I’ve been a fan of JohnSandford’s books for many years, and generally enjoy the Lucas Davenport books more than theVirgil Flowers ones…in fact, the last two Flowers books I have read, Holy Ghost and Bloody Genius, have been serious disappointments for me. So I was happy to see that the focus for Sandford’s latest offering, The Investigator, was on someone other than Virgil (who I used to LOVE). But it’s NOT Lucas, this time it is his daughter, Letty.

Lucas and his wife adopted Letty after Lucas “found” her working on a case. Previous books have followed her growing into an interesting woman, who is no longer a child. She is a twenty-four-year-old graduate of Stanford with a Masters in Economics, and she has a job that is boring her to tears working for a U.S. Senator. Just when she is ready to quit, the Senator offers her the opportunity to work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), investigating some thefts of crude oil in Texas. It isn’t the loss of the oil that concerns the Senator – he wants to know what the money that results from the sale of the crude is being used for. It looks like a militia group in Texas might be planning something along the lines of domestic terrorism.

Letty heads for Texas where she is partnered with John Kaiser, a DHS Investigator who is not at all interested in working with her – until he sees how she handles a gun. They work together to find the mysterious militia leader Jane Jael Hawkes, whose father “...had been a white-trash loafer, hard drinker, and sometime over-the-road truck driver…” Jane joined the Army, which she though was a “...way out of that life, if you couldn’t afford community college. She was wrong about that; some things that you were born with you can never escape.” Hawkes began attracting followers to her cause, which she called ResistUS.Although “...most militias were composed of hapkess goofs with guns and confused ideas about America and patriotism,” Jane’s group was different, although they had much in common with the other “resisters.” “Living in apartments no bigger than cells, or in decaying trailer homes, trying to decide whether to pay the heating or the electric bill or to actually buy a steak this month. Good Americans, hooking up with the woman at ResistUS, and calling themself Jael-Birds.”

The story of the investigation and the “event” planned by Hawkes and her group kept me reading into the night. Hawkes is a fascinating character, and her view of her mission is incredibly thought-provoking: “All she wanted was for people to recognize that she’d never had a chance and that seventy percent of them were the same way–people without a chance.”

I can’t wait for more of Letty’s adventures, and I am SO glad that Sandford is back in TOP form. FIVE STARS!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this arc.

My first impression... It's Lucas' "Mini-Me"! Then it seemed as if Letty was channeling Virgil Flowers at times.
At 24 years old, Letty is an absolute sponge. There's not much she hasn't picked up and absorbed for herself.
Just don't call her "babe".

Letty is a fascinating character and is balanced with an equally strong partner Kaiser, a DHS Investigator in the book. Enough of each of their backgrounds is presented so their "skill sets" appear to make sense. Letty is currently attached to a Senator's office and is bored silly with her job. The Senator is alerted by one of his constituents to some peanutty oil thefts and calls on Letty to "partner" with Kaiser to "look into" them. They're paired up on this blind date and sent down to Texas to poke around to see what might be going on down there....

They stir up a Texas size hornet's nest. It's a fast and furious paced read, typical of Sandford.

I loved it and hope this is just the first of a new series!

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was interesting and not always expected. I liked the main character and the layout of the book. I would recommend to James Patterson lovers.

I was already a Sandford fan but dang is he back with this one. I love the idea of Letty having her own book. She's always been one of my favorite characters and I love the way she's grown through the series. This one was just amazing. I couldn't stop turning the pages and the ending was so action packed. It was classic Davenport and I enjoyed reading it so much (even though it was awful). I hope this is a new series as I definitely want to see more of Letty. If you enjoy Sandford or want to start a new series without needing a lot of back story, this is the action thriller for you.

Being a huge John Sandford, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers fan, I was eager to read Sandford's latest, The Investigator. This book features Letty Davenport, Lucas' adopted daughter, who is now grown, a Stanford grad and working in DC for a Senator Collins. Bored with her job, she is ready to resign. Collins, knowing talent when he sees it, tempts her with a special investigative job in collaboration with Homeland Security. The assignment, which begins as an investigation into oil thefts in Texas, lands Letty and her Homeland Security counterpart, John Kaiser, in the midst of something even more dangerous. During their investigation, they unveil a Texas based militia group lead by Jane Hawkes, otherwise known as Jael. Jael has something in the works and plans to send the US a message at quite a large cost. Letty and John not only need to figure out what it is, but more importantly, can they stop it?

