Helpful Score: 2
The murder of a wife of a prominent lawyer attracts the attention of Lucas Davenport and the FBI when it appears similar to a string of professionally-executed hits. Turns out the hit man is actually a hit woman, and she teams up with someone closer to Davenport's home.
This is one of the best Prey books so far. The bad guys (or girls) are interesting and well-developed characters. The hit woman is one of Sanford's more sympathetic characters in a way. The book is suspenseful throughout, and although Lucas is not in the book as much, it is actually a nice change of pace after the first 9 books. If you are not already a Prey fan this one will hook you.
This is one of the best Prey books so far. The bad guys (or girls) are interesting and well-developed characters. The hit woman is one of Sanford's more sympathetic characters in a way. The book is suspenseful throughout, and although Lucas is not in the book as much, it is actually a nice change of pace after the first 9 books. If you are not already a Prey fan this one will hook you.
Helpful Score: 2
LOVE this book! I love how he writes the story with enough detail but doesn't keep it to hum drum with facts but still feels real. I accedently read the book after this were Lucas finds himself tangled up with rinker again & loved that one as well.
Helpful Score: 1
Real black humor...fun.
Helpful Score: 1
This book made me want to read the whole Prey series. However, it made the first books of the series a little disappointing. It was worth reading them all to see how one author's writing changes.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book....having female killers gave it a slightly different twist from the other davenport mysteries. Great Thrill ride!
Easy read. Lucas Davenport, the detective, versus two women who bond like sisters while trying to clean us the mess that was made because a hit went wrong. Very entertaining.
Heather M. (celticscrapper27) reviewed Certain Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 10) on + 54 more book reviews
One of my favs! There is less focus on Davenport and his motly crew (not that lots of focus on them is a bad thing :) and more on the criminals, two women who give Davenport a run for his money. And the ending is great.
This was a quick read. I really enjoyed it. I like when the woman is not always sweet and nice. Just like in real life.
great thriller!
Series: Lucas Davenport Series, #10
From Our Editors
The Barnes & Noble Review
May 1999
Certain Prey is John Sandford's 11th novel in ten years, and the tenth to feature hard-edged, charismatic homicide detective Lucas Davenport. Once again, Sandford has managed to avoid the traps of repetition and overfamiliarity that mar so many attempts to create an extended series and given us a shrewdly plotted, furiously paced novel that is as visceral and gripping as anything he has published to date.
The opening chapters find Davenport in unusually placid circumstances. He is financially secure, having developed and sold a lucrative line of computer simulation software; he is enjoying a brief, atypical period of complete celibacy; and he is increasingly isolated from the life of the streets by the endless bureaucratic demands of his role as deputy chief of the Minneapolis Police Department. Reality, of course, soon intervenes, and Davenport is pulled down from his ivory tower by a vicious, execution-style killing and its unexpected aftermath.
The killing is initiated by Carmel Loan, a sociopathic defense attorney with a million-dollar-a-year practice and a tendency to get what she wants. When she decides that she wants the handsome but unattainable husband of a wealthy local socialite named Barbara Allen, she hires the services of an out-of-town hitwoman named Clara Rinker, who successfully eliminates the inconvenient Allen but is also forced to shoot a Minneapolis police officer who stumbles onto the scene. From that point, events take on a life and momentum of their own.
First, a blackmailer with incriminating tapes ofCarmeldiscussing the proposed murder enters the picture, and Carmel and Clara join forces to eliminate the blackmailer and track down all existing copies of the tape. The resulting flurry of murders leads to a manhunt that pits Davenport, the Minneapolis PD, and numerous FBI agents against two desperate women who are ruthless and resourceful enough to give the combined forces of the law a serious run for their money.
While it is fascinating, as always, to watch the intuitive, equally ruthless Davenport bring his gamesman's instincts to bear on yet another complex investigation, the real heart of the novel is Sandford's striking presentation of the symbiotic relationship between his two killers and his gradual revelation of their essential characters. Clara Rink, a brisk, efficient professional hitwoman with dozens of murders to her credit, reveals an aspect of her nature that is surprisingly human, even vulnerable, while Carmel Loan, a pillar of the community with impeccable credentials, reveals a previously undiscovered taste for murder, mayhem, and conspiracy. It is Carmel who initiates most of the novel's more violent interludes, Carmel whose maneuverings lead to a final, bloody confrontation with Lucas Davenport.
Sandford pseudonym of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp writes clean, clear, highly kinetic prose that moves the action along at a pace only slightly short of the speed of light. The momentum of his writing galvanizes the narrative, enabling it to surmount and survive the occasional lapse in credibility (as, for example, when one of Carmel's dying victims scratches an important clue into his skin with his fingernails, a singularly unconvincing plot device I would never have expected from Sandford). Mostly, though, Certain Prey is an intelligent and authoritative thriller, a certified page-turner that rarely takes a questionable step. It may not exactly be art, but it is polished, professional entertainment of a high order and should more than meet the expectations of its author's large, and loyal, following.
