'Prey' tell: John Sandford's brings long-running series to New Mexico

“Toxic Prey” is the latest from master thriller writer John Sandford in his long-running “Prey” series.

This is number 34; most have been about cops fighting crime in Minnesota.

“Toxic Prey” is largely set in New Mexico. And it’s positively hair-raising.

'Prey' tell: John Sandford's brings long-running series to New Mexico

In the prologue, the character of British-born Lionel Scott could be Mister Nice Guy.

Alone on a gravel road high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Scott stops for a cold drink at a remote convenience store. Chatting with the female store owner, Scott tells her he’s a medical doctor who works at Los Alamos, but not on bombs. He’s an expert in tropical and infectious diseases.

She asks if Scott would look at her son; he’s been suffering severe stomach pain. Scott believes the son has acute appendicitis. They race to Holy Cross Hospital in Taos to have an appendectomy performed.

That’s Scott’s first act of generosity. His second act is telling the hospital to charge his American Express credit card to cover the boy’s medical expenses above what the uninsured mom and public assistance can pay.

Scott’s benevolence reminds him of something Joseph Stalin had observed: “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.” Stalin ordered millions killed during his reign. Scott takes a cue from the Soviet dictator.

Earlier, Scott remembers visiting The Lightning Field art, west of Socorro. Seeing only light from the stars leads him to think about “Gaia’s death spiral, the end of life on earth.”

Gaia is the personification of the earth in Greek mythology. Scott fears that the earth’s burgeoning population is so out of control that humanity will destroy Gaia.

Fast-forward 13 months. A maniacal Scott is plotting to save Gaia … by spreading a deadly virus that will kill billions of the world’s human population.

Driving the story is the hunt for Scott before he can unleash the spread of the virus.

But Scott has disappeared. He hasn’t shown up at his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He and his cadre of like-minded save-Gaia conspiracists are believed to be hiding out in northern New Mexico.

Leading the massive hunt for Scott are Lucas Davenport, a special agent for the U.S. Marshals Service and a “Prey” series fixture, and his daughter, Letty, who works for the federal Department of Homeland Security.

The furious hunt takes the reader to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and, to a great extent, Taos.

Roads in and out of Taos are sealed, though tricky Scott slips through the roadblocks on a bicycle headed south on the High Road to Taos.

Local, state and federal law enforcement (plus military) blanket the town. Frightened townspeople are kept in the dark about why they need for so many police.

Here is one of the many fast-moving, violent scenes that are packed in the story.

Lucas and a fellow marshal race to locate Clarice Catton, one of Scott’s followers, They think she has just left or is about to leave a Taos church filling up for Mass.

They find her and suspect she’s already contaminated church pews with the virus.

Catton looks at the marshals and says, “You’re too late.” Then she steps among the last few people entering the church. Lucas keeps his pistol pointed at her and runs closer, now 20 yards away.

“Are you going to shoot me with all these people around? Risk their lives?” Catton asks.

Bam! Lucas shoots her. Dead.

That produces the next hot issue. Sequester the churchgoers. All of them.

Sandford, who lives in Santa Fe, is the pen name of John Roswell Camp. In addition to the “Prey” novels, he’s also written novels featuring Lucas Davenport’s pal, Detective Virgil Flowers, several just with Letty, four novels with Davenport’s artist-friend Kidd, a science fiction thriller and three young-adult books co-authored with his wife Michele Cook.

Sandford had previously worked in journalism as a reporter, editor and columnist. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism in 1986.