Rating: 
Summary: Lucas Davenport:: the ultimate cop
Review: Through 15 or so "Prey" novels, John Sandford has buffed, embellished, smoothed and reworked Lucas Davenport, his hard-working, clever Minnesota detective.
In "Chosen Prey," an art historian get his kicks murdering woman of a particular type. I'm giving nothing away here for Sandford identifies the killer early on.
The suspense is in watching Davenport hunt down this very clever murderer.
Davenport is not a super-cop. He works hard, thinks hard, is sometimes luck, sometimes not. He is doggedly persistent. Oh, he's quite the womanizer as well in the earlier "Prey" novels.
All in all, Davenport is a constantly evolving character and, in my opinion, one of the great fictional characters. My hat is off to John Sandford and Lucas Davenport.
Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Sandford is simply brilliant!!
Review: After starting to read this book, I just couldn't put it down. There was always something interesting happening, and you get caught up in this Triller with no way to escape.
James Qatar has a thing for the neck of pretty blondes, and can't keep away from them. After a dead body has been found he no longer feels safe and becomes more and more careless. Even though he knows he cannot keep feeding his desire, it just gets too stong. Capable of anything, he finds himself another pretty blonde...Lucas Davenport is the brilliant Deputy Chief who, despite the difficulties he sees the future will bring, takes on the mission to stop the killings and find out who is the one behind it all.
Sandford is a brilliant writer and once you start reading it, there's no way out. His way of writing makes you feel that you're in the middle of it all, experiencing and seeing everything through the eyes of the writer.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves ficion!!
Rating:
Summary: SANDFORD LEADS THE SUSPENSE GENRE!
Review: All of us Sandford fans deeply look forward each year for early May to come around because that mostly means the release of a new Prey novel! In "Chosen Prey," Minneapolis Detective, Lucas Davenport, along with Marcy Sherrill, Sloan, Del, and Weather (Lucas fiance), return in one of John Sandford's most interesting and exciting Prey novels that he has written. The plot: James Qatar is a prestegious history professor at St. Patrick University in Minneapolis. He has a very secretive life on the side. He enjoys playing kinky sex games with women he barely knows and ends up killing them for pleasure. He also enjoys taking pictures of women and distorting their figures to look like they are participating in grotesque sexual activities. His method of murder: a rope. James Qatar is a very sick individual that has killed over eight women in three states. None of the cops have been able to link him to the murder. When a murdered women turns up in the barren woods, close to home to Lucas Davenport, he vows to find this killer who killed this beautiful woman. After investigating for a while, and with the assistance of and out of state officer, he discovers that three other women have mysteriously disappeared in Wisconsin. All these murders/ disappearances are connected. Can Davenport and the gang get James Qatar before he claims his next victim? The twelfth novel in this amazing series is a definite success!
Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 Stars -- A Real Page-Turner!
Review: Be prepared to rarely get up from your seat once you start Chosen Prey. Sandford's characters are very credible, three dimensional and well-developed, and Lucas Davenport continues to be one of the more interesting "good guys" in crime fiction. The plot is very suspenseful and riveting. In typical Sandord style, there is no surprise as to who the killer is, yet the need for non-stop reading of his books is to see how the killer is caught. If you've read some of the other books in the "Prey" series, you'll know that how the criminal is brought to justice is not always in the way you'd suspect. Chosen Prey is a book I think you'll enjoy very much. As I said, though, be prepared to delay other things you need to do because you won't want to put this book down. It's well worth you're time and money.
Rating:
Summary: Another entry in the Davenport saga
Review: By now, John Sandford (the pen name of John Camp) has these things down pat. His main character, Lucas Davenport, is a three-dimensional policeman, hunting serial killers and dangerous murderers, seducing women, and cracking wise now and again. The secondary characters---other cops, the killer, his girlfriend, victims---are marvelously rendered, and you're actually sad when one meets his/her end. This time around, the bad guy is an art professor named James Qatar, who kills beautiful women, and has been doing it successfully for years. He's an interesting and very well-drawn character, what with his obsession with clothing, and his meticulousness about the killings that he does. Davenport is looking at a particular murder, and it's discovered that a woman, missing for several years, resembles the killing in a few details. Then clues begin to build up, and the suspense builds as the plot thickens, so to speak. I would recommend this book, though of course it's not the best (I still think Rules of Prey was in a class by itself; it should be read first) and if you haven't read other books in the series you're going to be a bit at sea about the relationships between the various characters. Still, a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying!
