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kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
Seventh in the Lucas Davenport thriller series based in Minneapolis.
My Take
Sandford sets the story so we’ll empathize when the action heats up. A sub plot is that ring Davenport keeps bouncing around, slipping on and off his finger, rumors are rife and the betting hot, lol. Sandford is just plain mean to us with Weather vacillating over how much Lucas loves his job and if she can handle it. Lucas’ own concerns — exacerbated by his ladykiller past — keeps us on our toes as well. Will he or won’t he? What I love, however, is the times when Lucas realizes how he loves her and why. Not the usual approach guys have about a beautiful woman, but in how she makes him feel. The intrigue and passion.
I know the husband is the most likely to have done it, but I like George Dunn. Yeah, he behaved like a jerk, but I like the core of him. Andi is different from him, as adventurous in her field as George is in his, and I like her too. I like how she works with her kids. I like too that she and Grace work at escaping, how they plan, the role playing they endure to figure out how to survive.
Okay, yeah, I got why confidential records should be kept private and protected, however, I did enjoy how Lucas rolled right over Nancy Wolfe and her protests. It does create problems when they run across the huge number of patients who are abusing children — and none of them have been reported to the cops. I was fuming about this until later in the book when Elle passionately defends the reasons these shrinks are ignoring the law. And I hate to say that she makes an excellent point.
Gawd, reading how Mail thinks . . . he’s pathetic. And ya just know that psychopaths like him actually believe what they’re thinkin’. As difficult as it is to buy into this, Mail really believes he and Manette are “building a relationship” . . . *gag* . . . And then he starts to focus on Ice!
Then these “friends” of Andi’s. . . W. T. F.? They’re more concerned with their own pride than helping the cops rescue or at least have a chance at rescuing Andi and her daughters. I just don’t get that.
I’m not sure what happened around the whole Davenport Simulations trap and Mail’s actions to escape. It was messy and convoluted in how Sandford presented the timing and the various parties’ moves.
Ah, jesus, then there’s Genevieve . . . Thank god for the grins those last four paragraphs engendered . . . oh, yeah, lol.
The Story
A high-profile kidnapping of a psychiatrist and her kids has everyone hopping, turning over some nasty possibilities. When the kidnapper makes contact, Lucas gets his computer company involved with a bit of compelling fakery.
The Characters
Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport has a mean smile and an obsession with that engagement ring. He also has a feminine side. I know, right? Lucas and feminine just don’t seem to go together . . . Dr. Weather Karkinnen is a surgeon who operates almost daily. She and Lucas are living together now. Dr. George Howell, a plastic surgeon, is Weather’s mentor. And, ooh-boy, does it piss Lucas off. Sister Mary Joseph, a.k.a., Elle Kruger, is an old friend from Lucas’ childhood; today, she’s a psychologist. Davenport Simulations is Lucas’ gaming company, and it’s managed by Barry Hunt, who doesn’t much like Lucas. Ice is a Goth gamer, one of the techies at Davenport Simulations.
The cops
Detectives Marcy Sherrill (Mike is her husband) and Tom Black, her gay partner, take charge of the kidnapping. Hendrix is a born-again Christian. Detective Bob Greave, well, he means well. Rose Marie Roux is the chief of police for Minneapolis, more politician than cop. Danny Kupicek is an intelligence cop; Harmon Anderson is their computer expert; Frank Lester is deputy chief for investigation; Sloan is Intelligence; Del Capslock is Narcotics; Haywood; Loring; Franklin; and, Peterson are all involved. Officer Don Carpenter is with Cottage Grove PD. Bill Path and Jesus Martinez are bomb squad.
The FBI Agent-in-Charge is T. Confrad Haward; behind his back, his people call him Dumbo. Marie is thirty-two going on fifteen. Danny McGreff will monitor Dunn. Brunswick is a medical examiner’s investigator on the John Mail jump. Dr. L.D. Rehder works at the nuthouse where Mail was incarcerated.
Dr. Andi Manette is a psychiatrist who has separated from her contractor husband, George Dunn, who owns and operates North Light Development. Genevieve and Grace are their daughters. Tower Manette is Andi’s father, a very wealthy man who runs the Manette Trust and the Manette Foundation. His first wife, Bernie, died; now he’s married to Helen. Ralph Enright is Tower’s gofer lawyer.
Dr. Nancy Wolfe is Andi’s partner and not too forthcoming on the details. Unless she can screw up someone else’s life. It is a complementary partnership with Andi good at business and Nancy building reputations.
“Dr.” David Girdler calls himself a psychotherapist — and I reckon the psycho part is right. He’s more interested in promoting himself in any way than in being correct. Clarice and Thomas Bernet are the jerk-off, unwilling parents of the second witness, Mercedes. Thank god one witness has some smarts! Marcus Paloma runs Erewhon, a game store in Dinkytown. Cindy McPherson is a gamer and a student. Gloria Crosby is a gamer, murderess, and forger who’s not very good at reading people. Marilyn Crosby is her mother. Irv operates a small concern, Irv’s Boat Works, on Lake Minnetonka.
