Judgment Prey by John Sandford

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on October 3, 2023

This is a Prey novel, so Lucas Davenport is the featured character. As is increasingly common in Prey novels, Virgil Flowers plays a nearly equal role. John Sandford published his last standalone Flowers novel in 2019. Since then, he’s published four Lucas Davenport and two Letty Davenport novels. Virgil can’t complain about a lack of love because he gets cameos in the Letty novels (just as Letty earned a cameo in this one) and is increasingly likely to be a co-star in the Lucas novels.

Virgil is hoping to transition away from law enforcement. He sold a novel that is about to be published and is working on another. Virgil tells Lucas that a writer told him that “books have three parts: the set-up and the climax, and then in the middle, the swamp.” Sandford is a master of the swamp — the characters and subplots that keep the reader entertained while awaiting the big reveal that drives mysteries or the final confrontation that drives thrillers.

The set-up in Judgment Prey is simple. Two boys and their dad are shooting hoops in the back yard. They go inside when it starts to rain. Someone in a hoodie follows them inside, shoots them all (not with the efficiency of a professional), spares a baby in a basinet, and leaves with their cellphones and laptops. The dad is a federal judge so the FBI joins the investigation. Lucas is asked to show the flag for the U.S. Marshals since protecting judges is part of their remit. Flowers shows up on behalf of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The St. Paul police do most of the legwork but Davenport and Flowers team up to look for the clues that other cops miss.

The plot differs from many crime novels in that the killer’s identity is soon known to the reader. The novel is not a whodunit. Instead, the reveal explains the killer's motive, a key that must be unlocked before Lucas and Virgil can solve the crime.

The judge’s wife, Maggie Cooper, is understandably distraught and ultimately vengeful. She intends to find the killer and end his life. To that end, she receives moral support from her best friend, Ann Melton, with whom she occasionally has sex. Whether Maggie will kill the killer before Lucas and Virgil catch him, or whether he will add Maggie to his list of victims, is the source of the novel's dramatic tension.

The swamp involves the investigation of people who might have a motive to kill the judge, including criminals he has sentenced. Davenport and Flowers also look into a charitable organization that was expecting a donation from the judge. The organization turns out to be shady, leading to a collateral investigation that prompts a couple more murders. The killer also comes after

Characterization is typically built in the swamp. The have been so many Prey novels (not to mention Flowers novels) that the characters are now well known. The swamp instead gives them a chance to find new ways to insult each other. That never gets old.

The motive for killing the judge and his family struck me as unlikely, but people kill for unlikely reasons so I’ll give Sandford’s reveal a pass. Otherwise, the climax involves the kind of action that is common to Prey novels, complete with chases and gunplay. That climax doesn’t quite resolve the main plot, but a second climax does. All of this is great fun for a John Sandford fan, which presumably includes most readers who enjoy crime novels. Judgment Prey doesn’t stand out from the large stack of Prey novels, but even an average Prey novel is worth reading.

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