Buried Prey

Wow! This sure was a wild ride from start to finish. There was a little bit at the beginning where they did a flashback portion and I thought it went a little overlong and started to edge toward tedious but once it was over Sandford didn't do anymore flashbacks and it turned out to be super important to the plot for the reader to be able to see what happened in the past.

I loved the characters. Each one has their own voice and personality and it really shines through. I loved the way Lucas and Del played off each other, I loved Lucas's sense of humor, and I loved his relationship with his adoptive daughter, Letty.

This is the 21st book in the Lucas Davenport series, but it's the first one I've read and I didn't feel as though I was show more missing a single thing by picking it up right here. It really is its own self-contained story and it's really got me interested in looking into more Lucas Davenport novels. I also really enjoyed the fact that there was some crossover with at least one other Sandford series, the Virgil Flower series. It wasn't a lot, but it was definitely nice. I've read one of the Virgil Flowers novels as well, and so it was really fun to see that crossover and then to also see many areas where there was crossover from the Lucas Davenport series with the Virgil Flowers book I read but hadn't known was happening at the time because I hadn't read a Davenport book yet.

I think Lucas Davenport is probably going to turn out to be one of my favorite characters I've read about it, that's for sure.

The plot was solid and the mystery was great and had me thinking and on the edge of my seat the whole way through right up to the climax. That was kind of where I ran into a problem, though. I loved the climax itself, but I wasn't so fond of the conclusion to the climax. However, I think I would be in the minority opinion here and the vast majority of readers will love it.

I also enjoyed the last chapter and the way things were tied up well and we got to find out what happened with a lot of the characters. I was kind of annoyed with Todd and Kelly Barker, but really I wasn't at all surprised either.

I will caution that there is some homophobic language and some homophobic attitudes during the flashback portion of the book, but it doesn't last long and there's no indication to me that Lucas shared those opinions or the attitude. Just...be aware of it so that you aren't blindsided and I think you'll be fine.

One other thing that I really enjoyed about this book involving the characters was that nobody was a perfect person and I liked that bit of realism. Each character was complex and interesting in their own right, and the reader was challenged to think about the things they said and did and the positions they took, even the characters that you end up liking. And that's pretty awesome, as far as I'm concerned.

All in all, definitely happy and so very pleased with this book and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys detective novels and/or mysteries. It's not a short book, but it's still a fast, easy read and difficult to put down with interesting characters and a strong plot. show less

Spoilers ahoy!

I mean it. No mercy. Don't even flick your eyes down there if you want to read this book.

I hate you John Sandford. Why did you have to do it? Marcy. To Marcy. Why couldn't it have been Weather? Literally gobsmacked when I read that scene. I had to read it again to see if I read it wrong or something, but no, you killed her. Not many authors have made me mourn a character like you did. I mean really mourn. I had to take a break from reading, just for a little while though since now I had to see Lucas hunt down her killer, but I did pause for a while. I will miss her. She was a hot ticket. A pistol. A cop's cop as you said. After something like 20 years it's as if I knew her, so I hate you John Sandford. But in a good way.

Oh how I have missed you Lucas Davenport! I've been sitting on this book for quite some time, as I knew based on description, a good majority of the book would be reminiscent of pre-domesticated Davenport. I sat on this book quite frankly, because I dreaded reaching the end, and knowing this is likely to be the last I see my favorite, but aging, detective in his glory days again.

Ever since Davenport married, he's lost some of his roughness that made him so attractive in the earlier series. This title more than makes up for the last few. We get to see the Davenport that has gradually worked his way up the ranks, but most importantly we also get a peek back at his very first investigating case, and the old Davenport we adore.

This book show more really made Lucas take a good, hard, long look at himself, as he is pushed farther than he's ever been pushed before, choosing between being the vigilante consumed with rage and doing things "by the book" to avoid ruining the careers of those closest to him.

I was not disappointed with Sandford this time. I devoured this book in one sitting, and am now contemplating starting from the beginning of the series (again) so that I may savor this for just a little longer. show less

So I can't talk about this book without spoilers. That's how freaking annoyed I am. I may just give up reading anymore books in this series or ensuring they are library borrows. Lucas is not the end all be all for women everywhere. The fact that Sandford cheapens Marcy's death by forgetting her backstory and having her thinking about Lucas in a someday romantic style made me heave. And then of course everyone is not focused on Marcy. Oh hell no, everyone must be focused on preventing Lucas from murdering the serial pedophile murderer since everyone knows that he loved Marcy and must get his revenge. His freaking teenage daughter even talks to him about making sure he gets revenge. This book was a hot mess after we leave the "before" show more timeline and go back to the "present" timeline. That book ends in a whimpering mess.

"Buried Prey" starts off strong. We have Lucas standing by when the bodies of two young missing girls are found. These girls were the first case of a serial killer (he doesn't know that yet) that Lucas worked on as a cop back in 1985. This case had initially haunted Lucas, but he put it away. Now though he hopes to find the man who killed these girls.