Bill Sheehan
Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. He is currently working on a book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub.
From Our Editors
The Barnes & Noble Review
May 1999
Certain Prey is John Sandford's 11th novel in ten years, and the tenth to feature hard-edged, charismatic homicide detective Lucas Davenport. Once again, Sandford has managed to avoid the traps of repetition and overfamiliarity that mar so many attempts to create an extended series and given us a shrewdly plotted, furiously paced novel that is as visceral and gripping as anything he has published to date.
The opening chapters find Davenport in unusually placid circumstances. He is financially secure, having developed and sold a lucrative line of computer simulation software; he is enjoying a brief, atypical period of complete celibacy; and he is increasingly isolated from the life of the streets by the endless bureaucratic demands of his role as deputy chief of the Minneapolis Police Department. Reality, of course, soon intervenes, and Davenport is pulled down from his ivory tower by a vicious, execution-style killing and its unexpected aftermath.
The killing is initiated by Carmel Loan, a sociopathic defense attorney with a million-dollar-a-year practice and a tendency to get what she wants. When she decides that she wants the handsome but unattainable husband of a wealthy local socialite named Barbara Allen, she hires the services of an out-of-town hitwoman named Clara Rinker, who successfully eliminates the inconvenient Allen but is also forced to shoot a Minneapolis police officer who stumbles onto the scene. From that point, events take on a life and momentum of their own.
First, a blackmailer with incriminating tapes ofCarmeldiscussing the proposed murder enters the picture, and Carmel and Clara join forces to eliminate the blackmailer and track down all existing copies of the tape. The resulting flurry of murders leads to a manhunt that pits Davenport, the Minneapolis PD, and numerous FBI agents against two desperate women who are ruthless and resourceful enough to give the combined forces of the law a serious run for their money.
While it is fascinating, as always, to watch the intuitive, equally ruthless Davenport bring his gamesman's instincts to bear on yet another complex investigation, the real heart of the novel is Sandford's striking presentation of the symbiotic relationship between his two killers and his gradual revelation of their essential characters. Clara Rink, a brisk, efficient professional hitwoman with dozens of murders to her credit, reveals an aspect of her nature that is surprisingly human, even vulnerable, while Carmel Loan, a pillar of the community with impeccable credentials, reveals a previously undiscovered taste for murder, mayhem, and conspiracy. It is Carmel who initiates most of the novel's more violent interludes, Carmel whose maneuverings lead to a final, bloody confrontation with Lucas Davenport.
Sandford pseudonym of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp writes clean, clear, highly kinetic prose that moves the action along at a pace only slightly short of the speed of light. The momentum of his writing galvanizes the narrative, enabling it to surmount and survive the occasional lapse in credibility (as, for example, when one of Carmel's dying victims scratches an important clue into his skin with his fingernails, a singularly unconvincing plot device I would never have expected from Sandford). Mostly, though, Certain Prey is an intelligent and authoritative thriller, a certified page-turner that rarely takes a questionable step. It may not exactly be art, but it is polished, professional entertainment of a high order and should more than meet the expectations of its author's large, and loyal, following.
Bill Sheehan
Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. He is currently working on a book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub.
Outstanding read with great ending.
Have read all of the Davenport series, all very good, this one is no exception. Enjoy!
Another great Lucas Davenport story. This time he's tracking down a female hitman who is just as intelligent as he is. Great book & fast paced. Davenport if even more intriguing now that he's a bit older (this is the 10th "Prey" book).
Attorney Carmel Loan is preternaturally beautiful, intelligent, and ambitious. When she becomes infatuated with fellow barrister Hale Allen, she isn't going to let a little thing like his being married get in her way. A quick meeting with an ex-client sets up the hit on Hale's wife, Barbara. The professional killer, Clara Rinker, is one of the best in the business. Smart, attractive, with a gentle Southern drawl, no one would suspect her of being a top Mafia hit man... er, hit person. When she takes the Allen assignment, she figures it will be easy money for a day's work. But things go wrong from the beginning. Loan's ex-client made a tape of the meeting, and is shaking her down for money. Worse, the shooting of a witness--a cop--brings deputy inspector Lucas Davenport into the case. Somehow Davenport has not only linked Loan to the killing, but seems to have a lead on Rinker as well. Carmel and Clara team up to clean up the loose ends, which includes getting Davenport off their back by whatever means necessary.
I enjoyed all the 'Prey' books by Sandford. This, too, is well-written, enjoyable to read, and Lucas Davenport is a great character.
Det. Lucas Davenport is now one of the prey, with the killer after a witness and the detective himself.
Pretty good read.
GREAT !!!
