Mortal Prey | John Sandford | COULD NOT PUT DOWN

Mortal Prey | John Sandford | Very Exciting - Couldn't Put it Down!

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Mortal Prey

	Mortal Prey John Sandford, 2002 - 354 pages average customer review:based on 115 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Years ago, Lucas Davenport almost died at the hands of Clara Rinker, a pleasant, soft-spoken, low-key Southerner, and the best hitwoman in the business. Now retired and living in Mexico, she nearly dies herself when a sniper kills her boyfriend, the son of a local druglord, and while the boy's father vows vengeance, Rinker knows something he doesn't: The boy wasn't the target-she was-and now she is going to have to disappear to find the killer herself. The FBI and DEA draft Davenport to help track her down, and with his fiancée deep in wedding preparations, he's really just as happy to go-but he has no idea what he's getting into. For Rinker is as unpredictable as ever, and between her, her old bosses in the St. Louis mob, the Mexican druglord, and the combined, sometimes warring, forces of U.S. law enforcement, this is one case that will get more dangerous as it goes along. And when the crossfire comes, anyone standing in the middle won't stand a chance. . . .

Filled with the rich characterization and exceptional drama that are his hallmarks, Mortal Prey proves that John Sandford just keeps getting better.

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COULD NOT PUT DOWN

I recently finished Mortal Prey and it was a great read from first page to last. Clara Rinker is a great character. Would make an exciting movie; how would Cathy Bates be as Clara??

Very Exciting - Couldn't Put it Down!

This book was very exciting. Very real humor and realistic. I love the characters. Difinitely suggest this one!

99% Awesome

As an avid reader of John Sandford's "Prey" novels I read through most of this book thinking "this is his best." The book revolves around Lucas Davenport, a Minneapolis cop and Sandford's most famous protagonist, working with the FBI to catch Clara Rinker, a mysterious for-hire killer on a vengeance run.

What's really great about this book, on top of the great writing and storytelling ability of Sandford, is that Lucas Davenport is unleashed. Normally in the Prey novels Davenport is limited in action by his superiors in Minneapolis, by politicians and rules. In this book, because it takes place in a different town, we really see Davenport unleashed. There aren't rules to follow, actions are made "off the record" and it all adds to the excitement of this thriller.

Even better is the antagonist in this novel is a very sympathetic character whom the readrs can identify with. Normally Sandford's antagonists are so evil and one sided the reader can't help but hope for some horrible death at the end of the book. This time it's clearly different, Clara Rinker is an eye-for-an-eye killer with a sense of justice.

Thus, 99% of the novel is great. However, in the final pages of the book everything falls apart. I won't reveal the ending but it is abrupt and anti-climatic. A terrible disappointment for what could have been Sandford's best work.

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Mortal Prey

This is the first John Sandford book I have read. The author provides his readers with a well written, action packed, suspenseful story. The Clara Rinker character was well developed. I really liked the twist at the end. I am looking forwarding to reading more of John Sandford's books.

pretty good... but not very suspenseful

I have read just about all of the 'prey' books and have enjoyed most of them. This is another that was entertaining. However, I feel that this series has long since hit a wall and that one book is pretty much like the last. 'Mortal Prey' takes a step in a new direction by setting up a likable villain in the guise of a female hit-person. This is a character who appeared in 'Certain Prey', Clara Rinker. Rinker has killed a lot of people in her time and Sandford sets her up not as a terrible person, but as someone I personally wouldn't mind having as a best friend or next door neighbor. In fact its hard not to root for her as Davenport tracks her down.

A few things that kind of made me not get overly ecstatic about this book; One is that I really was never at the edge of my seat here. This is supposed to be a suspenseful novel but it wasn't. It just sort of goes along and Davenport comes across clues with little effort. Two is that as I said before, Rinker is just way too likable, nice, and the girl-next-door type. Three, Sanford's formula is getting old. and Four,what the heck was Davenport doing in St Louis or all across North America solving this crime? It makes no sense to have a local cop traipse across the globe hunting down international crime figures and taking on the mob.

Unless you have reached this book in the series and want to continue onwards, I would suggest that you shy away from this. 'No Country for Old Men' by Cormac McCarthy or 'Mystic River' by Dennis Lehane are far superior.

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