Righteous Prey — Lucas Davenport #32

Killers Who Crow

Righteous Prey, the thirty-second Lucas Davenport novel, builds a timely thriller around a band of self-righteous killers. A group of wealthy tech vigilantes calling themselves “the Five” begins murdering people they deem deserving of death — abusers, fraudsters, those they judge to have escaped justice — and announcing each killing online with self-righteous manifestos, crowing about their crimes as acts of moral cleansing. Davenport and Virgil Flowers, the series’ recurring spin-off detective, join forces to stop the band of killers who believe they are doing the world a favor. The vigilante premise — self-righteous murderers enabled by wealth and the internet — gives Righteous Prey a sharp, timely edge.

The vigilante-killer premise is the book’s timely feature. By making the antagonists wealthy vigilantes who murder the “deserving” and broadcast their crimes online, Sandford taps contemporary anxieties about self-righteousness, wealth, and the internet’s role in enabling and amplifying violence. Self-righteousness can justify murder, and the Five’s conviction that they are improving the world by killing the “deserving” gives them a chilling, self-justifying menace. Wealth enables vigilante violence, and the killers’ resources — their money, their technology, their ability to evade detection — make them formidable. The timely premise of self-righteous, wealthy killers gives the novel a sharp contemporary relevance.

Davenport and Flowers

Righteous Prey teams Davenport with Virgil Flowers, the laconic Minnesota detective who anchors Sandford’s spin-off “Flowers” series. The team-up of the two recurring heroes is one of the book’s pleasures, the dynamic between Davenport and Flowers — different in temperament but matched in skill — giving the investigation a strong duo. Two detectives are better than one, and the collaboration between Davenport and Flowers, drawing on both series, gives the novel an interpersonal energy and a crossover appeal. The Davenport–Flowers team-up rewards readers of both series, the two heroes’ partnership providing both investigative momentum and the pleasure of seeing them work together.

The dynamic between the two detectives gives the novel its character. Flowers, more laid-back and unconventional than the intense Davenport, complements his partner, and their banter and collaboration give the investigation a human texture. The team-up reflects Sandford’s interconnected universe, the two series sharing a world and their heroes joining forces, and the partnership gives Righteous Prey a crossover energy. The combination of a timely vigilante premise and the Davenport–Flowers team-up gives the novel sharp, propulsive energy, the two detectives hunting the self-righteous killers together.

Hunting the Self-Righteous

The hunt for the Five gives Righteous Prey its propulsive engine. The vigilantes, crowing about their killings online, leave trails in their craving for attention, and Davenport and Flowers must trace the self-righteous killers through their manifestos and their crimes. Killers who crave attention leave trails, and the Five’s online broadcasting — their need to justify and announce their murders — gives the detectives a path to follow, the killers’ self-righteousness their potential undoing. The investigation, tracing the wealthy vigilantes through their online crowing, drives the novel toward exposing the band of self-justifying murderers.

The vigilantes’ ideology stays somewhat thin, the novel more interested in the threat they pose than in a deep exploration of their self-righteous worldview, and the cynical, dark view of wealth — the tech vigilantes’ arrogance and amorality — gives the novel a sharp edge. The early-2020s setting will date the book, the contemporary tech and online culture already specific to its moment. But the timely premise, the Davenport–Flowers team-up, and the propulsive hunt give the novel sharp energy. Sandford’s sharp prose and propulsive plotting carry the thriller, and the team-up gives it crossover appeal. The combination of self-righteous killers and the two-detective team-up makes Righteous Prey a sharp, propulsive entry.

A Sharp Entry

Righteous Prey is a strong, sharp Lucas Davenport novel, and its strengths are the timely vigilante premise, the Davenport–Flowers team-up, and the propulsive hunt. The self-righteous, wealthy killers give the novel a timely antagonist, the team-up gives it crossover energy, and the hunt gives it momentum. The thin ideology and the cynical tone are considerations, but the timely premise and the team-up distinguish it.

Sandford’s sharp prose and propulsive plotting carry the thriller, and the Davenport–Flowers team-up gives it energy. Righteous Prey is the series in a sharp, timely mode, anchored by self-righteous vigilante killers and the team-up of Davenport and Flowers, a propulsive recent entry with a contemporary edge.

Where It Sits in the Series

Righteous Prey is the thirty-second Lucas Davenport / Prey novel, following Ocean Prey and preceding Judgment Prey. It teams Davenport with Virgil Flowers, rewarding readers of both series. For readers tracking the Prey series, it is a sharp, timely recent entry.

Among the Prey novels, Righteous Prey stands out for its timely vigilante-killer premise and its Davenport–Flowers team-up, a sharp recent entry. It is a propulsive thriller anchored by self-righteous, wealthy killers, demonstrating Sandford’s engagement with contemporary anxieties and giving readers the pleasure of seeing his two heroes join forces.

The premise of Righteous Prey taps a distinctly contemporary unease: the combination of vast wealth, technological capability, and moral certainty that allows a small group of people to appoint themselves judges, juries, and executioners. The Five are not motivated by greed or pathology in the usual sense but by a conviction that they are improving the world, and that self-righteousness — amplified by the online platform they use to broadcast their killings — makes them a peculiarly modern kind of villain. Sandford is more interested in the threat than in a deep interrogation of the ideology, but the novel still raises an uncomfortable question about who gets to decide what justice requires, and about the dangers of unaccountable people who believe their judgment supersedes the law. The Davenport–Flowers partnership provides the propulsive, often wry energy that carries the book, but it is the timely, unsettling premise — vigilantism enabled by money and the internet — that gives Righteous Prey its sharp contemporary edge.

Our rating: 4.0/5 — A sharp, timely Lucas Davenport thriller in which Davenport and Virgil Flowers hunt ‘the Five,’ wealthy vigilantes who murder the ‘deserving’ and crow about it online.