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Summary: Lucas Davenport's legend grows.
Review: This is John Sandford's tenth book starring Minneapolis police detective Lucas Davenport. The "Prey" novels, much like James Patterson's Alex Cross books, have several ongoing plotlines that add continuity value to the stories. Like all Sandford's books, Certain Prey is packed full of colorful villians, great cop talk, and lots of interesting investigation procedures that Davenport is careful to follow lest his quarry get off due to a technicality. Clara Rinker is Davenport's sport for this book, but she's a careful professional killer with a nack for covering her escapes. When Lucas gets close she takes it personally and suddenly the detective finds himself in the unfamiliar role of being the quarry in a deadly game of cat & mouse. With an ending even long time readers won't guess, Certain Prey is "certainly" one of John Sandford's best.(If you're a "continuity junkie" like me, start with the first book Rules of Prey and read them all in copyright order. They get progressively better as you go.)
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Summary: This is an exciting, engrossing and original story.
Review: "Certain Prey" is the first Sandford book that I have read and I was pleasantly surprised by its quality. The character of Clara Rinker is one of the most delightfully orginal villains I have ever come across. You can't hate her even though she's a sociopath, because she's funny, smart articulate and somewhat poignant. It's hilarious that she wants to strike up a friendship with Carmel, a truly coldblooded witch. Clara says that she'd like a girlfriend, since she's never had one of those. I also love the way Clara handles the hit men that are sent to get her. The plot is workmanlike, the dialogue is witty and clever and the ending is satisfying. The character of Davenport is fine, especially since he doesn't come across as infallible as so many police detectives do. I recommend this book to readers of police procedurals, especially to fans of Ed McBain.
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Summary: A good story hampered by limited language
Review: First, the story. It's interesting, and fast-paced. It is most definitely NOT for the squeamish, as one very brutal torture scene will cause the strongest person to cringe. The premise was good, and the ending worked.Now, my complaint. Every author has their "pet phrases", words that appear several times in a single book. It gets annoying when an author describes everything as "pretty" or "red" or whatever. Unfortunately, Sandford's favorite word is the "F" word, and it's used in every form possible. Instead of being "very happy", a person is "F- happy". Or instead of "really stupid", they're "F- stupid". Why be hungry when you can be "F- hungry"? Friend or foe, everyone in Sandford's world uses one word to express themselves. Rather than characters having distinctive voices or phrases, they all sound the same--foul-mouthed and with a limited grasp of the English language. I sincerely doubt the author himself talks like that all the time, so why does he think everyone else does? All in all, this is an interesting story that could have been great. Unfortunately, the unnecessary overuse of profanity detracts from what could have been compelling storytelling. When you see the same word 18 times on a single page (no kidding), it gets old.
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Summary: Excellent Read!
Review: Hmmm. What a mix made in [location]! The unholy duo of Carmen and Clara! This is a big chewy book with enough chills to keep you up late into the night trying to finish it. A Minnesota socialite is murdered in a parking garage, by what seems to be a professional killer. But why? As the story unfolds, and more corpses turn up, we follow these two women on their twisted mission. I found myself feeling some empathy for Clara Rinker, while Carmen left me cold. It's a testament to Sanfords writing, that he can arouse such strong feelings about his characters. The chief protagonist: Lucas Davenport himself, is a conflicted man. Feared by many, but respected by most of his colleagues, he is a natural born cop with a taste for killing. As he tracks Carmen and Clara through the many twists and turns of the case, we can sense the developing affinity he has with Clara Rinker.
Both females are very deftly drawn and their characters are well developed. This was a thoroughly enjoyable book, and I'm looking forard to Lucas's next encounter with the emotionally compelling Clara.
Rating:
Summary: This is an exciting, engrossing and original story.
Review: "Certain Prey" is the first Sandford book that I have read and I was pleasantly surprised by its quality. The character of Clara Rinker is one of the most delightfully orginal villains I have ever come across. You can't hate her even though she's a sociopath, because she's funny, smart articulate and somewhat poignant. It's hilarious that she wants to strike up a friendship with Carmel, a truly coldblooded witch. Clara says that she'd like a girlfriend, since she's never had one of those. I also love the way Clara handles the hit men that are sent to get her. The plot is workmanlike, the dialogue is witty and clever and the ending is satisfying. The character of Davenport is fine, especially since he doesn't come across as infallible as so many police detectives do. I recommend this book to readers of police procedurals, especially to fans of Ed McBain.
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Summary: Two Slick Black Widows vs Lucas Davenport
Review: As a teen-ager Clara Rinker ran away from an abusive home ruled by a stepfather who had been sexually abusing her for years. At sixteen she found a job dancing nude in an adult club. One night, after brushing off the advances of a big ugly guy, she leaves work and heads across the parking lot to her car. The guy grabs her, tosses her in the back of his van and does what he wants. The next day she tells her boss and the club bouncers and they wait for the rapist to come in again. And he does. They buy him drinks until the place closes. Then they force him into the basement, where Clara waits, baseball bat at the ready. She's only supposed to break his arms, instead she bashes his head in. And she learns that she doesn't mind killing, kind of enjoys it in fact. She decides she can make a living doing it, so she buys a gun, takes lessons, then lets the mob know she's available. By the time she has several hits behind her, she's hired for a job in Minnesota by Carmel Loan. Carmel is a successful Minneapolis defense lawyer, who will do anything to get what she wants. And what she wants is fellow attorney Hale Allen, who isn't the smartest attorney in Minnesota, or anywhere else for that matter. However Allen is attached at the hip to his socialite wife and her money. Carmen decides that the wife has to go, which is why she contacted Carla. No socialite is killed in Minneapolis without coming to the attention of homicide detective Lucas Davenport. So now we have a noted detective chasing after an assassin he doesn't know is a beautiful twenty-eight-year-old woman, and she in turn is being advised by a lady lawyer, who happens to know Davenport, on how to leave false clues to elude Davenport. The plot is humorous, intelligent and fascinating. The good guys are smart and likable, in fact the bad gals are too. The writing is slick and witty, leaving the readers wanting more. And the book is thoroughly enjoyable. What more could a Lucas Davenport fan want in a story?
