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Dark Angel
by
John Sandford
It is part of the Letty Davenport #2 series and is a thriller in a Kindle edition that was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on April 11, 2023 and has 416 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
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, The Investigator , Ocean Prey, Judgment Prey
Second in the Letty Davenport thriller series, a spin-off from Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series and revolving around his daughter. It begins in the summer of 2021 and spends most of the story in southern California.
My Take
Sandford caught my attention with the opening. I thought for sure it was Letty. Instead, it was a Letty-alike. I know, lol, they really are a pair. They think alike and act alike. And Barbara forwards in establishing Letty’s character; she also makes a good mentor. They do share the same sense of humor; “We’ll miss you when you’re gone.”
We do get quite a bit of back history on both Letty and Barbara. Didja know Letty can play drums? More back history, unrelated to our main characters, is the why of the silk scarves worn by WWI pilots. It does make sense.
Sandford is using third person global subjective point-of-view so we get the perspective, emotions, thoughts, and actions of a variety of characters, but the primary perspective is Letty’s.
Sandford continues with his comparisons of Letty’s and Lucas’ characters, and they do sound like a typical daughter and father. Well, at least in that they’re alike. Sandford is also playing with current events, i.e., Ukraine, terrorists crashing power grids, social media stirring up hate, Black inequality, the controversial use of street cameras, and the Russian and Ukrainian army corruption. It’s a useful type of “info dump” in that it provides the reader with a lot of background without Sandford having to go into it.
I do like the T-shirt with a picture of Karl Marx with the text “class dismissed”. I also had to laugh at Cartwright’s assessment of what it takes to sail a boat as well as her use of a gun on that Texas ranch, lol.
Never believe the bad guys when they say they’ll let you go if you cooperate. The scary bit is how everyday Standford made the bad guys seem, doing everyday stuff like watching basketball, needing a babysitter, doing yoga. Technically “our side” are not bad guys, but they are idiots. Too typically, law enforcement (even within their own agency) do not share. Can you imagine how much more effective they could be if they did cooperate? As for Leigh’s comment, when you think about it, law enforcement and private detectives are researchers.
There’s a bit of instruction on how to wash bitcoin, and Sue and Bob have a brilliant business idea. Lol, I did enjoy Sandford’s recap of the fate of some of the characters. An unexpected treat that made me laugh. As for Baxter . . . he went from anti-gun to owning a Beretta 92 and an enhanced reputation at NSA. George Hewitt and the Steps do rather well. Letty meets Jackson Nyberg.
Dark Angel is action-packed and character-driven, by oh so many characters. Most of them are stereotypes, except for Letty and Barbara. Those two are unique, lol, and I’m enjoying them very much.
Yeah, what he said . . . “America needs more lerts”, lol.
The Story
Terrorist groups, homegrown and Russian, are hacking away at America, and Letty must go undercover with an informant to find the truth.
The Characters
The very bright, twenty-five-year-old Letty Davenport (she has a master’s in economics from Stanford) is an investigator for the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. She’ll also be Charlotte “Charlie” Snow. Billy Greet, a DHS exec, is a friend and the Washington liaison between Letty and the senator. John Kaiser, former Delta, is an investigator with DHS (The Investigator, 1). A former Minnesota cop and now a US Marshal, Lucas and Weather Davenport (a reconstructive surgeon) are her adoptive parents.
Angela Chavez is not her name. Barbara Cartwright — shhh, she’s CIA — is an excellent shot. Ray is the cousin with all the baby warnings. Celeres Services is the name Cartwright will call her security company.
Rod Baxter, a.k.a. “Paul Jims”, is a brilliant computer programmer forced into going undercover with Letty.
The Washington Ladies Peace-Maker Society is . . .
. . . a secret group of women — a combination of military and law enforcement with a few sociopaths — who love their guns. Elaine Shelton (won a silver in the Olympics) speaks at a meeting. A couple of the members are Jane Longstreet (ATF), and Patty Bunker, who does contract security, specializing in surveillance and technology.