I almost always give the first in a series some leeway, as it's hard to fully develop the characters and storyline in the constrains of one book. This is no exception. Despite meeting Letty in previous Davenport books, this is a new Letty to readers. She's grown and on her own. I found her to be too good to be true, with talents that were hard to believe even given her background. However, the ending gave me a character I could care about and want to see in future books. It'll be interesting to see where Sandford takes this series, as the opportunities are endless. Could we see a Letty/Lucas or Letty/Virgil pairing in our future? I sure hope so.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for my complimentary ARC in return for my honest review.

Absolutely fantastic.

I loved this book as much as I have always loved the Lucas Davenport series. I think Letti will be a whole new environment that works for me.

Love how this series is going…

5 out of 5 stars
thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

POSTED TO Goodreads 2/01/22
Publishing in April, 2022

Well I DNFed this at 35 percent. I could not force myself to keep reading this one. I don't know how a new series starring Letty Davenport was so boring and also repetitive in equal measure, but it was. Letty has never been my favorite (see prior reviews of Lucas Davenport series) and this book didn't make me want to get to know the character more. Sandford really does turn her into a Mary Sue similar to Dean Koontz and how he writes women now. 

"The Investigator" follows Letty Davenport, adopted daughter of Lucas and Weather. For long-time readers of the series, we last left Letty with about to graduate college. She was of course supposedly some wunderkind in college and Lucas said that she could pretty much do anything. When the book opens we have Letty doing a break-in based on work she is doing for a Senator. But Letty is boring during her 9 to 5 job. And when the Senator proposes that Letty do more work that needs more finesse and would allow her to carry a gun, she's all for it. Now Letty is working for Homeland Security and has a sort of partner who is former Delta Force. No you can't see my face, but you can tell what expression I am making right now right? With Letty and her partner off to figure out why crude oil is disappearing, the whole book seems to be a set up of some big old terrorism plot line and I tapped out. 

Letty is not the heir apparent to the Davenport series. Sorry, she's not that interesting. There's all of these flashbacks to the times that Letty has killed people and I just did not care. Sandford should have referenced that once or twice, but to just whole sale lift parts of prior books and just stick them here made me shake my head. I assume they did that since there may be readers who have not read the Davenport series and he didn't want them totally in the dark, but there should have been a happy medium there. Also Letty is just like Lucas via her eyes, her manner, her ability to work out, and her liking good clothes. She's the male version of Lucas and not the latter Lucas, but the ones from the earlier books which I did not enjoy.

There is zero character development of other characters. There's a reason why I referred to the Senator as Senator and the special ops guy as Delta Force. Pretty much everyone is in awe of Letty and thinks she's smarter than the local police.

The flow was pretty bad and by the time I got to the 35 percent point I just decided enough was enough.

John Sanford brings investigation, suspense, and plenty of action to the first book in the Letty Davenport series. Letty has had an unconventional, tragic, and violent childhood mixed with her beneficial adoption by Lucas Davenport, the protagonist in the author’s Prey series. She’s now twenty-four, a graduate of Stanford, and working for Senator Christopher Colles. Letty is also bored until she is offered a position as a liaison between the senator’s office and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In her first assignment, she is a researcher partnered with investigator John Kaiser. There are complaints about missing oil. DHS is concerned about what the thieves are going to do with the money they are getting.

Letty is smart and lean with a somewhat warped sense of humor and a tendency to be rash at times. She also takes after Lucas in several ways including her proficiency and knowledge of guns and her love of fashion. John and Letty start out on somewhat rocky ground when they first meet, but this is soon resolved via showing their areas of expertise and how they balance one another. Their personalities and approaches to an investigation are somewhat different, but they quickly learn to trust and depend on each other. Both characters have depth and show growth.

