Easy Prey

The throaty voice of veteran audiobook reader Conger lends Sanford's latest Lucas Davenport thriller a sense of immediacy. Minneapolis detective Davenport is called to a wealthy socialite's house, where the bodies of a supermodel and another woman have been found in a bedroom after a party. Shortly afterwards, relatives and associates of the model, who came from a humble Minnesota town, begin experiencing grisly deaths. With suspects that range from the model's ultrareligious brother to a suspected drug runner, the story takes several unsuspected twists before its resolution. Conger handles the text perfectly, sounding as if he has a coffee cup in one hand and a cigarette in the other while rendering the staccato and often obscene language of Sanford's rough-hewn characters. The recording also inserts background sound effects in interesting, albeit seemingly random, situations to enhance its presentation. A subplot involving Davenport's romantic interludes is tiresome and extraneous, but Conger's excellent rendition of the investigation's many turns will keep listeners engaged to the end. Based on the Putnam hardcover (Forecasts, Mar. 20). (May)