Sudden Prey | John Sandford | Another great book in the Prey series!

Sudden Prey | John Sandford | Heart-stopping action, breath-taking suspense, gut-twisting . . well, you get the idea

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Sudden Prey

	Sudden Prey John Sandford Berkley, 1997 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 53 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Revenge is the engine which powers Sanford's seventh "Prey" thriller starring superslick Minnesota cop Lucas Davenport. When a dangerous female bank robber is killed in a shootout, her even more dangerous husband escapes from prison and begins a campaign of retribution against the families of Davenport and his team. As always with Sandford, excellent writing is the icing on an enjoyable cake. (Other Sandford "Prey" books: Eyes of Prey, Mind Prey, Night Prey, Rules of Prey, Silent Prey, Winter Prey.)

Another great book in the Prey series!

Lucas Davenport is back in Sudden Prey, another thriller by John Sandford. This is the 8th book in the series and it stands out as a great book in a great series. When Georgie LaChaise is gunned down in a failed bank robbery, inmate Dick LaChaise thinks it was nothing but a planned murder. With the help of crazy friends Ansel Butters and Bill Martin, LaChaise escapes from prison. LaChaise decides to get revenge by going after the loved ones of the cops who killed his sister, Georgie.

LaChaise is able to blackmail a cop to get information on family of the police, and the three men attack violently, killing the spouses of two officers and wounding one. Now, the entire Twin Cities police force is trying to find these crazed killers. Lucas is afraid the cops will target his daughter Sarah, Sarah's mom Jennifer, or his fiance Weather. The book is full of twists and turns as the LaChaise gang always stays one step ahead of the cops with the aid an inside helper.

The thing that sets every Davenport novel apart from others in the genre is the way Stanford writes about the bad guys. In Sudden Prey, you follow every move Dick LaChaise makes and you know where their going. You also see the clues that Davenport and his gang should be able to put together and pray they can put the clues together in time before the LaChaise gang kill more cops.

If you are a fan of the series, this is more of what you enjoy. Not much characterization, Stanford jumps right into the action. The back story is minimal, the plot is the king. There's the usual humor, the abundance of swearing, and the twists and turns. If you haven't read John Sandford, you can read any novel in the series and enjoy it, but don't be afraid to start at the beginning with Rules of Prey. This series excels from the beginning.

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Heart-stopping action, breath-taking suspense, gut-twisting . . well, you get the idea

When the attempted arrest of bank robbers goes awry - leaving Georgie and Candy LaChaise dead in a shoot-out - it turns out the media firestorm resulting from it is the least of Minneapolis PD's concerns. Dick LaChaise - Candy's husband and Georgie's brother - has decided to make a break out of jail while attending their funeral and get revenge with the help of a couple of his friends by the name of Crazy Ansel Butters and Bill Martin. And they are going to begin with the spouses of the officers involved in the shooting.

As Lucas and Co. scramble to find LaChaise and his men, they are constantly thwarted - unaware that LaChaise has a man on the inside feeding him information.

Unremitting tension and an unrelenting pace make this a book that is almost impossible to put down once you pick it up. Each of the characters introduced is eventually humanized - although they are completely sociopathic, you get to the point where you feel a bit sorry for them toward the end; doesn't mean you don't want them put down like dogs, but you can't help but feel a little bit sorry for them at the same time.

Then there are Lucas' "women" - Jennifer and Weather. Often throughout the book I was left to wonder just how intensely stupid they could be. They were aware that these guys were gunning for the spouses of the officers they felt were "responsible" in the shooting deaths of Candy and Georgie; they knew that LaChaise and his men were aware of their existence. Yet they refused to change their habits and go into hiding. And it almost gets one of them killed (won't tell you which!) - because it is "boring" in the hotel and she has to do her job. Pfft. Then again, I suppose the plot line demanded it - not like this is real life, right? :-)

Any rate, a definite recommend from me for this most excellent addition to the Lucas Davenport adventures.

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Full of action and suspense

#8 of the Davenport series-From the book jacket "It begins with a death and ends with one". This was a fantastic book, full of suspense. This is probably the best of the series so far. It took off right from the start with the death of two thiefs. The brother and husband of the criminals, escapes from jail and goes after the cops that killed them. I think Sandford did a great job keeping the action going in this one. It never let up. I stayed up late to finish it. Davenport's character was not as stellar as previous books. Davenport is known to be on top of his game, always one step ahead of the criminal. In this book, you see a more vulnerable side of Lucas. I like the fact that Sandford showed this side. It is a nice change. Looking forward to continuing this series.

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Family Revenge

Story moves , but not as much as his other prey books

Another Solid Prey Book by Sanford

SUDDEN PREY is the eighth book in the "Lucas Davenport" series by John Sandford. The book is enjoyable, but is not the best entry in the series.

The plot of SUDDEN PREY is a little different from the other Prey books. Normally in these novels, Lucas is on the hunt after the killer. But in this book, the killers are after Lucas, out of revenge for a prior killing that Lucas was involved in. As always, the plot is lightning fast, and Lucas has to race against time and capture the killers before they attack him and members of his family.

If you've read other books in this series, you probably won't be disappointed in SUDDEN PREY. You get the same tight plotting, witty dialogue, and smooth writing that Sandford is famous for. In my opinion, this novel isn't one of the best ones, largely due to the stupidity of the villains -- they were ultimately more pathetic than threatening. I also found the whole "crooked cop" subplot to be a rehash of stuff I've seen in earlier books by Sanford.

If you've never read a Prey book before, my advice is to start with the very first one, RULES OF PREY, and then move on to EYES OF PREY, WINTER PREY, and MIND PREY. Those are probably the best four entries in the series.

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