Sandford takes a different approach here. We follow Lucas back in 1985 (he sucked) and how he met some people we know now. And then we go back to the present day with Lucas working the case. We also get third person POVs of the serial killer and with Marcy. We only get Marcy for a bit though and then it becomes apparent why. Sandford decides to follow the age old formula of fridging a woman for a male character's development. Yes I booed long and hard on it. Heck if Sandford wanted it to hurt readers, he should have killed off Weather or even Letty (I would have cheered).

I am annoyed about the fridging for a variety of reasons. First, it makes zero sense that Marcy would be traveling solo. Second, Sandford in the last book had shown us that Marcy was married and had a toddler named James. In this one, Marcy is still single, not finding the one, and still thinking about Lucas. She even muses about getting with him again if something should happen to Weather. Third, Marcy ceases to matter after being murdered. Her death is an inconvenience because with her dead, Lucas may do something really really bad and that's the last 1/3 of the freaking book. People talking about Lucas and trying to prevent him from killing a serial killer. Though Sandford throws in a scene there with Letty asking Lucas how is he going to get the guy and kill him. I 100 percent hate this character.

In the end though things don't matter. Lucas decides he's going to try to choke a guy out who has a gun and it causes one of his friends to shoot the guy and then he's dead. I mean forget the fact that he murdered and raped little girls. the most important thing is that Lucas isn't going to go to jail for killing him.

Sandford could have done so much more with this book. We don't even have Lucas following up with the parents in the present day. That would have been nice to see how their marriage fell apart after losing their kids. Maybe they would have blamed Lucas or the police for what happened. We could have had more heart in this one. The girls and the other victims felt like after thoughts. show less

John Sandford is the author of a series I've followed for many, many years. His latest book in the Lucas Davenport series is Buried Prey. (Released today)

Davenport has been a cop in the Minneapolis area for many years, working his way up the ladder. He currently works for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA, often troubleshooting for the governor. But a case from the past is literally unearthed and Davenport is forced to confront the unthinkable. Was the wrong man convicted of the murder of two young girls? Has the real killer been preying on children for the last 25 years?

The disappearance of the Jones girls in 1985 marked the beginning of Lucas's career as a detective.

"In the first year as a cop, working patrol and show more then, briefly, as a dope guy, he'd felt that he was learning things at a ferocious rate: about the street, life, death, sex, love, hate, fear, stupidity, jealousy and accident, and all the other things that brought citizens in contact with the cops. Then the learning tailed off. Now investigating, the feeling was back. He was crude and he knew it, but it was interesting and he'd get better at it."

The first part of the book is set in 1985 and we get to see a young Davenport. It was so much fun to watch Lucas begin what we know is a long and colourful career. One of my favourite supporting characters has always been Del Capslock. In Buried Prey we are privy to the first pairing up of Lucas and Del. Their witty banter has continued to this day. The tone is set for what we know of Lucas today as well - his way with women, his obsession with clothes and his 'outside the box' methods.

"Lucas, on the other hand, was a poor leader. He simply wasn't interested in what he considered the time-wasting elements of operating in a bureaucracy. He was intuitive, harshly judgmental, and would occasionally wander into illegalities in the pursuit of what he saw as justice. In doing that, he preferred to work with one or two close friends who knew how to keep their mouths shut, didn't mind the occasional perjury in a good cause, and knew when to blow him off, if he got too manic and started shouting; and would shout back. Lucas's cops were outsiders, for the most part. The strange cops."

The case itself is excellent. Is the homeless man they're chasing innocent or are they being pointed in the wrong direction deliberately? And by whom? Cops? Part two of the book brings us to present day. Davenport is again working with his old team Capslock, Jenkins and Shrake. I always watch for the reference to Virgil Flowers - that f*****g Flowers - one of my favourite characters, who now has his own series. Lucas's personal life always provides a great second story line, but I'm still not sold on Letty -Davenport's adoped daughter.

Sandford has a winner with Buried Prey. The plot is excellent, the writing tight, the action non stop and best of all, I get to see a side of a character I've enjoyed for almost 20 years. Highly recommended. show less

One of the best Lucas Davenport thrillers, as it includes a "prequel" section describing Lucas' first years as a Minneapolis cop. For readers who know him in his later, more mature years, it's quite interesting. Sandford does a fine job of showing the differences in attitude, knowledge, and character between patrolman Lucas and BCA big dog Lucas.

The best thing about this installment is the 170 pages or so when you get to go back to 1985, three years before the first Prey novel takes place. Lucas is 23, and he's spent three years as a uniformed patrolman. He finally gets his chance to make his bones as a plainclothes homicide dude. This is when he's first getting to know some of our favorite characters like Del Capslock and Sloan. Loved it!
That first case from 1985 resurfaces (so to speak, heh heh) in the present day, and Lucas is all over it.

As always, Sandford writes the absolute best "just among us guys" dialogue EVER. Realistic and sometimes hilarious. Some of the male/female dialogue is pretty stinkin' funny, too.

I have to add that this is the only book in the Prey show more series that has ever made me cry. I can't say why. It would be an enormous spoiler. If you read it I'm sure you can guess what got me choked up.

Oh, one other thing. I now know more than I ever wanted to about the finer points of peeing off a fishing boat, male version. show less