John Mail is a born-psychopath and a made-sociopath — fits in with the Word Confusion I did on :Psychopath versus Sociopath”; I just didn’t realize one person could be both . . . Annnd another reason why parents need to be licensed! Anyway, Mail is a gamer, and he turns the kidnapping into a game, up against Lucas Davenport, the millionaire game developer. Martin LaDoux is the owner of the house. The original Martin had been an ultra geek and terrified of everything. Hecht is a neighboring farmer. Ricky Brennan is a druggie “friend” of Mail’s. Talk about a stalking horse . . .
The Cover & Title
The cover has a dark background and a close-up of a wooden match, lit, the flame burning well. The title and the author’s name are large and embossed with the title in silver and the author’s name in copper, blending in with the matchstick and its flame.
The title is what too many characters in this story are doing to each other, doing a Mind Prey on each other.
My Take
Sandford sets the story so we’ll empathize when the action heats up. A sub plot is that ring Davenport keeps bouncing around, slipping on and off his finger, rumors are rife and the betting hot, lol. Sandford is just plain mean to us with Weather vacillating over how much Lucas loves his job and if she can handle it. Lucas’ own concerns — exacerbated by his ladykiller past — keeps us on our toes as well. Will he or won’t he? What I love, however, is the times when Lucas realizes how he loves her and why. Not the usual approach guys have about a beautiful woman, but in how she makes him feel. The intrigue and passion.
I know the husband is the most likely to have done it, but I like George Dunn. Yeah, he behaved like a jerk, but I like the core of him. Andi is different from him, as adventurous in her field as George is in his, and I like her too. I like how she works with her kids. I like too that she and Grace work at escaping, how they plan, the role playing they endure to figure out how to survive.
Okay, yeah, I got why confidential records should be kept private and protected, however, I did enjoy how Lucas rolled right over Nancy Wolfe and her protests. It does create problems when they run across the huge number of patients who are abusing children — and none of them have been reported to the cops. I was fuming about this until later in the book when Elle passionately defends the reasons these shrinks are ignoring the law. And I hate to say that she makes an excellent point.
Gawd, reading how Mail thinks . . . he’s pathetic. And ya just know that psychopaths like him actually believe what they’re thinkin’. As difficult as it is to buy into this, Mail really believes he and Manette are “building a relationship” . . . *gag* . . . And then he starts to focus on Ice!
Then these “friends” of Andi’s. . . W. T. F.? They’re more concerned with their own pride than helping the cops rescue or at least have a chance at rescuing Andi and her daughters. I just don’t get that.
I’m not sure what happened around the whole Davenport Simulations trap and Mail’s actions to escape. It was messy and convoluted in how Sandford presented the timing and the various parties’ moves.
Ah, jesus, then there’s Genevieve . . . Thank god for the grins those last four paragraphs engendered . . . oh, yeah, lol.
The Story
A high-profile kidnapping of a psychiatrist and her kids has everyone hopping, turning over some nasty possibilities. When the kidnapper makes contact, Lucas gets his computer company involved with a bit of compelling fakery.
The Characters
Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport has a mean smile and an obsession with that engagement ring. He also has a feminine side. I know, right? Lucas and feminine just don’t seem to go together . . . Dr. Weather Karkinnen is a surgeon who operates almost daily. She and Lucas are living together now. Dr. George Howell, a plastic surgeon, is Weather’s mentor. And, ooh-boy, does it piss Lucas off. Sister Mary Joseph, a.k.a., Elle Kruger, is an old friend from Lucas’ childhood; today, she’s a psychologist. Davenport Simulations is Lucas’ gaming company, and it’s managed by Barry Hunt, who doesn’t much like Lucas. Ice is a Goth gamer, one of the techies at Davenport Simulations.
The cops
Detectives Marcy Sherrill (Mike is her husband) and Tom Black, her gay partner, take charge of the kidnapping. Hendrix is a born-again Christian. Detective Bob Greave, well, he means well. Rose Marie Roux is the chief of police for Minneapolis, more politician than cop. Danny Kupicek is an intelligence cop; Harmon Anderson is their computer expert; Frank Lester is deputy chief for investigation; Sloan is Intelligence; Del Capslock is Narcotics; Haywood; Loring; Franklin; and, Peterson are all involved. Officer Don Carpenter is with Cottage Grove PD. Bill Path and Jesus Martinez are bomb squad.
The FBI Agent-in-Charge is T. Confrad Haward; behind his back, his people call him Dumbo. Marie is thirty-two going on fifteen. Danny McGreff will monitor Dunn. Brunswick is a medical examiner’s investigator on the John Mail jump. Dr. L.D. Rehder works at the nuthouse where Mail was incarcerated.