US Senator Christopher Colles (Rep-Florida) is Letty’s real boss. Taking after her dad . . . He’s also the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Claudia Welp is his brutally efficient executive assistant. Janet seems to work there. Jason Goff, a.k.a. Jerk Goff, is the ineffective lawyer at the Justice Department.
The National Security Agency . . .
. . . is withholding the truth — “America’s crime family”. I know, shocking. “Mary Johnson” , a.k.a. Delores Nowak, is one of Letty’s contacts. Richard Taylor.
The FBI in Los Angeles
Samuels is the assistant director in charge.
Ordinary People is . . .
. . . a.k.a. DarkVirus, is an American hacker group based in California, which is divided into factions. Their loose association of members include Loren Barron; Brianna Wolfe is his girlfriend; Benjamin Able; the OCD Craig Sovern, a whacko who lives on the Green Slash, his boat; Annie Bell, a sound engineer who sings and plays keyboard, is Daniel’s girlfriend; Daniel Delph; Jan is a bass player; Carl; Melody and William Orleans; Michele Obermath; Emilija “Emmy” is a Lithuanian who speaks perfect Russian and is an expert at spear fishing and the social engineering of Russian males; and, Jack, who works best at night. Justin is a coder as is Jaren who brought his wife and young daughter, Catrin, who brought her rescue dog, Spot. Manny is one of two trust-fund hippies who own the hotel.
Dr Eugene Harp is a computer science professor at Caltech with a penchant for sex with students. Hannah Baldwin and Ashley Klein are students. Sue, a.k.a. Sharon Pecker, and Bob, a.k.a. Wesley Bunne, are hackers who got caught. Raoul will be their lawyer, and he works for Step.
The Russian connection revolves . . .
. . . around Arseny Denisevich Stephashin, a.k.a. Mr Step, who represents the GRU in LA. Victoria is his equally brutal wife. I think she’s the brains behind the outfit. Mammuthus is stealing Intel computer chips. Dale Weston, a.k.a. George Hewitt, is a security guard there. Alan Greens, Richard, and Yvegeny work for Step. Volkov is Step’s boss, an old school Soviet Union thug. Vanya, Ilya, and Dima work for Volkov. The Aquarium is GRU headquarters.
Tom Boyadjian hasn’t any morals and owns Boyadjian Surveys, which does work with cops, lawyers, crooks, political consultants, fixers and favor dealers. Barry, Artyom, and the hapless Greg Kirill work for Boyadjian. Leigh Lawrence is invisible; her partner, Barry Martin, is almost as invisible as her. They’re private detectives, licensed, who like to do research. They work for Boyadjian and are good at forgetting. Catherine Shofly, a former Dallas cop, is a Realtor from Texas.
Bogard and Holsum are freelance rednecks. Dupree is an officer worker in a government building. JuFen Industries is a Chinese company working on a new port in Chancay, Peru. DarkVenture is a Russian hacker group. Benillos is a pharmaceutical supply house. Jael had been a terrorist leader in The Investigator. Diego Garcia is a listening post in the Indian Ocean. SlapBack is yet another social media platform into stirring up hate. Poggers is a bar in Venice Beach. The Morning Glory is a bar-restaurant where Millie is a hostess. Carl the Dealer likes those Intel chips. Jeff Toski is a tattoo artist in Washington D.C. Jackson Nyberg is an archeologist who specializes in ancient Native American sites. Pastek Cybernetics, which makes machine control software, is owned by the vengeful Vernon Pastek and located in Sunnyvale, California.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a deep red gradated background with a spread wing of black feathers on the left side — Letty’s new tattoo. The text is on a slant starting with the author’s name in a light turquoise with an info blurb in white to the right of the first name. Beneath that is the series info in white, set off with a horizontal rule above and below it. Beneath that is the title, also in a light turquoise.
The title refers to Letty and that tattoo, for she is the Dark Angel.
