makes ya wish more parents would talk with their kids as Lucas does with Letty.
Sandford uses third person global subjective point-of-view, as we hear from a number of perspectives, but Letty’s is the most prominent.
I like Lucas’ assessment of his and Letty’s characters. Pragmatism sounds about right. Too bad the feds and LEOs back in Washington don’t have it. Her pragmatism shows in her stance on guns: Letty is anti-some guns and okay with others. She’s certainly opinionated on high-capacity guns.
The story sets up Letty’s and Kaiser’s relationship, going from his snarky attitude about this kid to the surprises Letty drops on him. I gotta say, Letty is consistent — she surprises everyone.
”’You guys ain’t close friends, huh?’
’We met an hour ago,’ Kaiser said.
Letty: ‘It’s not looking promising.’”
I never thought about it, but an investigator is like a researcher, hunting down information.
Jane, um, I mean Jael, was all too typical of kids who join the military, thinking it’ll be just like the movies. When she got out, she discovered that the only jobs she could get were at the bottom with pay to match. And that sucks. For anyone.
Sandford compares Hawkes’ plans to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, and she considers how to combat the negatives of their planning. I gotta say she’s a generous planner. It’s Hawkes’ actions that Letty and Kaiser are digging into with Letty making some interesting leaps of logic.
That pragmatism of hers does keep her calm when the government types and the terrorists mess around. I suspect it’s the same reason I find the story a bit chilly. Letty is standoffish in a way that Lucas isn’t.
Sounds like Texas is a long-distance state with everything not near anything else. As for that anecdote about the Canadian border . . . lol.
It’s an interesting blend of action, character, and politics. The politics are on several levels from Hawkes’ rants against the system, the lack of belief in Letty, the oil thievery, and all the CYA going on. Character-wise, the range slides from the pragmatic Letty, Kaiser’s surprised fascination, the skeptical law enforcement personnel, frightened townspeople, and those partying gun nuts.
Okay, guys, here’s a new pick-up line fer ya, well, it’s new to me:
”You know what? You really overclock my processor.”
It’s definitely a good read, and I’m looking forward to Dark Angel.
While there’s a satisfying ending (with a few laughs), it does end with a threat. My money’s on Letty. She’s proven herself to be quite competent, lol.
The Story
It’s those inspector generals who haven’t the inspiration to go beyond the standard. They’re not investigators. And Senator Colles needs an investigator who will go beyond.
The Characters
Letty Davenport, a.k.a. Joan, graduated from Stanford with a master’s degree, dresses really well, and wears fabulous jewelry. Lucas Davenport is a US Marshal with an interesting past. He’s married to Weather, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Virgil Flowers is a friend of Lucas’.
John “Special K” Kaiser, a forty-seven-year-old Delta ex-Army master sergeant in Task Force Green, has a different take on bad situations. He studied ceramics in college! I do like how he used his knowledge. His boss is Jamie Wigger, the Homeland Security inspector general.
Senator Christopher Colles (R-Florida), a friend of Lucas’, is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee overseeing DHS operations. Claudia Welp is his much-hated executive assistant. Leslie Born is a legislative assistant. Billy Greet is their Washington liaison.
Vermilion “Vee” Wright owns Hughes-Wright Petroleum, an oil company in Oklahoma City. Dick Grimes is a company vice-president in the Midland office where Boxie Blackburn is a company exec. Others in Midland include Ed, Marky, and Jessie, who is Grimes’ secretary. Lost Land is another oil company. Lowell Harp is an old hunting buddy of Wright’s and cousin to Wright’s wife; he knows (and despises) Roscoe.
The Cops
In Midland, Sergeant Danny Tanner has an unfortunate encounter; Ari Frisch is an officer. Randall Short is the chief of police.
In Monahans, Casey Pugh is an investigator.
In Odessa, Clayton Rhodes is the sheriff and R.J. is a cop. Burrell is an ATF agent.
In El Paso, Special Agent Klaus Anders explains the background on Caravana Viacrucis del Migrante de Libertad, a.k.a. the Caravan of the Migrants’ Way of the Cross of Freedom. Lauren Fix and Rudy Fischer are also FBI. Lieutenant Colonel Tim Jackson is with the Texas National Guard. Major Carter Walsh is with the Texas Rangers.
Pershing, Texas, is . . .
. . . a very small town across the border from Ochoa in Mexico. Henry Lopez is the mayor who had made a name for himself. Janice Moreno, Veronica Ruiz, Doug Hall, and Antonio Alonso are on the city council. Letty is impressed with Hyman Drago’s Hunting and Tactical Equipment store. Roger runs the motel. Jeff owns the diner. Mavis Thrift is run by Mavis Sparks. Other citizens include Lucy, and Parker, who’s with Customs and Border Protection. He has a pregnant wife, Alice. During the “siege”, their kids are with Gabriela.
Carl Walls owns a gun range. Messalina Brown is an informant. Annette Hart and Roscoe Anthem are doing the nasty — and it’s not what you’re thinking.
Jane Jael Hawkes is disaffected ex-military. I can’t blame her for how she feels. She’s been working at Fleet & Ranch days and tending bar at the Ironsides at night. She started a right-wing website, ResistUS. Fans, who follow her site, call themselves the Jael-Birds. The Land Division is a militia Hawkes created that patrols the border. Her friends include the angry Rand Low, who works in the oil fields and has a gift for speechifying; Max Sawyer, who is an armorer and gun enthusiast with a vicious dog, Rooter; and, Terry Duran, who is a former Air Force sergeant who had done ten years in a Texas prison. Victor Crain, ex-military, a meth freak, and car thief, is a little nuts. Roscoe Winks is an oil wildcatter.
Brody “Stony” Rivers had been a friend of Low’s. Kaylee Turner has two children with Rivers, but she’d never trust him around her checkbook. Alice Serrano had been convicted of assault. Borrego. Julie Null set up a makeshift cafeteria. Others in the caravan include Rick, Lannie, Dick, Patty, the one-legged Bernie, Reg, and Carl Waltz who’s from Michigan.
Fort Bliss is a US Army fort in El Paso where the clever Sergeant First Class George Coffey works, as a soldier and a black marketeer. Major General Thomas D Creighton is in command. I sure hope he gets his. Roxanne is Creighton’s secretary. Captain Colin is terrified. Oliver Rodriguez runs a freelance video-news truck; Candace Ochoa is his camerawoman. The Yandel Investment Corp in Denver, Colorado, has a string of houses they rent out in Texas. Benjamin Rojas is the store manager at Fleet & Ranch. Angela works there.
Bud is a trapper friend from Letty’s past (Naked Prey). Bartles is/was a farmer who coached Letty in how to trap. Très was there as well. Martinez and Uno were there in Stolen Prey, 22.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a colonial blue background splattered with runs of black oil. The text is all on a slight slant starting with the author’s name in a greenish yellow with an info blurb (in white) tucked in after the first name. Below it is a horizontal rule with the series info below that, in white. Overlapping with one of the runnels of oil, the start of the title is in greenish yellow while the rest of it is faded into the gray zone with a pale blue rectangle behind it.
The title is where Letty is starting out, as The Investigator.
John Sandford: The Investigator:
Is Sandford actually writing this junk? No plot, no interesting character, not worth reading. Want to sell books, choose another character.
Well, his name is on the cover as the author. I did enjoy it, and it was probably because it’s Letty. I do love to read about characters within a series. Or in this case, a subseries.