Dr. Andi Manette is a psychiatrist who has separated from her contractor husband, George Dunn, who owns and operates North Light Development. Genevieve and Grace are their daughters. Tower Manette is Andi’s father, a very wealthy man who runs the Manette Trust and the Manette Foundation. His first wife, Bernie, died; now he’s married to Helen. Ralph Enright is Tower’s gofer lawyer.
Dr. Nancy Wolfe is Andi’s partner and not too forthcoming on the details. Unless she can screw up someone else’s life. It is a complementary partnership with Andi good at business and Nancy building reputations.
“Dr.” David Girdler calls himself a psychotherapist — and I reckon the psycho part is right. He’s more interested in promoting himself in any way than in being correct. Clarice and Thomas Bernet are the jerk-off, unwilling parents of the second witness, Mercedes. Thank god one witness has some smarts! Marcus Paloma runs Erewhon, a game store in Dinkytown. Cindy McPherson is a gamer and a student. Gloria Crosby is a gamer, murderess, and forger who’s not very good at reading people. Marilyn Crosby is her mother. Irv operates a small concern, Irv’s Boat Works, on Lake Minnetonka.
John Mail is a born-psychopath and a made-sociopath — fits in with the Word Confusion I did on :Psychopath versus Sociopath”; I just didn’t realize one person could be both . . . Annnd another reason why parents need to be licensed! Anyway, Mail is a gamer, and he turns the kidnapping into a game, up against Lucas Davenport, the millionaire game developer. Martin LaDoux is the owner of the house. The original Martin had been an ultra geek and terrified of everything. Hecht is a neighboring farmer. Ricky Brennan is a druggie “friend” of Mail’s. Talk about a stalking horse . . .
The Cover & Title
The cover has a dark background and a close-up of a wooden match, lit, the flame burning well. The title and the author’s name are large and embossed with the title in silver and the author’s name in copper, blending in with the matchstick and its flame.
The title is what too many characters in this story are doing to each other, doing a Mind Prey on each other.
hollsbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
hinesight's review against another edition
3.0
The suspense in these books is so strong as to be perceived as unpleasant, particularly when you're invested in the characters. I guess that's a good thing.
thecurseofchris's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5. Nothing really remarkable about this Prey installment, except for some character development for Lucas. On to the next.
posies23's review against another edition
4.0
This is another strong entry in the Lucas Davenport series. With this book, Sandford chose to move away from his "serial killer of the month" pattern, and focus on a multiple kidnapping. This is not to imply that this is a "kinder, gentler" novel, though, because it's just as brutal as the previous ones, and in some ways it's even worse. As usual, the writing is tight, and the suspense is strong. Sandford spends a lot of time in the minds of the kidnapper and his victims, and Davenport continues to develop beyond the cardboard character he was in the first few books of the series. I don't think I'd recommend this one as an entry-point to the series, but it's certainly a compelling read, and makes me want to continue working my way through all 25+ of them!
woody1881's review against another edition
4.0
Lucas Davenport is a great detective. I can even overlook the horrible idea that any investigator should be at an administrative rank like Deputy Chief Davenport. I don't mind that there is no police leader that I know of that would bring an effective investigator back into the department to handle politically sensitive cases. They want control and cover, not cases solved! What saves it is Davenport's ability to not be a huge idiot to the real detectives in his department. But I digress.
The killer in this story is a truly bad guy. Mentally ill but cunning. As usual with people like him, he has more ego than self-preservation skills. Toward the last half of the book I was sorry every time life got in my way of reading!
This is the first book I can remember reading where there were two editing issues that are on par with a movie continuity error. One I found John Sanford has talked about at book signings and interviews. In Chapter 30 there is a shotgun that gets left behind, then used, then picked up on the way back from where it was left. The other was in Chapter 26 and I read it a couple times to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Lucas jumps up in a supply room, where he is sleeping and pulls on his pants. In the next scene he had slept in his clothes in a conference room near the door.
I really liked this book. Overall it was fast-paced and well developed. The ending was excellent!
The killer in this story is a truly bad guy. Mentally ill but cunning. As usual with people like him, he has more ego than self-preservation skills. Toward the last half of the book I was sorry every time life got in my way of reading!
This is the first book I can remember reading where there were two editing issues that are on par with a movie continuity error. One I found John Sanford has talked about at book signings and interviews. In Chapter 30 there is a shotgun that gets left behind, then used, then picked up on the way back from where it was left. The other was in Chapter 26 and I read it a couple times to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Lucas jumps up in a supply room, where he is sleeping and pulls on his pants. In the next scene he had slept in his clothes in a conference room near the door.
I really liked this book. Overall it was fast-paced and well developed. The ending was excellent!
stbecker's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Another enjoyable Davenport book! The bad guy in this one was as good as the doctor / surgeon. Always enjoyable, easy, quick reads
duparker's review against another edition
2.0
The graphic detail, and in some ways graphic non-detail about violence towards women and children has grown old, as I have. I am not that interested in it, nor want to read stories that contain it, even when the root cause is punished/brought to judgement. I'm sure this book is better than I think it is, but it was not to my taste.