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Title: Rules of Prey by John Sandford ISBN: 0-425-12163-1 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: February, 1992 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.03 (65 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: RULE #1 -- START A SERIES WITH A "GREAT" BOOK
Comment: A few years ago, I asked the owner of a bookstore to recommend some books for me. She said that she had been home sick for the past week and spent the time reading all of the "prey" books. At the time, I had no idea what she was talking about and thought they might have something to do with religion as in "pray" books. After some further discussion, I realized I had stumbled upon a great series by John Sandford. I started to buy the books then and it's taken me this long to finally read the first one. Since I read a lot of mysteries, many of which are part of a series, I'm pretty savvy when it comes to the most popular male protagonists out there at the moment. Now that I've been introduced to Lucas Davenport, my only regret is that I waited this long to begin my relationship with a now favorite character.
The story is a good one and involves a serial killer whose identity is introduced to the reader at the beginning of the book. I like when an author does this as it enables me to get inside the killer's head and follow him around from place to place -- not only to the scene of his crimes but in his everyday life at work and home as well. I also love it when the moment arrives and I realize what the title of the book means. In Rules of Prey, the killer, referred to as "maddog", has certain rules that he follows so as not to get caught. For example, he never kills anyone he knows, he never uses the same weapon twice and he never has a motive. He always leaves a note at each crime scene communicating one of his rules. Not only does this serve as a challenge to our main character, Lucas Davenport, it is also the killer's "in your face" way of letting Lucas know that he is someone to be reckoned with.
As a lead character, Lieutenant Davenport is a dream. He drives around in a Porsche, which was purchased with money he earns not only from gambling but also from a side job he has creating intense, strategic video games. He's smooth, good-looking and a real lady killer (no pun intended). I enjoyed the way he tracked down the clues, which will eventually lead to the killer. He also has no problem working around the "rules" set up by his own police department and I found this flagrant use or "misuse" of his own form of justice a bit ingratiating. But this particular case will prove not to be an easy chase as his sometimes-inept Minneapolis police department is foiled by the "maddog" on more than one occasion.
I understand from other readers that these books just get better and better. That's a real incentive for any mystery reader and is an added bonus just knowing that I get to spend some more quality time with Lucas. This is certainly a series for the ladies as well as the guys. "Shadow Prey" here I come.
Rating: 3
Summary: Okay, but unlikeable protagonist
Comment: I liked this book because it held my interest and it wasn't like other serial killer books I'd read. However, Lucas Davenport has to be one of the most cliche, least likeable main characters I've ever read about.
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.
Rating: 1
Summary: Please, tell me the series gets better than this.
Comment: I find it amazing that John Sanford manages to take a half-dozen interesting character quirks and combines them all to create a hero you couldn't care less about.
Maybe it's because I grew up with detectives like Columbo and Nero Wolfe, but I tend to like my heroes to have the occasional flaw. Lucas Davenport is a tough and experienced cop who doesn't play by the rules. He also has rugged good looks and an animal magnatism that allows him to bed almost every woman he meets (except stupid girls and the nun with the skin problem, so I guess that proves he has standards). But he also has a sensitive side, as he enjoys reading poetry on the sly. And he's a genius, a popular game designer, which means he's also wealthy. Wow, this guy is good at everything. How boring. He's the kind of character I would expect a sexually frustrated high-school student to create.
Now let's add a serial killer into the mix, but make him a socially inept loser who is inferior to our man Davenport in every way imagineable (oh, he's clever, but not as clever as Lucas), and you have two main characters that you really don't care to read about.
Sanford has a habit of making even supporting characters appear shabby, incompetent and unappealing around Davenport (including TWO pairs of Fat Cop and Skinny Cop duos), and has him so on top of everybody else that he has to advise the Chief of Police how to handle the Media and information control (don't the police have people to handle that?).
Finally, Sanford proves repeatedly that he knows little about police procedure or the historical crimes he references (newsflash: David Berkowitz was not the lone killer in the Son of Sam case, and he wasn't caught because a cop looked in his apartment window and saw copies of the letters. He lived on the second floor, you see...). I can only assume by the success of the Prey series the books have improved. Actually, I can only hope.
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Title: Shadow Prey by John Sandford ISBN: 0425126064 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 03 August, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Eyes of Prey by John Sandford ISBN: 0425132048 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Silent Prey by John Sandford ISBN: 0425137562 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 12 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Winter Prey by John Sandford ISBN: 0425141233 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 06 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Night Prey by John Sandford ISBN: 0425146413 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 06 July, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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