"The Night Crew"

John Sandford's "The Night Crew" appears to be a stand alone book rather than one of a series like many of his books - at least at this point.  It's always possible that it could become a series and I'd vote for that.

Anna Batory leads the night crew -- a group of free lancers who go out late nights to look for news stories they can videotape and report on then sell to TV news outlets.  The regular crew besides Anna is Creek, who drives the truck, and Louis, who keeps tabs on what might be newsworthy out there for them to track down plus he serves as a navigator.  Between the three of them they manage to make about $90,000 each yearly.  Once in a while they have others who assist them and one of those is Jason (who the night our story starts is out with the crew because he has a lead on an animal rights activitists potential event).

While the crew are at the scene of the animal rights events, they hear about a teenage boy who is threatening to jump from a hotel and they race to the scene.  They get some spectacular film that they're easily able to sell but that night is the beginning of many troubles for this crew.  Murder, assault, and a serial killer began to track them.  The father of the teenage boy who jumped, Jake Harper, enters the scene because he believes his son's death was caused by the drugs his son was using at a party that night and that it's all somehow linked to the difficulties the night crew is currently experiencing.  So Anna and Jake begin to work with the police and on their own to try to find out who wants to hurt those around Anna and possibly be a threat to her also.  Jake is an attorney but he's also an ex-cop so his contacts within the police force and his skills learned on the job along with Anna's own sixth sense make for a good team.  As is usual with the Sandford stories I've read so far, this one is full of twists and turns and unexpected outcomes.  I've already got another Sandford book on my nightstand for my next read.  I love this author's work!  pazt