One more of the great "Prey" books. Good mystery.
Lucas Davenport pursues the killer of a wealthy socialite and gets a surprise as he realizes the professional killer is as ferociously intelligent and efficient as he is.
Sandfords' 'Prey" series are great reads, and this is no exception.
This book is super and has an ending I spent 368 pages hoping for.
This book is super and has an ending I spent 368 pages hoping for.
Really great page turner! Very interesting story.
Another great one in the series - I love this character.
I love a good murder mystery. I could not put this book down!
Another goodie in the Prey series. I was a little disappointed that there was no love interest in this one for Lucas Davenport but a good read nonetheless. I've really enjoyed this entire series and will be a little disappointed when it's over. Lucas is at his best in this one and will keep you holding your breath to the end.
Spending seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, rising to a high of No. 4, this thriller provides "enough pulse-pounding, page-turning excitement to keep readers up way past bedtime. . . ."--"Minneapolis Star Tribune." A wealthy socialite is murdered and the killer is now after a witness and the cop on the case, Lucas Davenport.
A wealthy socialite has been murdered. Now the killer--a consummate professional--must tie up a few loose ends. One is a witness. The other is Lucas Davenport, the cop on the case. Of all the criminals Davenport has hunted, none has been as efficient or as ferociously intelligent as the woman who hunting him.
"A wealthy socialite has been murdered. Now the killer - a consummate professional - must tie up a few loose ends..." - From the back cover
alot of action and kept you wanting to read it
John Sandford has created a thrilling series.
This is one of the Prey series, with Lucas Davenport. He is an awesome main character who always keeps your interest up. This is one of the few series that I have trouble knowing how it will end before it gets there. In this one, Lucas finds him self not only the hunter, but hunted as well. Makes for a great story.
For all his brooding, Minneapolis cop Lucas Davenport lacks the charisma of, say, Robert B. Parker's Spenser or James Patterson's Alex Cross. The vast popularity of the Prey novels is probably due, then, not so much to this dependable hero as to Sandford's clever plotting, sure pacing and fully rounded villainsAas well as his smart prose. As if acknowledging his series' hero's unflashy demeanor, Sandford, in his 10th Prey book (after Secret Prey), allows two gleefully unrecalcitrant female antagonists to steal the show from Davenport. Clara Rinker's life as a murderer and mob hit woman begins when she is raped at age 16 and beats her assailant dead with a baseball bat. Years later, the other femme fatale, sociopathic Minneapolis defense lawyer Carmel Loan, hires Rinker to kill the wife of property attorney Hale Allen, whom Carmel desires; within days, she has Hale in bed. The storyline spools out as a cat-and-mouse among the women and Davenport, with the villainesses dominating the action, sometimes in tangential scenes. When the junkie who connected Carmel to Rinker blackmails the pair, for instance, Carmel tortures him with an electric drill as Rinker watches. The action doesn't always wash: Davenport tumbles to Carmel's involvement too easily, and Carmel's ferocious response to being framed by Davenport redefines the term "over the top." The play between the two women, who bond like sisters, is as fascinating as the courtship of venomous lizards, and the novel's background humAcomprised of various amatory rustlings, forensic and legal ploys, and maneuvers among cops, FBI agents, mobsters and the killersAis rich in authentic detail.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
intensely cinematic...slickly compelling ...
Finely-crafted thriller about a two-woman partnership of murder. Appears to be part of a series.
Deputy chief Lucas Davenport has faced many dangerous adversaries during his time as a law enforcement official. Though many are scum, none are quite like Clara Rinka, professional hit-woman, who has never even been photographed. The only apparent reason the authorities now know she is female is because of her need for a friend, Carmel. Clara would do almost anything for her only friend.
The aggressive Carmel, a Minneapolis attorney, rarely loses a case. Her life seems charmed as she seems to always attain what she wants. Her current target is Hale Aller, a married real estate attorney. Carmel decides to eliminate the opposition by having Clara kill the spouse. Clara succeeds and surprisingly the females bond. Lucas suspects the tow of them even as he wonders if Clara is the mirror image of his own bull dogged determination.
CERTAIN PREY is a radically different type of Lucas Davenport novel than the previous tales. This time John Sandford concentrates on the two females as opposed to the usual look at his antihero. The rapport between the two women and Lucas is the underpinning of the story line and needs to be read to be fully grasped. No longer superman, Lucas remains obstinate and cooler than the earlier incarnations. By changing the lens, Mr. Sandford has written his chilliest thriller to date, one that will entice the audience to read the back issues of Lucas.
The aggressive Carmel, a Minneapolis attorney, rarely loses a case. Her life seems charmed as she seems to always attain what she wants. Her current target is Hale Aller, a married real estate attorney. Carmel decides to eliminate the opposition by having Clara kill the spouse. Clara succeeds and surprisingly the females bond. Lucas suspects the tow of them even as he wonders if Clara is the mirror image of his own bull dogged determination.
