Abandoned by Booklikes

I think that this was one of the strongest offerings in the Prey series. I still could not give it five stars though since there seems to be some ridiculousness with Lucas and his next job I think will get discussed further in the next book. At this point, they should have just retired Lucas and switched to someone else to focus on in this series. How he is running around in his late 50s, I think is a question. I did like the different mysteries going on and how the book ended though. And Sandford must by psychic because he talks about small farms and how broke they have become which has led to bankruptcy and other things.

"Extreme Prey" follows Lucas now that he has quit his job at the BCA. He is renovating his cabin and driving the carpenter nuts. When the governor's lackey calls him up, Lucas is intrigued enough to visit them in Iowa. Apparently the governor (Elmer Henderson) is hoping to get the Democratic nomination for President. However, he's concerned since he has come across a strange woman who has been threatening towards another candidate, Michaela Bowden. At first the Bowden camp doesn't believe in the threat, but Lucas is able to do enough investigating to show that something is going on. This leads him back to a former bombing in the 1970s and a fringe group of disaffected farmers. 

Lucas was pretty funny in this one I thought. He seems to be eh about most politicians, but is okay with the Democrats cause the Republicans cause his head to shake. Since he's so rich he doesn't need to work, him being involved in this case is just for his own curiosity. We have Lucas relying on his friends to help him piece things together, but hre realizes he is more hamstrung these days with no badge or gun. 

We get another look at the governor who I swear sounds like a mash-up of current and former politicians. Sandford does an Obama shout-out so I guess that the Prey series takes place during our time period. 

I thought the writing was interesting in this one since we got so many other POVs besides Lucas in this one. We have his, several criminals, and then even Jason Kidd who lends his expertise to Lucas in this one. I think that Sandford taps into some of the anger that a lot of farmers felt or feel about being pushed out of their homes and land. There's even discussion of how the large farms are owned by big conglomerates in other countries. And I thought there was an interesting discussion about police brutality, the ends justifying the means, and purity in politics. 

The ending was just another set-up to follow Lucas on another career path. I can't even wrap my head around how this would one, be legal, and two, no one would be crying foul over it.