The story is part investigation and part action thriller. The opening is memorable and, starting with chapter three, readers get the occasional point of view of the antagonists, rather than the entire book being from Letty’s point of view.

Sandford’s writing is always great. It was fluid and flowed well, and his world-building was fantastic. There was a strong sense of place causing me to feel transported to Texas and its border towns, as though living the events alongside the characters. He’s a superb storyteller who kept me on the edge of my seat as the investigation and action unfolded. The final action scenes are riveting and hauntingly memorable. The conflict is seen from different angles as readers get insight from both Letty and the antagonists. It is very relevant and has a terrifying realism to it. Themes include violence, murder, immigration, childhood trauma, theft, security, and much more.

Overall, this was suspenseful, unsettling, and action packed with compelling characters that kept me turning the pages. With a heart-rending plot, exciting scenes, and fascinating story, it captivated and terrified me. It’s a great start to a series and I’m looking forward to reading more about Letty and her future assignments.

PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons and John Sandford provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for April 12, 2022. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Readers who need suspenseful, well-written books about intelligent law enforcement can do no better than John Sandford. He's produced several series, with his fully-developed characters moving back and forth among them.

What I've always appreciated about Sandford is that his characters are complex, well-rounded people. He has smart, sophisticated farmers and wise, sympathetic rednecks, along with powerful politicians who have as many personality quirks as a realistic portrait can bear.

The Investigator is a spinoff of the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. In this book, Lucas's grown adoptive daughter Letty is tasked with a DHS investigation by a Senator for whom she works. Letty has appeared in more than a dozen of the Prey novels, since she was orphaned as a 12-year-old in an earlier Davenport case.

Letty has always been precocious, cool-headed and capable -- traits that were reinforced after she came under Lucas's influence. Her youngest years in a dysfunctional setting forced her to grow up and grow very, very serious.

All of which makes her a force to be reckoned with. She's both logical and intuitive as she and her partner confront a militia group which is funding itself by large-scale oil thefts and is planning a horrifying crime.

This may be my favorite of Sandford's novels -- and I've read them all. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advance readers copy.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book!
I came across John Sandford with his earliest Lucas Davenport and was immediately a fan of John's style and plots. Over the years, I have purchased every one of his books and also purchased all his audio books.
Lucas's personality, determined, logical, loyal and, at times, cruel has captured my interest. And, Letty is just like her father.
Letty's journey is, for me ,totally believable and entertaining. The story-line is totally contemporary and thus relatable.
John Sandford, please continue providing your fans with more entertaining books.

If you’ve read John Sandford’s novels about Lucas Davenport, you’ve undoubtedly read about his adopted daughter, Letty. Her experiences as a child are rehashed in The Investigator, so even if you don’t remember her, or never read a Lucas Davenport novel, you can discover Letty’s past. That past life led her to her current experiences. She has skills, and she has a mentor to help her polish those skills in this new book.

Letty’s only twenty-four, but she’s not ready to settle for a boring job in Washington, D.C. When she tries to resign from Senator Chris Colles’ office, he offers her a more active job working an operation with the Department of Homeland Security. Someone is stealing oil in Texas, and making a great deal of money selling it. Colles isn’t worried about the theft. He wants to find out who is selling it, and what they are doing with the profits. Letty will be his researcher, checking it out in person. And, she’ll be accompanied by John Kaiser, a DHS investigator, formerly with Delta Force.

Kaiser doesn’t want to be a babysitter, but he and Letty soon respect and trust each other after they discover the other person’s skills. Letty is much more capable of handling guns than Kaiser expected. And, he has knowledge and skills from his time in Special Forces, ones that Letty soon learns she can learn.

Letty and Kaiser need to rely on each other. There’s an organized movement behind the oil thefts, a militia led by Jane Hawkes, known as Jael. Hawkes is former military herself, and she’s written a book that capitalizes on the unrest in the country, and the unrest felt by other former members of the military. She has a small core group of men who understand her plans for a militia of people who never had a chance to succeed. And, Jael’s plans will lead to Pershing, Texas, where over 100 military will come from all over the West and Midwest. Thanks to Jael, this militia has the financial means to demonstrate to the government that they’re fed up. They don’t want any more immigrants crossing the border from Mexico to take jobs from good Americans.

