Certain Prey

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.

Rating:
Summary: Davenport is as Cool as Minneapolis
Review: Certain Prey is the first Lucas Davenport mystery I've read. It won't be the last. As a former Minneapolitan I felt a closeness to the story both because of the location and the cultural reflection as seen in Davenport's reading material. I'm glad the author did not resort to stereotypical "ya sure, you betcha" characterization some people associate with Minnesota. The author created creditable characters with definite human attributes.

As a fan of the assassination genre, I especially liked the character development and presentation of Clara & Carmel. Certainly, Clara, even though the professional, is a sympathetic villain. Carmel probably represents many people's extreme view of lawyers in general. In Carmel, the author created an unsympathetic but understandable character.

The author has written a tight, no nonsense mystery without a lot of blathering that some authors believe is necessary in their literary endeavors. However, all is not golden. The book reflects a certain degree of sloppiness in the author's and editor's work. At one point, Clara & Carmel are torturing Rolo, an unsavory character, in order to get information they need. They chain him to a bed by looping a chain around his neck and lock this chain on the headboard. Then, to secure his arms, "she (Carmel) took a tight wrap of chain around one of his wrists, snapped on a padlock, leaned over the SIDE (uppercase mine) of the bed, threw the chain beneath it, fished it out from the opposite side, took a wrap around Rolo's other wrist, and snapped on the last padlock," His legs were chained and locked to the footboard. (Page 66)

The man is now spread-eagled on the bed.

Yet, once his body reaches the morgue, the police notice that he has clawed initials of his to-be-apparent killer onto the back of his hands. This is a remarkable deed for someone whose hands were chained separately, and far away from each other. Ultra flexible fingers? The reader doubts this. These initials play a role in Davenport's determination of Carmel's involvement.

To compound this lapse in proofreading and editing is the statement on page 105, made by Davenport, when asked how the man's hands were chained. " 'Like this,' Lucas said, demonstrating. 'Over his head.' "

In books poorly written, I would have put the book down at this point and relegated it to the circular file. Fortunately, Sandford/Camp still pulled through a winner.

Rating:
Summary: Something happened to Sandford...
Review: I've been an avid fan of John Sandford's books for a decade now and was sorry to see that Lucas Davenport seemed to have lost his edge. I was wary when I picked up the book: I didn't want to get disappointed but Sandford surprised the hell out of me.
His latest in the Prey series is his best yet. The story has frightening insights: Sandford was able to draw the profile of a memorable serial killer perfectly. His portrayal ranks amongst the very best ones I've ever read. But not only the story is superb. Something happened to Sandford. His prose whas never been extremely vivid or pewrful but in Certain Prey he not only exceeded himself but most of the genre. His style breathes it's so fresh. Not one bad sentence in his dialogues. His conversations with his bride-to-be Weather, his interactions with his peers are so vividly written that I felt for the first time: Lucas Davenport is a living, almost larger than life cop, not just an interesting character who seeks the advice of a nun, who drives a Porsche and who designs softwares.
If you haven't read Sandford and want to know him, this is the best book to start with.

Rating:
Summary: Lovers and snipers
Review: This Lucas Davenport novel is one of the better ones. Well, they are all great, but the main-characters apart from Lucas Davemport and his team, are criminal women. And they are as hardcore as the male villains and serial killers we have met in other Davenport novels. Carmel is a high profile lawyer falling in love with a married man. As Carmel is used to get whatever she wants, and also is a sociopath, she is quick to put a contract out on the man's wife. She is recommended the female hit-woman Carla. Carla quickly takes out the wife, and Carmel can start her affair with the widowed man. But pretty soon things start to go wrong, and Carla is forced to bond with Carmel, and from then on, one killing takes another. Not only is Lucas Davenport on the look-out for them, the FBI is also trying to find them, and the book is a pageturner, an exciting and quick and satisfying read.