Invisible Prey

Sandford has a real gift for coming up with complicated, yet coherent plots. Even better, he somehow manages to make each novel in the series very different from the one before while still maintaining the continuity of his characters' lives and personalities. Invisible Prey has all the qualities readers expect of Sandford's work. It's great fun to read.

Not a bad go-round. Once the penny dropped for me as to whom the villains were I sometimes get exasperated waiting for the hero to figure it out, but not this time. Davenport put it together fairly quickly and it was really fun and suspenseful watching it come together. Sandford did a great job teasing that out, but not so much that it became boring. The ‘ah ha’ moments were some to savor. Another thing worth savoring was the time when the criminals knew Davenport was on to them and they started to plot against one another. Waiting to see who would act first was really a fun experience and timed very well. One thing I was a bit miffed at is how things ended for Jane. She deserved more suffering and it was too quick for how much show more Sandford made us hate her. Better emotional pay off was really needed. I did like the fact that Weather and the brats were largely ignored though. show less

Invisible Prey is yet another solid, enjoyable entry in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series.

This one’s a bit caperish, centering on a series of carefully-planned art-and-antiques robberies (with some murder thrown in). A subplot involving a politician who’s been, umm, friendly with an underage girl intertwines with the main story, and it’s good for some, ah, release of narrative tension.

Anyway, Sandford lets on very early whodunit, as is often the case in this series. I see this as one of Sandford’s great strengths. He’s an effortlessly confident storyteller, which allows his other strengths as a writer to shine above and beyond the simple plot. Foremost among these, I think, is Sandford’s ability to portray his show more villains. For much of Invisible Prey we readers spend more time with the killers than we do with Davenport and the other cops. And it works: he manages to characterize his bad guys as ordinary walk-of-life types who never the less discover the thrill of the kill. He’s also very good at portraying the ways they eventually mess up, make crucial mistakes, and spiral downward into desperation. I don’t know how realistic this is – most criminals must be far stupider than Sandford’s – but it makes for fun reading.

Highly recommended. show less

Wow. So this was really really good. I loved the idea of the two investigations that end up becoming entwined due to Lucas's involvement with both. I also died laughing when Weather pretty much called Lucas an idiot for not realizing how much antiques cost. And I loved the idea of the antique circles turning deadly. I personally still have a velvet bench that belonged to my grandmother (my father's mother) and it's old and very 1930s. I have no idea how much the thing costs, I just love it and now use it as the bench I use in my home office and sit on when typing, paying bills, etc. The ending was freaking good too. I loved what happened and think that even though Lucas thinks the case won't stay with him, I think it will.

"Invisible show more Prey" has Lucas being asked to assist when a wealthy woman is found dead in her home. She and her housekeeper were found murdered and it appears the assailant or assailants did it with a pipe. Once the police realize items are missing, the question becomes if the housekeeper's relative may have had something to do with it. I was initially afraid this was going to be a case of the black man did it, but instead, the housekeeper's relative has such a good eye and is able to help put Lucas and the detective working the case on the right track, that some very expensive things are now missing from the home. Eventually Lucas's case ends up being linked to two others and he wonders if someone is systematically killing elderly people with antiques. To make things even more complicated, Lucas is stuck on a political case with an older Senator being accused of statutory rape.

Lucas was really good in this one. You get why a lot of criminals end up fearing the guy. He has a way of looking at a case and it clicks together. The later books haven't made him Sherlock or even Detective Goren (go watch Law & Order Criminal Intent) but he has a way of doggedly putting things together in an almost haphazard way and solving things. He's quite happy with his wife, the two kids at home, and the daughter spoken of but never seen. Weather and Lucas work and I love how she ends up in her own way helping him with his cases.

This is the first book I read with Virgil Flowers (who Sandford ends up spinning off) and I actually like the character. Flowers is involved with the Senator's case and you can see he cares about the young girl whose mother used her to make a buck. I maybe hard cringed through the whole story line. The discussion about the differences between Republicans (committing crimes of a sexual nature) and Democrats (stealing money and being corrupt) made me roll my eyes. I plan on reading the first book in Flowers series when I have a chance since I always need a new series to read.

