Certain Prey (1999)

A somewhat likeable assassin and a very unlikeable lawyer present Minneapolis deputy police chief Lucas Davenport with an tough challenge. Clara Rinker is a pretty, athletic, highly skilled assassin. Carmel Loan is a highly polished, highly talented, highly priced criminal defense attorney. Barbara Allen is a somewhat stout, very wealthy woman with the misfortune of possessing something Carmel wants - her husband.

Highly entertaining. ( )

This is my first book by John Sandford and I loved it. I decided to read it because I saw that a movie was coming out on USA and I wanted to read it before I watched the movie. I just hope the movie is just as good as the book.

Lucas Davenport is a detective in Minnesota and is after a murderer. You follow Detective Davenport as he tries to unravel not just one murder but 3 murders that look like they were committed by a professional. Lucas also has it in for a lawyer, Carmel Loan. The twists and turns that this story takes kept me reading until my eyes were closing due to lack of sleep.

Need a little excitement in your reading than I suggest you give Certain Prey a try. ( )

I have a rule of thumb for watching television - no doctors, no lawyers, no cops. It's different with books. I was given a copy of "Certain Prey," and decided to give it a shot. There's a lot to like in this book - the protagonist, Lucas Davenport, is a well-regarded cop. Attractive, but not too attractive; smart, but not too smart; determined, but willing to take time off to go fishing. There's a streak of independence that befits his status as a deputy chief, but he's not a Dirty Harry flouter of the rules. You can't help but like Davenport and his fellow cops. I also liked the assassin, Clara Rinker, he and the FBI are chasing. She's not a stock character - for one thing, she's a woman. On one hand, she's reacting to a traumatic past; on the other, she's a shrewd businesswoman, doing very well what she does best.

The plot revolves around Rinker being hired to kill the wife of Minneapolis attorney Hale Allen. Why? Seems the woman who hired Rinker, high-powered Minneapolis attorney Carmen Loan, is fatally infatuated with Allen and hopes, with his wife out of the way, to become the second Mrs. Allen. The character of Carmen Loan is clearly the weakest element of the book - a highly intelligent, successful, ruthless nutjob in the mode of "Fatal Attraction"'s Alex Forrest. She has better taste in clothes than in men, attracted to Allen for the shallowest reasons and willing to engage in many more murders to cover her tracks. By contrast, Clara Rinker, while generally dispassionate about her job (though she will not murder a child witness), is generally clear-headed and highly professional. Her loneliness as a free-lance executioner with mob ties, causes her to bond with Carmen as a BFF, and that throws a serious kink into her business model.

This book really is a procedural - how and why do Rinker and Loan plan their murders and subsequent actions to deflect the police and FBI away from them; and do how the cops, led by Davenport, track them down. In the end, Carmen follows her lunatic plans right down the line; Clara Rinker, not so much, and that's another good thing about "Certain Prey."

I wonder whether the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce has a love/hate relationship with John Sandford. He brings attention to the city and shines a glowing light on its law enforcement professionals. He also avoids the "Fargo" cliches about Minnesotans (yes, I loved the movie). But he also amps up the murder rate in Minneapolis beyond what would seem believable. If you can suspend reality on that, and if you can swallow Carmen Loan as a character, this is a book to enjoy. I did. ( )

I've never read this author before. One of a series of books having what I guess are a similar small group of characters, and I was aware that I hadnt read any of the earlier stories, so I dont know how much I was missing in reading this as my first story - there were definite undercurrents in the story that I wasnt understanding

However, it's an enjoyable story and I would have no objection to reading another from this writer!

A page turner. After reading that Mark Harmon is going to play Lucas Davenport in a series of made for TV movies starting with Certain Prey I was intrigued. Lucas is investigating the murder of a wealthy woman in a parking garage and the shooting of a cop who stumbled on the hit. The only description is a small athletic woman with red hair. The woman's husband is the number one suspect until they realize he's too dumb and start focusing on the mistress. The hitwoman is one step ahead of them through the whole book. Lucas doesn't catch her but he does manage to put her out of business, or does he? ( )