Chosen Prey

A truly pleasant surprise. I stayed away from Prey books because of the stupid title. But this book, found at a book swap when I had run out of reading material, was a golden find. Minneapolis homicide detective LD is drawn into a well written serial murder case. Plenty of characters who were mostly defined enough that you knew who was how, a rapidly moving plot that made sense, and not too much dwelling on the imperfect hero. Unlike the Virgil Flowers novels the book was story driven and much less hanging on the quirks and desires of the detective. Sandford writes well and I found myself barking out in laughter at some of his one liners. A rare detective story that gets a 4.5.

There is one drawback to being a master of your craft, of having the ability to create fascinating characters and situations, and build suspense, and make the routine seem interesting. What happens when you don’t carry it all the way through to the conclusion of the book? What happens when the last fifty pages read as if they’d been plotted by someone else? Those superior skills turn against you. Disappointment is magnified because enhanced expectations are not met.

There are two major problems with the ending to Chosen Prey. The more important one involves the woman intended to be his final victim, whom we meet at the same time as the killer, early in the novel. James Qatar has already decided to kill her when a chance remark show more intrigues him enough to spare her. She continues to play a significant role throughout the story and yet, as events wind down and Qatar slips his surveillance with the intention of killing her, their confrontation happens “off-screen.” We’ve already witnessed him kill twice, one of whom was his mother; in neither case is the reader as intimately connected as we are to this character. We have to know what both killer and victim are thinking and feeling. Nothing is gained in terms of suspense or drama by withholding this scene. A lot is lost in terms of satisfaction.

The second problem is lessened because it is preceded by the breach of faith recounted above. It still stands out. Essentially, the surprise twist is not much of a surprise. The character in questions was always going to do something. Initial speculation included blowing the arrest or killing the suspect whether he surrenders or not--something along those lines. So once the “something” actually does happen, there is no other candidate. That Sanford can draw a character so deftly that his mild instability is obvious to us but not to those around him is, I repeat, a considerable skill.

Skill is a double-edged sword in Chosen Prey. I enjoyed most of the trip, I always enjoy the company, but disappointment remains. Rare disappointment; say one--maybe two--out of the twelve Davenport novels I’ve read to date. Not disappointment enough to keep me from recommending the novel based on its other strengths. But bear in mind that I’m a big fan and I fully expect a return to form next time out. show less

An art history professor with a taste for fine clothes and naive but curvy Scandinavian blondes, James Quatar might be just another pretentious, over-sensitive twit with tenure. Except he's a killer. His calling card, Photoshopped erotic drawings of his victims, has finally been spotted. Now, as Davenport and company close in, Quatar attempts to clean up. And the body count rises...

Sandford paints great characters, then weaves a heck of a story around them.

The 13th title in the Prey series (Easy Prey, etc.) has wealthy Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport in up to his Porsche-driving fingertips. Lucas is trying to track an elusive serial killer while reuniting with former fianc‚e Weather Karkinnen who after a couple of years' estrangement following her narrow escape from a crazy biker in one of Lucas's former cases has suddenly decided she wants to have his baby. Weather is a formidable distraction, but the killer revealed to readers from the beginning as James Qatar, a suave professor of art history with a yen for strangulation proves to require even more attention. Soon after the body of a young blonde is found in a partially excavated grave on a remote wilderness hillside, show more a deputy sheriff from backwater Wisconsin shows up with a file containing case histories of several women reported missing in Wisconsin and Minnesota over a nine-year period. Fearing the worst, Lucas orders the hillside surveyed; subsequent excavation uncovers seven more bodies. The art world connections of some of the victims and the discovery of pornographic drawings suggests a link to the art community around the local Catholic university. As the net tightens, the usually coolheaded Qatar, already plotting the fate of a daring fabric artist in cahoots with the police, gradually loses control. With Lucas and his team watching his every move, he eludes surveillance and carries out a final desperate attack. Sandford is in top form here, his wry humor and his development of Lucas's combative, affectionate relationship with Weather lighting up the dark of another grisly investigation. show less

Chosen Prey is the twelfth novel by John Sanford that features Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport. Although it is the first that I have read, I didn’t feel that I needed to have read any others to understand the characters. Here Davenport is chasing a serial killer who likes to photograph young blonde women, render the photographs as a tracing or drawing, then, where possible, strangle and bury the women.