Hawkes expects that someone will infiltrate her group. She just doesn’t expect the damage that two people can do from the outside. She isn’t expecting Letty and Kaiser.

Because this is the first in a new series, Sandford is careful to develop Letty Davenport’s character. Her life experiences have led her to this point, where she’s willing to kill if that’s what it takes to accomplish her mission. The Investigator introduces a fascinating new lead, a woman capable of violence just as much as the people she’s tracking. She’s shrewd, willing to learn, and capable of killing. It’s going to be interesting to see where Letty Davenport goes from here.

The Investigator is a new series from John Sandford with Letty Davenport as the main character. Lucas Davenport is not named and is referred to as Dad.

"Letty Davenport has graduated from Stanford with a Master's in Economics and is working for a Senator in DC. She is bored and ready to move on when the Senator convinces her to work as an investigator for Homeland Security. She teams up with John Kaiser, a former Delta operator. Their investigation into some missing oil turns up a bigger plot of possible domestic terrorism."

I love that Sandford gives Letty has her own book. She is a character that is constantly underestimated but over-delivers. This feels a lot like a Prey book but Letty has a similar but different style to Lucas. There are flashbacks to her first appearance in the Prey series (Naked Prey) to give the casual reader some background. The story is fast-paced and I had a hard time putting it down. Sandford fans will love this book. Crime fiction/thriller fans should also enjoy this one. I hope we see a lot more of Letty Davenport.

John Sandford’s The Investigator has been on my read list ever since its description got dropped on Amazon. Over the past couple years, I’ve read all the Virgil Flowers books and most of the Prey books (including all of which that have come out in the last ten years). I’ve also recently gotten done with a reread of several Prey books including both Naked Prey (the book where Letty Davenport is introduced) and Stolen Prey (where Letty saves her family from a revenge attack at the Davenport home). All of this is to establish that when I say that I already had really high hopes for Letty Davenport’s first solo adventure, I really mean it. Long story short, The Investigator surpassed all my hopes and is quickly a strong favorite for not only being my favorite thriller at the end of 2022 but even possibly my favorite book of 2022.

Letty has long been one of my favorite characters in the Davenport series and this book has put her second to only Virgil Flowers in my favorite characters list for the entire Sanfordverse. The most impressive thing that the author did with Letty in this book is to make her unique as a character. She shares the hunter qualities of her adopted-father Lucas but the book distinguishes her from him by also focusing in on the feralness that comes from her pre-Davenport life. In talking to some of my library co-workers today, I compared the character of Letty to Hanna, of the self-titled film and now Amazon Prime series. The Investigator distinguishes this in a way that provides a level of depth to the book that, at least in my opinion, hasn’t been present in a Sandford book previously.

Another standout feature of this book was the villain, Jael. Jael in many ways felt like almost the perfect first villain for Letty to go up against. She in many ways is almost a mirror for Letty, especially in the ways their backstories parallel each other in ways. Jael, also like Letty, has an important quality of knowing when to be the face of what’s going on and when to fade into the background. Letty uses this feature to help her in her investigations, while Jael uses it to further her more malevolent goals. This leads to fascinating cat-and-mouse game between the two women that provides the book a fantastic propulsion up until the fantastically paced climax.

I'm thankful to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book to read.

I've been a huge Lucas Davenport and 'That fuckin' Flowers' fan for a decade and have read every title in both series, most of them more than once. So I have to tell you that I approached THE INVESTIGATOR with some trepidation. I suspected Sandford's shift to a female protagonist might have been driven more by his publisher's perception of what is now politically correct than his own literary choice. Have you noticed how many crime fiction writers who have developed male protagonists we have all followed for decades are suddenly writing female protagonists instead and have ushered their older, white, male protagonists quietly off-stage? Coincidence? I doubt it.

Regardless, I am here to report that Sanford's foray into change, however it was motivated, was a rousing success. THE INVESTIGATORS offers the same slightly quirky plotting and the same diamond-hard dialogue that we've learned to love from the Davenport and Flowers books. If I were wearing a hat, I would tip it to him.

