Toxic Prey
Starts well. Tarot reading in Oxford?
“Rice was busy shuffling the cards, which had an intricate gray-and-white design on their backs. She began flipping the cards over and arranging them on the table, twenty cards in all, in a five-sided figure.” Page 29.
Interesting to see card readers.
In the first third of the novel, there were at least two more book recommendations, or rather, author recommendations, via Lucas Davenport (character). It’s odd, but that’s how I happened onto the Mick Herron series, which is now an Apple TV show: Slow Horses. (Previously.)
Late in the novel, there’s mention of the High Road to Taos. I kept thinking, I’ve been there. I have.
One thematic element that the fiction toys with, the line between right and wrong. Practically? Beggars the question.
The original characters are drawn from Minnesota, but the Wild West attitude prevails, and that’s, in part, what roped me into the series. Fine writing, novelist’s eye, interesting characters, framed around procedural, and the pacing is proper. There’s a facility with language, and this novel briefly bounces across the pond, as indicated, to Oxford.
Part of the novel’s appeal is the long-running character set, in this one, it’s both Lucas Davenport and his adopted daughter Letty.
I got halfway in, and then ignored all other responsibilities until I was done reading the novel.
“That was good.”
Toxic Prey
High Road to Taos •
Proper NM signage: High Road to Taos •