Seventh in the Lucas Davenport thriller series based in Minneapolis.My TakeSandford sets the story so we’ll empathize when the action heats up. A sub plot is that ring Davenport keeps bouncing around, slipping on and off his finger, rumors are rife and the betting hot, lol. Sandford is just plain mean to us with Weather vacillating over how much Lucas loves his job and if she can handle it. Lucas’ own concerns — exacerbated by his ladykiller past — keeps us on our toes as well. Will he or won’t he? What I love, however, is the times when Lucas realizes how he loves her and why. Not the usual approach guys have about a beautiful woman, but in how she makes him feel. The intrigue and passion.I know the husband is the most likely to have done it, but I like George Dunn. Yeah, he behaved like a jerk, but I like the core of him. Andi is different from him, as adventurous in her field as George is in his, and I like her too. I like how she works with her kids. I like too that she and Grace work at escaping, how they plan, the role playing they endure to figure out how to survive. Okay, yeah, I got why confidential records should be kept private and protected, however, I did enjoy how Lucas rolled right over Nancy Wolfe and her protests. It does create problems when they run across the huge number of patients who are abusing children — and none of them have been reported to the cops. I was fuming about this until later in the book when Elle passionately defends the reasons these shrinks are ignoring the law. And I hate to say that she makes an excellent point.Gawd, reading how Mail thinks . . . he’s pathetic. And ya just know that psychopaths like him actually believe what they’re thinkin’. As difficult as it is to buy into this, Mail really believes he and Manette are “building a relationship” . . . *gag* . . . And then he starts to focus on Ice!Then these “friends” of Andi’s. . . W. T. F.? They’re more concerned with their own pride than helping the cops rescue or at least have a chance at rescuing Andi and her daughters. I just don’t get that.I’m not sure what happened around the whole Davenport Simulations trap and Mail’s actions to escape. It was messy and convoluted in how Sandford presented the timing and the various parties’ moves.Ah, jesus, then there’s Genevieve . . . Thank god for the grins those last four paragraphs engendered . . . oh, yeah, lol.The StoryA high-profile kidnapping of a psychiatrist and her kids has everyone hopping, turning over some nasty possibilities. When the kidnapper makes contact, Lucas gets his computer company involved with a bit of compelling fakery.The CharactersDeputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport has a mean smile and an obsession with that engagement ring. He also has a feminine side. I know, right? Lucas and feminine just don’t seem to go together . . . Dr. Weather Karkinnen is a surgeon who operates almost daily. She and Lucas are living together now. Dr. George Howell, a plastic surgeon, is Weather’s mentor. And, ooh-boy, does it piss Lucas off. Sister Mary Joseph, a.k.a., Elle Kruger, is an old friend from Lucas’ childhood; today, she’s a psychologist. Davenport Simulations is Lucas’ gaming company, and it’s managed by Barry Hunt, who doesn’t much like Lucas. Ice is a Goth gamer, one of the techies at Davenport Simulations.The copsDetectives Marcy Sherrill (Mike is her husband) and Tom Black, her gay partner, take charge of the kidnapping. Hendrix is a born-again Christian. Detective Bob Greave, well, he means well. Rose Marie Roux is the chief of police for Minneapolis, more politician than cop. Danny Kupicek is an intelligence cop; Harmon Anderson is their computer expert; Frank Lester is deputy chief for investigation; Sloan is Intelligence; Del Capslock is Narcotics; Haywood; Loring; Franklin; and, Peterson are all involved. Officer Don Carpenter is with Cottage Grove PD. Bill Path and Jesus Martinez are bomb squad.The FBI Agent-in-Charge is T. Confrad Haward; behind his back, his people call him Dumbo. Marie is thirty-two going on fifteen. Danny McGreff will monitor Dunn. Brunswick is a medical examiner’s investigator on the John Mail jump. Dr. L.D. Rehder works at the nuthouse where Mail was incarcerated.Dr. Andi Manette is a psychiatrist who has separated from her contractor husband, George Dunn, who owns and operates North Light Development. Genevieve and Grace are their daughters. Tower Manette is Andi’s father, a very wealthy man who runs the Manette Trust and the Manette Foundation. His first wife, Bernie, died; now he’s married to Helen. Ralph Enright is Tower’s gofer lawyer. Dr. Nancy Wolfe is Andi’s partner and not too forthcoming on the details. Unless she can screw up someone else’s life. It is a complementary partnership with Andi good at business and Nancy building reputations. “Dr.” David Girdler calls himself a psychotherapist — and I reckon the psycho part is right. He’s more interested in promoting himself in any way than in being correct. Clarice and Thomas Bernet are the jerk-off, unwilling parents of the second witness, Mercedes. Thank god one witness has some smarts! Marcus Paloma runs Erewhon, a game store in Dinkytown. Cindy McPherson is a gamer and a student. Gloria Crosby is a gamer, murderess, and forger who’s not very good at reading people. Marilyn Crosby is her mother. Irv operates a small concern, Irv’s Boat Works, on Lake Minnetonka.John Mail is a born-psychopath and a made-sociopath — fits in with the Word Confusion I did on :Psychopath versus Sociopath”; I just didn’t realize one person could be both . . . Annnd another reason why parents need to be licensed! Anyway, Mail is a gamer, and he turns the kidnapping into a game, up against Lucas Davenport, the millionaire game developer. Martin LaDoux is the owner of the house. The original Martin had been an ultra geek and terrified of everything. Hecht is a neighboring farmer. Ricky Brennan is a druggie “friend” of Mail’s. Talk about a stalking horse . . .The Cover & TitleThe cover has a dark background and a close-up of a wooden match, lit, the flame burning well. The title and the author’s name are large and embossed with the title in silver and the author’s name in copper, blending in with the matchstick and its flame.The title is what too many characters in this story are doing to each other, doing a Mind Prey on each other.
