Rating: 
Summary: Sanford strikes again
Review: This is the 4th book in the Kidd series and like the others it's a quick read and hard to put down. While in Louisiana doing a painting for some rich guy, Kidd discovers that Bobby, the leader of the hacker ring he's a member of, has been murdered. Suddenly news stories about corrupt senators and of experiments gone wrong by the US government start showing up on the news. Kidd and company suspect that this has something to do with Bobby's missing laptop. They begin to investigate and find out just how much Bobby knew. Unfortunatly the information is in the wrong hands and they need to get it back. This book is a quick read, but in a few places there's just to much going on and should be cut out of it. In other words I glazed over it to get back to the story. Other than these areas its a great read for anyone following this series of books.
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Summary: A FIRST RATE BOOK
Review: This was my first john sandford book and it was a great first choice it is the type of book that you could read in one sitting definitely fast paced i did find in the first few pages had alot of metaphors that were kind of annoying but then this book really takes off. Mr.kidd who is the main character who is a memeber of computer ring of geeks (who happens to be a professional criminal, an artist and at times a reader of tarot cards) gets a message that is possibly problems with one of his geek friends.When he and one of his friends go to investigate they find his geek friend bobby with a crushed skull and his computer missing. Mr. Kidd having fear that members of the ring and some of the deeds they have done might be exposed and wanting to find out who killed bobby and why begins to search and finds out there maybe information on the computer that could bring many high placed political officials down. Give this book a read it is well worth it
Rating: 
Summary: another page-turner
Review: When a hacker is killed and his laptop stolen all hell breaks loose. Kidd and LuEllen need to find the laptop, break the code, and avenge their friend. If the fast pace and wonderfully drawn characters hadn't kept me turning pages, the computer technology and hacker inside information would have. I read the last 300 pages in one sitting.
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Summary: A Day With John Sandford is a Day Well Spent
Review: Whenever I see the name John Sandford on a book with a title that I have not already read, I buy it. I don't look at the jacket. I don't read the blurbs on the back of the book. I just tuck it under my arm, and I buy it. And, when I get home, no matter what else I am reading, I read it. He is that good, and more important, unlike some other generally very good authors writing today, he is that consistent. I tell you all of this in fair warning - I am a fan of John Sandford (I know he is really John Camp, but I first met him as John Sandford and it has stuck.). That being said this not his best book. His best books are any of his Lucas Davenport, "Prey," novels. The Kidd series is not his best series, it is merely the second best thriller series being written today. Sandford's "Prey" series is the best, the benchmark. However enough of all this, simply stated, this is his best Kidd novel to date and that makes it very good indeed. That I personally find Kidd a less interesting character than Davenport is not as important as this fact, he is still a very believable, very well drawn, character. The bad guy, less well drawn, but still believable, is not as important in this novel as the way the plot works out and the way that Kidd responds to the pressure that is a hallmark of all of the Sandford novels. This book requires no suspension of disbelief in one of its central points, that anyone talented enough and persistent enough could find evidence of a number of really bad things that many powerful politicians have done, and that if these items of evidence were all collected into one place, this information would be both powerful and dangerous for the holder. This drives the plot to Washington, DC, a place that I have called home for too many years and one that is often ill portrayed in fiction. Not in this book. While I do not guarantee you could follow Kidd and Company around DC on a map, I do guarantee that the novel's moves through the city are believable and perceptive. Sandford, as usual, has done his homework, he knows Washington. This is a very good book. This is an intelligent book. This book is well written, and most of all, I liked it. It repays the time spent reading it with enjoyment. There are few higher compliments in fiction.