Highly recommended.

If you're a Sandford reader, you'll be very pleased with this new series that includes some familiar faces. If you're new to Sandford, this would be a fine starting point with a gripping story and compelling characters. Sandford's books have a consistent quality to them and are always challenging to just the right degree for the reader.

A new series by a great author. This book features Letty Davenport, daughter of Lucas Davenport of the Prey series. You do not have to have read the Prey series, this book is a stand alone in its own right. I really enjoyed this story, some mystery and lots of suspense, things got a bit scary at some points. Well written, easy to read.

Long a devotee of John Sandford’s books, I think I’ve read all in the Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series. I’ve enjoyed them and always looked forward to the next one. I’m having a hard time believing that he actually wrote this particular book. It’s too wordy, it’s too strung out, it’s too repetitive. And quite frankly, it was simply boring. Lots and lots of unnecessary & unending descriptions and explanations. I did finish it – by the hardest. The story, itself, wasn’t bad, just the presentation. Obviously, this was to set Letty up as his next major protagonist.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, G. P. Putnam, for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Investigator, by John Sandford, is the first Letty Davenport novel. Readers familiar with Sandford's work know Lucas Davenport, the protagonist in Sandford's Prey series; Letty is Lucas's adopted daughter.

Now twenty-four years old and having recently completed graduate work at Stanford, Letty is offered a unique position as an investigator with the U.S. Senate and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Although she works for Senator Colles, she is a liaison with DHS, works in the field with a DHS investigator (although her position is entitled "researcher"), and is issued a carry permit.

Her first assignment pairs her with DHS agent John Kaiser and takes them to Texas, on the trail of some missing oil. What they land in is a lot more complicated and sinister than mere missing oil. Along the way, we learn how much Letty resembles Lucas - from the love of nice clothes to the knowledge of, and proficiency with, guns. And like Lucas, Letty is similarly smart and resourceful.

I love Lucas Davenport and have always thought that Letty was an interesting addition to the Prey series. So, I was very excited to learn of Sandford's new Letty Davenport novel. But for two small issues that gave me momentary pause, I loved The Investigator. First, the plot at times felt a little fantastical. Even though we are aware of Letty's history and her proficiency with weapons and survival, it seemed a tad extreme for a 24 year old, with no official special training, on her first assignment. And second, even though we know that Letty is a lot like Lucas, there were a few parts at the beginning where Letty came across as disrespectful and bratty (for example, sitting sideways in the senator's nice leather chair, throwing her leg over the arm, and telling the senator that he was boring her). Lucas might be a no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase kind of guy, but I do not see him as being this disrespectful.

Nonetheless, The Investigator is quintessential Sandford; the writing is good, the plot is complex, and the process of resolution was logical and methodical. Letty is a great character, and there is plenty of room for her to grow and develop as an investigator. I greatly enjoyed this reading experience, and I look forward to accompanying Letty on many investigations in the future.

A spin-off of the Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series, this book features Letty Davenport, Lucas' adopted daughter.

Letty Davenport becomes a DHS investigator and solves crimes just like her father. I thought it was a great start to hopefully a new long running series. Its not a light read, with some dark undertones, but fans of John Sandford won't be disappointed with the fast paced action.


Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is about a young woman, Letty, and her counterpart, Kaiser, as they do what they are trained to do, and that is, stop a domestic disaster on the Texas / Mexico border. Lettie is new to this kind of project, but she's sharp and fearless, and not afraid to use her gun. She takes care of business in an impressive manner.

The story is quite complicated, a little too complex, I think, as the two unfold the anticipated event, and then encounter it, head on. There are numerous characters both on the "good side" and the "bad side", and it was challenging to remember exactly who was who in some parts of the book. I wonder if it could have been edited down quite a bit. I did get somewhat bogged down in the middle of the book, before the real action began to happen.

I should say "up front" that I have not read any other John Sandford stories, and I was not familiar with Letty or her dad before reading this book. It might have been nice to have more background on Letty's life before jumping in to The Investigator. Also, I was not really prepared for all the gun "talk", and the use of guns, both in the telling of Lettie's background, and the culminating event of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Investigator.