Note, April 1, 2015: I updated this review slightly just now, to correct a typo (misspelled word).This tenth novel in Sandford's popular Prey series is my first experience with his work; usually, I prefer to read a series in order, but the friend who recommended this one felt (probably correctly) that it can be read just as well as a stand-alone, or out of order. Series sleuth Lucas Davenport, a Minneapolis homicide detective (who, by the time of this novel, is actually a deputy police chief) isn't really the protagonist here; structurally, at least for much of the book, the co-protagonists are the villains, and Davenport is the antagonist, albeit one who's on the side of good, much like Holmes in John Gardner's Moriarity novels. And although I classified it as a mystery, the who-done-it, why and how of the contract killing here isn't a mystery to the reader; we're shown the personae, planning, and execution (literally) of the crime at the outset. As in the old Columbo TV series (and often on Monk as well), the element of detection is in seeing how the forces of justice will prove what we already know. And this time, it won't be easy.The Internet pen pal who recommended this novel to me told me that when he was reading it, he was reminded of the story collection The Smoking Gun Sisterhood, which both of us had read. The dissimilarities, though, IMO, are fairly marked: besides the bad language and sexual content noted below, the gun-toting females in this book won't be winding up on anyone's "action heroines" shelf anytime. (Action villainesses shelf, maybe!) But I did think it was a read that earned three stars.On the plus side, Sandford does a very effective job of creating a really involving, page-turning read, with excellent plotting that throws curves into the story which you often don't see coming, but which are completely logical outgrowths of the situation and never forced. He hooked me early and hard, to the point where I knew I would finish the book no matter what; and while the adjectives "thriller" and "pulse-pounding" are advertising hype, there are places with a good deal of genuine suspense and tension here. (Readers familiar with the Twin Cities would probably say that he does a good job of incorporating their real-life geography into the book as well; but though I was born in Minneapolis, I wasn't raised there and have hardly ever been back, so that element was pretty much lost on me.)His other outstanding feat here is the sheer virtuosity with which he creates his villainesses, the above-mentioned (in the Goodreads description) Clara and her employer, millionaire criminal-defense attorney Carmel Loan, who's hired the former to kill the wife of a fellow lawyer for whom she's in lust. Obviously, neither of these are one bit likable as characters (a likable villain is pretty much an oxymoron, anyway :-)). "Don't worry, I'm just a sociopath. Like you. I'm not a psychopath or anything," Carmel assures Clara at one point, but her claim to the contrary, she's both: she not only has a fixed determination to have anything she wants when she wants it, regardless of how much harm she has to do to anybody else in the process, but she derives a warped excitement and enjoyment from inflicting pain and death. Clara doesn't, as such (for her, killing is just a good-paying job), and some of Carmel's actions bother even her; but she's almost (though not quite) without a conscience or normal human empathy, like one of Philip K. Dick's androids. But they ARE fully alive, vital, three-dimensional and understandable as characters, and come across as (very flawed) human beings, not just cardboard incarnations of evil --though they do both happen to be evil, in their different ways. And they're strong, dominating, formidable characters, who hold your full attention and stay in your memory; like all well-drawn villains, they fascinate, in various ways and at various psychological levels. Sandford also excels at depicting the nuanced, fragile bond that grows between the pair, whose misguided life choices and defective personalities have prevented them from ever knowing real friendship, though there's a buried part of their psyches that's starving for it. And in keeping with the necessities of a good mystery plot, they're very worthy opponents for any detective; they're both smart, cunning and pretty ruthless (Carmel totally so); Clara's had years of practice covering her tracks, while Carmel knows rules of evidence and police procedure from the inside and her wealth and political connections make her almost untouchable. Grading just on the strength of his plotting and sharp characterizations of these two women, I'd give Sandford four or five stars here.There are negatives to the book, though, that drag its rating down. I don't expect villains to be likable; but none of the characters here are particularly so, including Davenport. Many aren't drawn in enough depth to be either likable or unlikable, as if the author exhausted his resources on his protagonists. We don't even get much sense of knowing Davenport from the inside, though Sandford does bring out his phobia of flying in planes, and his liking for escaping job stress by fishing in the North Woods. (Of course, Sandford probably develops his character more in the earlier novels of the series --which does suggest one possible advantage of reading the books in sequence.) He has some unappealing traits, though, including a willingness to cut corners on legal restraints (he was temporarily kicked off the force for brutality some years before). I also don't think he's outstanding as a detective --he can be intuitive, and has a good memory for details, but he often doesn't recognize verbal clues or faces until long after the optimum time for doing so has passed, and he blabs one detail of the investigation to a civilian in a way that even I (with no police training!) recognized as really irresponsible. Many of the characters here have the sexual attitudes (and often the practices) of rutting warthogs, though there's no explicit sex; and there's a lot of bad language here, including a hefty seasoning of obscenities. These aren't used to distinguish one character's (or group of characters') speech from another, or to suggest differences of setting and milieu; they're just thrown in everywhere, indiscriminately and gratuitously. The stock excuse that this just "reflects" the incredible coarsening of American speech in the past generation in some quarters (though, as my next door neighbor, a Veterans Administration executive, noted, "I don't know anybody who talks that way!") is, I think, disingenuous --it also actively promotes, encourages and seeks to legitimate it. All told, I got enough entertainment out of the book, in balance, that I don't regret reading it, and it earned its stars fairly. But I have no intention of seeking out other books in the series [Note: I did subsequently read Mortal Prey]; there are other heroes in the genre that I would find more congenial than Davenport.