Unfortunately we have Sandford back to his old writing style so we know who the bad guys like within the first 10 pages. I also hate that part because it makes any scenes with them less interesting. They also seem quite stupid and the sex scenes that happened made me go blergh.

The writing is typical Sandford with the book following Lucas and the bad guys until all is revealed. The flow was good, but I have to admit I started to get annoyed with the bad guys in this one and didn't give a good shit about what they were up to. It may have been good to switch over to Flowers.

The ending was really good though. I don't know what I would have done in the same circumstances, but you end up feeling like the case ended the only way it could have for all involved. show less

Two women, an elderly heiress and her maid, are brutally bludgeoned on a dark and rainy night in a home in St. Paul's most element neighborhood. Lucas is dealing at the moment with a very politically sensitive investigation of a local politician who may have had just a bit too much to do with the minor daughter of his current paramour. But the old woman's murder, especially because of it's brutality, carries some poltical weight too, so Lucas looks in on the scene. The two disparate investigations - a sex scandal and a double murder - ultimately become involved

Sanford identifies the killers early to the reader and then plays very adroitly with us as Davenport attempts to discover who they are. John Sanford plays the mystery and the show more reader along beautifully. As the last hundred of pages or so rush by, Davenport starts closing in, though it isn't until close to the end that we're sure the killers will be found before Davenport himself becomes a victim. show less

Apparently this is the seventeenth book in this series but it is the first one I have read. For some reason I had always thought that this "Prey" series involved vampires and I just don't do vampire fiction. That was an erroneous assumption and there are no supernatural beings in this book (except for the lead investigator being supernaturally brilliant at solving crimes). Looks like I'm adding another author to my list of favourite mystery writers.

Lucas Davenport is an investigator with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (or BCA for short). He mostly works outside of the Twin Cities region but when a wealthy widow and her maid are killed in the city the governor asks that Davenport be involved. Constance Bucher collected art show more and antiques and quilts and some items may be missing from her home so the motive for the killings may have been theft. Davenport is trying to figure that out but he is also dealing with another case that involves a State Senator who is accused of having sexual relations with a girl under 16. The political overtones of that case are causing some serious headaches. The murder case becomes even more complicated when Davenport learns that another rich widow in Wisconsin was killed some years ago and that the two women knew each other. While Davenport is unravelling the threads the reader knows who committed the murders so the book becomes a will they be caught mystery rather than a whodunnit. That doesn't take any suspense away from the plot.

I've only been in Minneapolis/St. Paul a few times but I feel like I know the general outlines of the locale of this book. It certainly makes me want to visit again. I especially would like to see the Walker Art Center and its sculpture Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen which is mentioned in this book. show less

'Invisible Prey' is the 17th book in the Minnesota state detective Lucas Davenport series. I found this book to have a mellower Lucas, married with a young son. This story integrated a local murder investigation with an unseemly investigation of a Senator having sex with a minor in an election year. Several times, the murder was put on the back burner to free up Lucas for the political investigation.

When a rich elderly woman and her older maid are both bludgeoned to death, Lucas is asked to help with the case. As he looks into it, he comes across some other cases that are similar. With the way his mind works, he is able to fit puzzle pieces together to convince others that the cases are linked. The only problem is finding proof as well show more as finding the culprits. As is normal in the Prey stories, the reader knows who did it. We see their story running parallel to the police investigation. As the police close in, they devise plans to get away or distract the police. This is where the two plotlines come together. The thieves/murderers are pretty smart, as most are that Lucas comes up against, but he is smarter. Fortunately, Davenport has a free hand to run investigations across police jurisdictions due to his standing with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Department of Public Safety, and the support of the Governor's office. Once Art, Antiques, Quilts and furniture are identified as things that were either stolen or have a common thread, the chase is on as to whether the culprits will get away or Lucas will solve the case first.

Many of the same characters show up in this story and they are always entertaining. "That F....ing Flowers" who gets his own series later is an eccentric detective. He is often towing his boat behind when he shows up when called. There is a new character, an intern named Sandy, who does a lot of background work for Davenport. She is a bit in awe of him, but begins to develop a backbone as the story progresses. I hope she is in other books. Overall, a good detective story. This is definitely not a police procedural, as they break so many rules in the story, but it is a fun mystery. This fulfills my letter "I" in the ABC read your own books, challenge. show less