Title: Prey
Author: L.A. Larkin
Published: April 20th 2020
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Pages: 390
Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
RRP: $29.99
Rating: 4 stars
Four murders. Four countries. One terrible secret.
Olivia Wolfe, the hero of Devour, is back.
A journalist who travels the world exposing heinous crimes, Wolfe has more enemies than most. But this time some very powerful people want her stopped for good.
When the anonymous source for her latest story is killed, Wolfe must unravel the terrible secret that connects a series of gruesome murders.
Betrayed and isolated, Wolfe is soon being hunted by a faceless killer.
Can she stay alive long enough to expose the shocking truth? Find out in the latest thriller from L.A. Larkin’s Prey.
Review:
Prey is the latest scintillating suspense novel from the author of Devour, L.A. Larkin. An edgy story filled with corruption, crime, murder, conspiracies, money laundering and illegal poaching, Prey thrills from page one to the final word.
Prey follows the exciting and dangerous life of investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe. A feisty lead with an inherent desire to get to the bottom of vicious crimes and exposing the truth to the public floor is Olivia Wolfe’s game. As a result, Olivia has gained plenty of enemies and her life is constantly under threat. When one of Olivia’s informants is murdered, Olivia knows she must uncover the truth behind the death of her source. It is a quest that takes her from the UK to Africa, while more horrific murders occur. Hot on Olivia’s tail is an assassin who hopes to scare her off the case. But Olivia is determined to see through this investigation, despite knowing that her life hangs in the balance the closer she gets to the truth.
Prey is my first taste of the writing of thriller novelist L.A. Larkin. Prey is the second book penned by the author to feature enigmatic lead Olivia Wolfe and it follows on loosely from Devour, the previous novel penned by Larkin. There is plenty of page time devoted to setting the scene and providing readers with a solid backstory. Readers who are new Larkin’s work and the character of Olivia Wolfe will find it relatively easy to connect to Prey.
What a thrill ride this book presents! Prey was exhilarating, exciting, pacy and twisty. The movement in this book is relentless and it travels along at a solid pace, thanks to Larkin’s swift writing style and short chapter format. The reader is soon thrown in the chaos of lead Olivia Wolfe’s life, but her adventures are dangerous, sometimes gruesome and full bodied. Larkin packs her narrative with a wide array of themes and sub plots. Prey outlines many explosive moments of extortion, government cover-ups, wealth acquisition, the corporate world, informer activities, underhanded politicians, big business and illegal animal trade/poaching. The focus on endangered animals and illegal poaching really got under my skin, especially the references to the rhinoceros trade, which seemed to move me much more than I expected. This sub plot was handled extremely well by L.A. Larkin.
Prey is quite a cosmopolitan novel and it has a strong international flavour. From Britain to Africa, the reader is transported from city to city and country to country in no time. This travel hopping was enjoyable and it helped keep the momentum of the novel going at high speed. I didn’t feel my attention dip at any point and I really enjoyed my time in Africa, this is where the story really comes into its own. It also allows us to see where Larkin’s extensive research fits into the whole equation of this book. I believe from reading Larkin’s author bio that she worked on patrol at wildlife reserves and learnt how to handle a rifle! The sequences set in Africa were incredibly vivid and realistic.
Olivia Wolfe sure is a force to be reckoned with. She is determined, enterprising, courageous, fearless and feisty. Although I found Olivia Wolfe admirable, I wouldn’t want to be her for a day, her line of work is far too dangerous! I felt pretty scared for her in many moments of the story, but she was able to stand on her own two feet and show everyone what she is made of! The supporting cast is also well drawn, which is aided by Larkin’s clear writing style. There are little touches of romance and even humour in this novel which helps to offset some of the darker moments of the story. Larkin manages to balance all the key elements of this novel really well, hurtling the reader to a remarkable conclusion. What a nail biting thrill ride! Hopefully we will see another adventure on the cards for dynamic lead Olivia Wolfe!
Prey by L.A. Larkin was published on 20th April 2020 by Clan Destine Press. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.
To learn more about the author of Prey, L.A. Larkin, visit here.
*Thanks extended to Clan Destine Press for providing a free copy of this book for review purposes.
Prey is book #65 of the 2020 Australian Women Writers Challenge
Mrs B's Book Reviews 
Excellent review, Amanda! You’ve read heaps of Aussie female authors, are you on track for this challenge?
Sounds intense and filled with lots of excitement, just the animal bits I would find hard reading.
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I greatly appreciate it, thanks! Yes I have read a lot of Aussie female writers, I guess it comes second nature with my work on the challenge as the Romance editor. As long as I hit 75 reviews of Australian Women Writers by July I’ll be on track! My goal for the year was 150. As of today I’m on 66.
Yes this one was quite thrilling it kind of reminded me of a Tony Park or a T.M. Clark novel, just with bit more gruesome parts. Yes the animal poaching/trading aspects were hard, but handled well by the author too.
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Excellent that you’re on track, if only I could read as many books lol. Oh good, I really enjoyed the one book I’ve read by T.M. Clark and I’ve yet to read a Tony Park book, his new one, Last Survivor is on my ‘to buy’ list. I read about him and his book on Theresa’s blog and it was fascinating so I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy Prey by this new to me author.
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Thank you, so far yes lol! I am definitely not reading enough right now, but upcoming holidays may help. My weekend are getting busy again for sport returning for Spencer, so less time to read! T.M. is great isn’t she? I must read some more and I’m glad Tony Park is on your radar. I’m sure you will enjoy L.A. Larkin’s book, you may want to check out the book before as this is a series.
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Thanks so much for such a wonderful review of Prey. I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
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Thank you for stopping by and yes I really enjoyed your story. I need to catch up on your previous books now!
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Oh ok, did not realise this was another series, just read your review again and I must have missed your line the firs time mentioning ‘follows on loosely from Devour.’ Will definitely start with the first one when I get to read her.
Wouldn’t you have more time to read while spencer is doing sport? Whenever April did sport I would watch her but also read.
Yes, Tina Marie is awesome, really can’t wait to read another book of hers and lucky ducky me I have two of hers on my shelf to read!
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Hi Sue, yes it is a series, I didn’t realise either until I started reading the book, it was a review one otherwise I would steer clear as I’m struggling to keep up with any series based books. If I ever get time I may have to explore the previous one. I hope you enjoy this one!
In answer to your sport question and reading…yes and no. With covid restrictions parents have had to wait in the car and drop off/pick up. Otherwise he wants me to watch him. Both his games on the weekend I will watch. Training tonight I have a audio book lined up! I also chat to the other soccer mums so not much time to read. What sport did April used to play?
I agree Tina Marie is great! I’m looking forward to catching up on some of her older titles and I’m sure she will have a new release for us later on in the year. What two books do you have on your shelves written by Tina?
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