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Summary: Never Overcomes Its Problematic Beginning
Review: The first strike against Sandford in this book is how easy he makes it for two intelligent women to turn into stone-cold killers. Clara Rinker's rape was certainly traumatic, but to go from her vengeance with a T-ball bat to "That's how Rinker became a hit lady" is a bit simplistic. Likewise, for Carmel Loan to go from a lawyer who hires a hit lady to a sadistic power-tool user pushes the limits of credulity. There are other ways Sandford could have taken the reader from Point A to B and the book suffers for their absence. The second strike has to do with the omnipresent Reality Commission Report B-story. Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport is annoyed and bored by the Commission, so it doesn't sustain the reader's interest. The report drags down the story whenever it's mentioned because the reader finds it as boring as Davenport does. The eventual payoff doesn't compensate for the prolonged tedium throughout the novel. The reliance on coincidence and the seeming assurance that clues will be found if Davenport & Co. look inventively enough is annoying, but not out of character for the Prey series. Davenport is often described as being unnaturally lucky, but the distance his luck stretches in this book tests the reader's patience. Where the book does work, however, is in Sandford's portrayal of Davenport and his team, as well as his ability to convey image and characterization with his nonchalant yet concise prose. The story steamrollers on, in spite of the aforementioned distractions. While you may not be able to suspend your disbelief fully, you still want to see where the book is going. The fact that you travel throughout the Midwest and Washington, DC (and stop briefly in the Pacific Northwest) only to wind up nowhere at the end of the book demonstrates how frustrating this book is. An interesting book, to be sure. A potboiler, no doubt. But the book just isn't satisfying. Go ahead and read it - if for no other reason than to fully appreciate the second (and better) Rinker book, Mortal Prey - but don't set your expectations too high; this book doesn't deliver.
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Summary: cannot suspend disbelief on this one
Review: To quote a favorite author of mine: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown aside with great force." Dorothy Parker. Most authors attempt to make us suspend disbelief. It is part of good writing. This Lucus Davenport loses that edge early and died rapidly for me. The concept of a hitwoman is not the problem nor is her attitude toward business. The same goes for the female lawyer. I can believe these characters. The friendship that appears to develop strains it first by the fact the client sees the hitwoman's face and has her stay over night with her. Rinker deserves to get caught at that time. How did she know it wasn't a trap? Did the author assume because the buttonman was a buttonwoman she would act differently? It's business not pleasure and the hitman who mixes business and pleasure and takes risks gets caught or hit. First strike. The Thelma and Louise act right down to the scarves was pathetic . The presentation of the female lawyer's personality left much to wonder about mainly why didn't she do it all herself if she was that cold? She has no problem later with killing. And a hitperson who doesn't kill an eye witness even if it is a child? Come on. Ms Lawyer who doesn't want to kill is the one who is gung-ho to knock off the loose end. Maybe she should have been the hitman. She's sure smarter than softie Rinker and less likely to get taken down. That Rinker doesn't is totally amazing. She should have been dead when she hit Ms. Lawyers door the first time. By the time I reached the converstation with Barbara Allens space case husband who is suppose to be a lawyer telling Davenport the details of his pillow talk with the female lawyer who spills her guts to him after having coldly done someone in, I did exactly what Parker suggested and picked up another novel by a different author which brought my faith in mystery and suspense writers back. As to the events I listed...I can buy the one of the above but not all of the above. Pick one and goe with it Sandford. The pace flowed rapidly but the ideas where too far fetched and frankly too stupid for me to buy into. The second Rinker book was better.
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Summary: Uncertain Characters
Review: John Sandford's 'Certain Prey' is a fast-moving, adventure with cop Lucas Davenport hot on the trail of a hit-woman. But it's more complicated than that. Carmel Loan, a top Minneapolis lawyer has become buddy-buddy with the hit-woman and may have found a new way to unwind from the pressures of the high-stakes lawyer game. 'Certain Prey' is my first exposure to Sandford and I can say that he really delivers on creating action, suspense, and excitement. And his villains are well-drawn. Even the minor characters are done admirably. But I have two problems with 'Certain Prey.' One is this: Sandford is a good writer and has written a smart story with smart criminals. Why then in critical moments do the criminals behave so stupidly? I won't give it away for those who haven't read this installment, but Sandford really asks the reader to make a couple of pretty bold leaps with him as far as characters. Again, if the characters hadn't been drawn so well, it wouldn't be such a problem to see them behave in an inconsistent manner. The second problem: We don't know who Lucas Davenport is. Sure, he's a cop, but he's the least fleshed-out character. We don't know anything about his motivation (other than the fact that he's a cop) or what drives him. I'm aware that I've come into the series at Book 10, but not every reader of 'Certain Prey' will start with Book 1. More about Davenport would have been nice. If graphic, sadistic violence and strong language offend you, this is not the book for you. Just a friendly warning. But if you like a fast-paced criminal thriller, 'Certain Prey' may be the book you're looking for.
Rating:
Summary: Very nice installment in the 'Prey' series...
Review: A very fast paced book, and a nice plot. Lucas Davenport is a little older but still the same sex-crazed, hard-edged but talented detective that he has been throughout the series. 'Probably' a 5-star book, but I dropped it down to 4-stars because of the EXCESSIVE use of "GD" in the dialogue. Occasional usage is understandable but this was excessive. Otherwise, a great read.
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