CERTAIN PREY is a radically different type of Lucas Davenport novel than the previous tales. This time John Sandford concentrates on the two females as opposed to the usual look at his antihero. The rapport between the two women and Lucas is the underpinning of the story line and needs to be read to be fully grasped. No longer superman, Lucas remains obstinate and cooler than the earlier incarnations. By changing the lens, Mr. Sandford has written his chilliest thriller to date, one that will entice the audience to read the back issues of Lucas.
In the 10th installment of his popular Prey series, John Sandford (a.k.a. John Camp) pits his popular antihero, Lucas Davenport, against a pair of cunning killers unlike any he has encountered before.
Attorney Carmel Loan is preternaturally beautiful, intelligent, and ambitious. When she becomes infatuated with fellow barrister Hale Allen, she isn't going to let a little thing like his being married get in her way. A quick meeting with an ex-client sets up the hit on Hale's wife, Barbara. The professional killer, Clara Rinker, is one of the best in the business. Smart, attractive, with a gentle Southern drawl, no one would suspect her of being a top Mafia hit man... er, hit person. When she takes the Allen assignment, she figures it will be easy money for a day's work. But things go wrong from the beginning. Loan's ex-client made a tape of the meeting, and is shaking her down for money. Worse, the shooting of a witness--a cop--brings deputy inspector Lucas Davenport into the case. Somehow Davenport has not only linked Loan to the killing, but seems to have a lead on Rinker as well. Carmel and Clara team up to clean up the loose ends, which includes getting Davenport off their back by whatever means necessary.
Like all of Sandford's books, Certain Prey is a fast and furious ride. Fans of previous Prey books will find Davenport a little older, a little more wary, but no less sharp-witted and determined. Though parts of the plot may stretch the limits of credulity and the dialogue falls a little flat in places, this is still a wonderfully crafted thriller, possibly one of the best of 1999. Certain Prey cements Sandford's standing among such luminaries as James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block, and Thomas Harris.
Attorney Carmel Loan is preternaturally beautiful, intelligent, and ambitious. When she becomes infatuated with fellow barrister Hale Allen, she isn't going to let a little thing like his being married get in her way. A quick meeting with an ex-client sets up the hit on Hale's wife, Barbara. The professional killer, Clara Rinker, is one of the best in the business. Smart, attractive, with a gentle Southern drawl, no one would suspect her of being a top Mafia hit man... er, hit person. When she takes the Allen assignment, she figures it will be easy money for a day's work. But things go wrong from the beginning. Loan's ex-client made a tape of the meeting, and is shaking her down for money. Worse, the shooting of a witness--a cop--brings deputy inspector Lucas Davenport into the case. Somehow Davenport has not only linked Loan to the killing, but seems to have a lead on Rinker as well. Carmel and Clara team up to clean up the loose ends, which includes getting Davenport off their back by whatever means necessary.
Like all of Sandford's books, Certain Prey is a fast and furious ride. Fans of previous Prey books will find Davenport a little older, a little more wary, but no less sharp-witted and determined. Though parts of the plot may stretch the limits of credulity and the dialogue falls a little flat in places, this is still a wonderfully crafted thriller, possibly one of the best of 1999. Certain Prey cements Sandford's standing among such luminaries as James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block, and Thomas Harris.
GAIL L. (my2luvsemmyandmally) reviewed Certain Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 10) on + 758 more book reviews
Book is about a wealthy socialite who is murdered. The killer - a consummate professional - must tie up a few loose ends. One of those loose ends is the "witness" to the murder ....the other is the Cop on the case, Lucas Davenport. Of all the criminals Davenport has hunted, none has been as efficient or as ferociously intelligent as the woman who is now hunting him......This book is a pulse-pounding page turner of a thriller. Suspenseful to the end!!!
Tenth in the Prey series. In this outing, a lawyer with a crush on an attractive man hires a hit woman (that sounds odd, doesn't it?) to murder the man's wife. Of course Lucas Davenport and his team are going to find a clue that leads them in the right direction. The lawyer is just as much a sociopath as the hired killer, so the bodies begin to pile up. I liked how the two women started to form a relationship outside of murdering everyone in sight, talking about hairdos and vacations in Mexico; it was amusing. These are all easy books to whip through, good for a plane trip or the beach.
great read
good read
Andrea (andreadogsbestfreind) -
revolting book featuring two women who use a drill to make holes in a conscious man's knees, complete with sound effects.
Andrea (andreadogsbestfreind) -
revolting book featuring two women who use a drill to make holes in a conscious man's knees, complete with sound effects.
Andrea (andreadogsbestfreind) -
revolting book featuring two women who use a drill to make holes in a conscious man's knees, complete with sound effects.
