Very heart pounding in your face thriller and quite a debut for Sandford. Davenport's character is very easy to dislike in this one because he demonstrates the thin line that separates him and the killer.
Sandford has given us a hero who is very flawed but he's being realistic in his approach. Face it, not every individual who hunts down bad guys is a highly moral self-righteous church goer who wants us all to get along. DAvenport is highly selfish and very much a womanizer. He is also smart, ruthless and tough. These attributes are necessary when going after a cold-blooded killer.
The plot line is simple enough - the antagonist serial killer versus the Minneapolis Police Squad. Then it become personal as the two brilliant characters (serial killer and Davenport) get wrapped up in the mind games involved with the chase. It's almost cat and mouse, except Davenport doesn't know who the killer is and blindly makes guesses that seem to have some relevence.
This book is intense and fast paced. I couldn't put it down. It picks up at the beginning and doesn't let down until the final showdown. The only problem was the last two or three pages were a big drag because everything had pretty much been resolved in a high impact, hard hitting scene. Oh well though, character development I guess.
You will not be dissappointed.
Now back to the story, we have your psychotic monster who gets sexual pleasure by killing women. He knows he's psychotic. And he knows he's very intelligent. The local police department recruits supercop, who is naturally "a sex machine with all the chicks", to find this monster. As I mention above the story has bumps and turns. It also has a decent ending (no spoilers here).
Bottom line: certainly this territory has covered by better writers than Sandford. Still, 'Rules of Prey' is an enjoyable read.
First off, Sandford shamelessly makes him into a Hollywood bad-boy. Lucas is rich, because he designs computer games in addition to his police work, so he drives around in a Porsche and wears flashy Miami Vice-style suits. (Clearly Sandford was making the character marketable in case Hollywood decided to do a movie based on the book.)
And naturally, he has rugged good looks, a facial scar that doesn't disfigure but merely makes him look tough, he sleeps with every woman he makes eye contact with (and I've never seen a character other than Bond who manages to meet so many beautiful women just by walking down the street), and, I almost forgot--he plays by his own rules.
This book had me going until, at every corner, Lucas would break the law to catch the killer. This shows just how little Sandford knows about police investigative procedures, as he has created a character who is far too lazy to catch criminals legitimately and instead resorts to strong-arm tactics. If every cop was like Davenport, this country would be a police state. But what's worst is the way Sandford makes it seem like breaking the law like this is necessary to catch the bad guys, what with all the "legal red tape." Please.
Besides the main character, the book flowed smoothly and holds your interest. Fast paced and a good read.
