Investigator

This book is great, but honestly, it’s a Lucas Davenport novel if Lucas was a young woman. That said, at this point if I had to choose between more novels with Lucas or Letty, I’d take Letty. She’s got a ton of potential as a character and a whole life to write. I’d bet her youth and blank slate are big reasons Sandford created this story.

The topical nature of the bad guys in this story is intriguing. I’m sure Sandford didn’t know that a month after publishing this, replacement theory would be a major news topic because of a mass shooting. I’m sure we have a not-small-enough group of people who could read this and see Jael and her movement as the misunderstood good guys in the story. Frankly, it makes me happy that Sandford would make them the bad guys, and I’m also kind of grateful that Sandford didn’t write them as dumb conspiracy theory nuts. This thinking is finding traction in the U.S. because if you are a disaffected citizen worrying about the future earning potential of yourself and your family, it’s easier to blame immigrants than to blame unregulated capitalism. Capitalism doesn’t care about your future or your family.

As an audiobook person, I’d like to experience this book with a female narrator. I love Ferrone’s voice. He’s perfect for the Lucas Davenport novels and he was fine in this, but the main character is female. Letty might not have felt like a female Lucas if they’d gone with a woman narrator.