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Summary: Gripping Plot + our familiar characters warm in 4th "Kidd"
Review: While Sandford is known far and wide for his dozen or more "... Prey" series, starring Lucas Davenport, often in chase of serial killers, this novel comprises just the fourth entry in the artist computer expert, Kidd. [If he has a first name, we don't know it.] In the first three stories, Kidd is for hire to generally right wrongs for clients who cannot acquire justice for usually white collar crimes by conventional methods. Most of what Kidd does is technically illegal, but we grow to admire not only him but his sidekick, LuEllen, a definite thief and burglar who seems to have few redeeming qualities, other than that she is the best at stealthy breakins, and oh by the way, a fun bedroom companion of Kidd. A third character completes the regular cast, "Bobby", a reach-only by computer links-type guy who can hack into anywhere and find out anything -- so he's a frequent Kidd helper. This story starts with a big surprise -- Bobby gets murdered. Immediately, Kidd sets out to find not only the killer but to protect his own future from the secrets he fears Bobby may have stored on computer about him and LuEllen. The race that follows between Kidd (with a little help from LuEllen who seems to be along for just companionship for a change) and the bad guy is typical Sandford suspense at his best. Indeed, the bad guy makes very clever use of the computer network to pretend to be a Bobby successor and suck Kidd out and keep tabs on him. Things pretty much turn out OK at the end, at which point LuEllen and Kidd start to have some very interesting conversations about the future. Computer technology changes quickly -- if you haven't read the first three in the series you might wish to do so before the tech stuff is just totally lame. For the same reason, this series as is has a questionable future: could our leading couple go straight, settle down, and have "Kidds" ???!!!
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Summary: The best Kidd novel yet!
Review: While the "Prey" series featuring Lucas Davenport is more widely known, the Kidd series just seems to have even more intrigue than the well-written Prey novels. Kidd is just on the other side of the law, brash, and technologically-sound to the point that computers can get him anything he wants. Sure it's not legal, but you find yourself cheering him on...his actions are illegal, but he's still the protagonist! The plot centers around the murder of Bobby, a character all readers of the Kidd novels are familiar with. I won't go into the details of the plot so nothing gets spoiled, but I'll admit that when I first read the synopsis, I figured I wouldn't like the fact that Bobby was killed off. I was wrong. As the story comes together, things begin to make sense. But in the final few pages of the book, everything is revealed and you finally understand why it was necessary for Bobby to be killed off...and you begin to wonder what the next Kidd adventure will be because so many possibilities have been opened up! Best Kidd book yet...but the ones that are upcoming are sure to be right on par as well!
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Summary: Kidd and LuEllen Ride Again in an Amusing Escapist Thriller
Review: Some of the best murder mystery/suspense novels available are the 14 books in John Sandford's "Prey" series--from the earlier Rules of Prey, Shadow Prey, and Eyes of Prey to the more recent Chosen Prey, Mortal Prey, and Naked Prey. Featuring Minneapolis police detective Lucas Davenport, these dark stories offer real nasties, sadistic monsters who stalk innocent victims. Sandford's "Kidd novels" are less intense and, frankly, not as interesting, although not lacking entertainment value. The Hanged Man's Song is the fourth in the Kidd series, following The Fool's Run, The Empress File, and The Devil's Code. Kidd, a petty criminal, has three priorites in life: painting, computers, and romance (not always in that order). LuEllen, a professional thief for 15 years, joins Kidd in his somewhat shady escapades. "The Hanged Man," by the way, is one of the cards in a Tarot deck, a figure who hangs suspended between two dimensions or realities. "The Hanged Man" in this case turns out to be an African American techno-genius named Bobby Fields, the most powerful and proficient hacker in America. When Bobby is bludgeoned to death by an intruder who steals his laptop computer, Kidd and LuEllen, his on-again, off-again lover, must find the laptop before it falls into the hands of government authorities. Kidd and LuEllen venture into the land of Spanish moss and kudzu, traveling along the levees of the Mississippi to Jackson and New Orleans, and on to Washington, D.C., on the trail of a disgruntled psycho named Carp, who plans to use the information encrypted on Bobby's computer for revenge. While trying to catch Carp, Kidd and LuEllen uncover a secret government organization that's using illegal and unconstitutional (at least so far!) surveillance techniques in the name of national security. The Hanged Man's Song will appeal especially to computer geeks and those concerned about the frightening possibilities of a totalitarian state that uses "Big Brother" tactics to control its population. Shades of Orwell's 1984! Ultimately, Kidd and LuEllen's capers and cavorting make for amusing escapist reading, but lack the sustained suspense of Sandford's "Prey" series. John Sandford is the pseudonym of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. He lives in Minnesota. Roy E. Perry of Nolensville, Tennessee, is an advertising copywriter in the marketing department of a Nashville publishing house.
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