Review: Chosen Prey is one of Sandford's better efforts in this series. The storyline is suspenseful and fast-paced as usual though the villain is a little more down to earth than the usual drug-using freaks Sandford typically supplies us with. In fact, it is this aspect of the story that sets it apart from his previous works in that this was a character that on some levels and in some aspects, most people can relate to as regards his everyday life. Chances are, if you're looking at this book, you've already read at least some of the Prey series and are hooked like the rest of us. This one doesn't disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant storytelling
Review: Colleagues respect St. Patrick University associate professor art historian James Qatar for his collective works. This includes one book and several scholarly articles published in highly regarded journals and magazines. Unbeknownst to his peers is that Professor Qater has a second life in which he hunts blondes, has sex with them, and kills them. When an early victim is found, the police link her to photographs that are part of Qater's hobby of creating pornographic works with women he knows but who don't really know him. Being a political appointee, Minneapolis Deputy Chief of Police Lucas Davenport expects to lose his job within six months when the mayor retires. Lucas intends to use his time wisely to catch the killer. John Sandford is one of the top authors of police procedurals due to his three dimensional characters that consistently turn the "Prey" books into great reads. The hero is a flawed individual with a complex and realistic personal life that places demands on him even as he risks everything because he believes in the value of justice for all. CHOSEN PREY is the best of a great series. The audience knows the identity of the killer early on, but watch in fascination as Lucas tries to do likewise while balancing his complex personal life. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying!
Review: It takes a great thriller writer to keep me guessing throughout and satisfied in the end. THANK YOU, Mr. Sandford! A true writer's-writer; someone who inspires.
Rating:
Summary: A better work in the Prey series.
Review: Lucas Davenport returns to take down a serial killer-voyeur on the prowl.
James Qatar is a man with a deadly secret: he is a killer and he loves it. His Chosen Prey are young blonde artsy girls, attracted by his pleasant mien, deceived by his intentions, victims of their own unbridled desires.
The police have just gotten a break. The killer is an artist who has been sending victims drawings of them in the nude. With one error after the other, Lucas and his band of brothers are catching up to James; however they be able to get him before he claims his final trophy?
John Sandford's Prey series has lived a long and eventful life; its age is now showing. Yet if you think this series is out of spunk, Chosen Prey will sure change your mind.
This is a deftly written, morbidly entertaining novel. One wonders how Sandford makes so gruesome a subject so tender to the readers palate. Unlike the previous books, we are shown how the police investigated the killings. Since, there is no suspense given that the killer has been revealed from the beginning, we instead wait anxiously for Lucas's epiphany, made difficult by his personal problems. This interplay--his personal life and work life--is fun to read.
Drop that boring stuff you've been reading, and try this out. It's a nice treat for those who subsist on the thrills of the chase.
Rating: 
Summary: Sandford Falls Short
Review: This is John Sandford's twelfth "Prey" novel,and,although good, falls short of his past ones.All the familiar characters,Lucas Davenport,Marcy,Del,Rose Marie and a few others are there,plus the usual introduction of new individuals essential to the plot.Immediately we are introduced to James Qatar, a university professor,who is the serial killer that the story revolves around. His penchant for wooing and killing blonds leads Davenport and crew on a merry chase. Qatar focuses on Ellen Barstard throughout the book,but never seems quite credible as the serial killer who killed and buried all the women whose bodies were unearthed on a hillside. He appears too shallow to be the person we are led to believe he is.His character is without depth. After being introduced to Terry Marshall, a Wisconsin detective whose niece was killed, the chase broadens and we are led hither and yon on the search for this elusive killer who cleverly manages to escape detection because of his blandness until close to the end,in spite of several other unsimilar killings. The ending is predictable almost half-way thru this book.There is also the possibility of Lucus and Rose Marie being replaced in the near future, so who knows where the next"Prey" book will take us.We also could have done without Weather's trying to get pregnant. Lucus as a father does not lend itself to his expected role as the cool detective with a Porsche and witty repartee.Let's hope he remains the same.
|