My heart is still thundering. My god, I think I stopped breathing while reading the last 50 pages. Ooooooh.A nightmare called John Mail is planning a kidnapping. He tortured and killed animals, and set fires as a child. One of his fires burned down a house killing two people. As a result, a post-doc assignment for a new young psychiatrist, Andi Manette, was to examine the 12-year-old locked up in Hennepin County jail. Mail already was almost full grown, despite his youth, and Andi decided he was insane, her diagnosis sending him to a state hospital. He never forgot her beauty......and now, years later, he's out. His crimes have escalated, but he moved on and he likes his life. And then he is reminded of HER one day - he's going to need a remodeled van.Andi picks up her kids at their school whenever it is a parent-teacher conference day, and this day has been as normal as any other. Happy, relaxed, they leave the school, and head for Andi's car, next to which a van has pulled up. The next few minutes will change the Manette family forever.Dr. Andi Manette was a child of privilege, rich and pampered. Her children, 12-year-old Grace and 9-year-old Genevieve, are being raised the same. While she enjoys her wealth, she has decided to make her life matter. As a psychiatrist, she treats seriously mentally ill patients, including child molesters and rapists. Although her father, Tower Manette, has run through most of his fortune, and is with his second wife, Helen, the Manette name still represents importance. Andi's money is in a trust, so it's currently safe from her father, but she is divorcing her husband, George Dunn, and both may still be able to inherit some of her money at Andi's death. Her partner, Dr. Nancy Wolfe, is very protective of Andi as well as their patients, but is it possible the practice could have money problems? These questions have become important because John Mail seems to have insider knowledge, aware of details he shouldn't know, details which he shares when he finally calls, asking for a ransom.No one believes Mail will return the family alive. Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport, assigned to the case, knows he has a week or less to save them. The clock is ticking. But the only way to discover in time who the kidnapper is and where he has hidden the doctor and her children is to break not only confidentiality rules, he must also break all of the suspects, ignoring their constitutional rights. Will it all be for naught, too late to save them AND lose his job?Last but not least, Davenport wants to propose to Weather Karkinnen, his girlfriend. He bought the engagement ring, which he keeps in his jacket pocket, and there it stays. To tell the truth, he'd rather face John Mail then propose to Karkinnen. She might refuse, and then what? Scary.Love is hard.
What do You think about Mind Prey (1996)?
Another great one from Sandford, one of my favorite authors. This is a fairly early entry in the Lucas Davenport series. As always, the characters are well-drawn and the plot sucked me right in. It was very hard to put the book down.The story opens with a kidnapping. Psychologist, Andi Manette and her two daughters are grabbed by a a psychopath, John Mail, who had obsessed over her for years while he was in prison. He imprisons the three of them in a remote farmhouse and begins a reign of terror, raping and brutalizing Andi.As might be expected, there are political considerations so Davenport must deal with those. In addition, Mail may be crazy but as the old joke goes he's not stupid. He loves the game and is quite good at it. There's also the possibility that Andi was set up. As Davenport works the case, Andi and the girls are also trying to figure a way out of their situation. There is a sub-plot involving Davenport's girl friend, Weather, an M.D., who is unhappy with the fact that Davenport seems to be enjoying the test of wits between himself and Mail. The suspense is palpable as Davenport tries to solve the case before Andi and the girls are murdered. This is one of Sandford's best. I highly recommend it.
—Ed
Lucas Davenport is called in to help find a woman and her two young daughters who have been kidnapped. The woman is Andi Mannett, the daughter of a wealthy buisnessman, the wife of a self made millionaire, and a psychologist who has treated some very disturbing patients. One of those patients was John Mail. Andi treated him when he was 10 years old, and even at that young age he scared her to death. Mail is in his mid twenties now and he remembers the effect Andi had on him. And he wants her. It is made more exciting for him when he discovers that Lucas is one of the detectives assigned to the case. Mail is a bit of a computer geek and likes to play games on them. Considers himself a "gamer". He knows Lucas writes computer games. And is a bit of a gamer himself. So he pits himself against Lucas. The gamer against the guy who writes the games. Who is the smarter one who has the best mind. This is a well written story, fast paced, lots of twists along the way. And a very satisfying ending. I love getting into the bad guy's mind and John Sandford likes to show that side of his characters. You see the story from both sides. But it is graphic and some may find the subject matter offensive. It deals with rape. Even so it is a great book, I highly recommend it.
—Dotti Elrick
I read at least one John Sandford mystery each summer during vacation. This year I read Mind Prey. As always, Lucas Davenport is chasing the criminals of the Minneapolis communities while simultaneously addressing the personal conundrums in his own life. The dual-careered Davenport lives his adventure and creates the computer adventure games truly appreciated by gamers; his brain, perfectly designed to deal with these adventures, is at the same time logical and creative. In Mind Prey, Lucas must deal with the kidnap and probable murder of a wealthy therapist and mother of two daughters who have also been abducted. Money, revenge, adultery, sexual assault, mental illness, and the will to survive are among the themes in the book. However, the main focus, as always, is Lucas Davenport out-smarting the bad guys. He is able to use the creative side of his brain to hypothesize possible motives and movements of the "perpetrators," a term which Lucas says people only get from watching tv. While I love to hold a book in my hands, turn the pages, and reluctantly bookmark, having the audiobook to listen to is wonderful the multi-tasking teacher on vacation. I can do the work that was put off during the school year while listening to a Sandford novel. I love that he writes in such a way that I can try to solve the mystery myself along with Lucas Davenport. It is fun to occasionally say, "I knew it! I really did."
—Patti Christell