Lucas Davenport has always had a way with the ladies, but he’ll need a lot more than charm to deal with Carmel Loan and Clara Rinker.Carmel is a pit-bull of a criminal defense lawyer who gets what she wants. Since what she wants includes her handsome and married co-worker Hale Allen, Carmel reaches out to a drug dealing client to hook her up with a hit man to kill Hale’s wife so she can step in. In this case, the hit man turns out to be a hit woman. Clara Rinker has killed over two dozen people while earning a lethal reputation, and she spends her spare time running her bar in Wichita, Kansas. Clara pulls off the hit on Hale’s wife, but when complications arise she and Carmel begin working together to cover their tracks. Their partnership turns into a bizarre friendship with the two women able to share sides of themselves with each other that they’ve had to keep hidden from others. This apparently proves that torture and murder are just as effective at creating female bonding as a pitcher of margaritas.Lucas quickly gets an inkling that Carmel was involved with the death of Allen’s wife, but he has to be extremely careful when investigating her because of the legal hell she could rain down on the police department. He’ll also work with the FBI on trying to track down the elusive hit woman they’ve been chasing for years. Facing a professional killer and a lawyer who knows exactly how to work the system, Lucas will have to pull a couple of dirty tricks of his own in order to catch Carmel and Clara.This is among the best of the Prey novels mainly because it’s got two great villains at the heart of it. Either Carmel or Clara would worthy of a novel by themselves, but teaming them up was a great idea. With Carmel being a big city lawyer and Clara being a former nudie dancer turned paid killer/ bar owner, you wouldn’t think they’d have a lot to talk about, but the two of them both have a tough pragmatic streak they admire about each other. Even their differences are interesting with Carmel featuring a nihilistic philosophy of believing that since nothing really matters there’s no point in not doing almost anything whereas Clara sees herself more in a role of delivering karmic justice to those who deserve it. Their odd couple friendship also generates some black humor like one scene where the two ditch a couple of guns they’ve used to murder someone and then start planning a joint vacation to Mexico to hang out some more.It’s also notable that a couple of weird events are at the heart of this one. The Prey books usually feature a tightly plotted war of wits, but in this case Lucas makes a deductive leap that seems reasonable and leads to an important clue. We later find out that his reasoning was completely wrong so a mistake led to a major breakthrough. Then a freakish coincidence winds up driving the plot through the second half of the book. In other crime fiction, this could seem ridiculous, but that’s a change from how Sandford usually does business and so throwing a few odd events at Lucas doesn’t seem like cheating.With Carmel and Clara featured so prominently, Lucas doesn’t really have any personal subplots this time other than a running joke about him toting around a giant report as part of a diversity commission he got roped into serving on. However, there’s the usual dynamic of Davenport pulling some shady moves and more than a few mind games. This one deserves its reputation as one of the best of the Prey novels.Random trivia: The USA Network made a TV movie based on this a few years back starring Mark Harmon as Lucas. It wasn’t particularly good or memorable, but it did have a nice performance by Tatiana Maslany as Clara, and she’s currently getting rave reviews for her work on Orphan Black. Next: Lucas gets fashionable while trying to find the killer of a supermodel in Easy Prey.
What do You think about Certain Prey (2004)?
The tenth Lucas Davenport thriller presented the most fascinating "bad guys" I've yet read from Sandford. I am reading his books all out of order, and I thought the character of Davenport hadn't hit his stride just yet. The pace was as fast and no-nonsense as ever. A couple lines about my hometown of Madison made me laugh. But the best thing about this novel was Rinker and Carmel Loan. Just terrific characters! I would read another novel just about them. And I liked that Davenport's luck played into the solution much more than actual detecting. That was a clever--and I'm sure totally realistic--portrayal of police work. Another winner! Keep 'em coming, Sandford!
—Michael
A nice easy to read book, though I guess that the characters are a bit improbable, a Mafia hit woman and a lawyer who enjoys killing! But still, while improbable, not impossible. Anyway, they go around killing people in Lucas Davenport's backyard, so to say, and find they have somebody who is determined to find out what is happening even if it means cutting corners. Once the crimes are done - and they are pretty horrific crimes - then the detecting is quite good. Anyway, quite a "time pass' book.
—GS Nathan
Reading this 10th Prey book for the first time about 10 years ago left a greater impression than I have re-reading it now. Of course I like the police procedural aspect of the story. There’s nothing like reading the pages where Lucas follows clues and goes on the hunt on nothing but a hunch. And there’s no doubt that the female “hit woman” Clara Rinker is a very enigmatic character and maybe the most normal “bad person” in all of the Prey books, but all things considered, she remains a cold-blooded killer for money. On top of that Clara doesn’t show much good sense teaming up with top-lawyer-turned-psycho killer, Carmel Loan, and that connection will ultimately bring Lucas Davenport on her trail, even if it is by coincidence. From other books I’ve read, I can only guess that “hit men or women” show their best judgement by working alone.Lucas Davenport sure grows on me and so does his team of male colleagues. I don’t particularly care for Marcy Sherrill, the younger female homicide detective. I don't get the conversations she has with Lucas. It feels like the author has a hard time giving her depth of character. And honestly, making her just another of Lucas’s conquests, feels cheap, in my opinion (referring to Secret Prey).Anyways, up to the next instalment!
—Marleen