In some of the chapters, including the first, the narrator is the deranged killer. Thus the reader gets a direct insight into the mind of a psychopath.

Sanford is adept at describing the interplay among the various policemen and detectives working on the case as they try to identify the killer. Somewhat surprisingly, show more they focus on the actual killer as a suspect about two-thirds through the book, and then the rest of the book deals with their building the evidence for a compelling criminal prosecution. I was a little disappointed in the structure of the plot in that the final “smoking gun” of evidence is found in a manner reminiscent of a deus ex machina. This is particularly annoying in that we are often allowed into the mind of the killer, but not when he hides the key evidence.

I would characterize the book as more of a police procedure story and character study than a thriller, but Sanford does interject a bit of suspense at the end. Over all, I rate this a pretty decent read, but not the kind you just can’t put down.

(JAB) show less

We get to see who Lucas chose after the mess of the last Prey book (spoiler: Weather) and how they are dealing with each other months later. Still ambivalent about what things mean, the two are back together, stronger than before. Lucas is dealing with a shake up though professionally. The chief who he has been working for is not likely to get re-appointed, which means Lucas is going to have to go too. If that's enough, it appears a murder is leading Lucas and his team to investigate what it appears to be another serial killer on the loose in Minnesota.

Lucas in this one seems to be a step behind a serial killer. Readers find out pretty fast who the killer is, so you may end up frustrated with Lucas and company for not moving faster on show more James Qatar (his name is in the synopsis). I do have to laugh at Lucas once again being smoothed out a little so he's not acting like a psycho around every attractive female he meets. There are still jokes about him and Weather, and I do like that Weather acknowledges Lucas's past partners and the only one she's not here for is Lucas's old friend. Thank God that character doesn't pop up again. I think that Lucas works as a character for his determination to catch the bad guys. He's not stupid, and though you end up loathing some of his choices in order to punish the bad people who he comes across, you sometimes end up rooting for him.

We have our usual suspects of Marcy, Del, Sloan, and others. Marcy is still recovering from her injuries after the last book, and even gets a better love interest in this one.

James Qatar is a mess of a man. He stalks woman, takes, their pictures, and draws them in crude pornographic poses. We have no idea how depraved he is until you start to realize how long he has been doing what he has.

We get introduced to a new character in this one, Terry Marshall, who has a connection to the case. I am going to admit, I was tempted to give this four stars because it was pretty obvious what was going to happen with Terry. I held off though because the last book was a pile of mess and I had to give this 5 stars by default.

The writing was much crispier in this one. Sandfford leads you through the plot and the myriad of characters and keeps his eye on the endgame. The flow was much improved too.

The ending ends on a sad and hopeful note for the future of Lucas. show less

As usual, the plot, pacing and dialogue in this story move right along. What it lacked was depth. I didn’t understand why Qatar was the way he was. There was a bit of history of him killing ants with a magnifying glass and his mother said she knew about the cats, but there was really no explanation. Also, the cops uncover 8 separate gravesites. The synopsis leads us to believe that this guy suddenly started killing women – not true. He’d been doing it for years. Also, the drawings he did of the women were made into a big deal and then dropped.

Also, the victims weren’t really focused on. They just sort of existed as props to the story. And Lucas’ personal life took center stage too much. Sure, we have to have some domestic show more goings on but enough is enough with the making a baby crap. Jeez. I’m starting to lose my respect for Davenport. I used to like his casual sex and his casual existence. Now that he’s ‘daddy’, the tough guy persona is hard to take seriously. Ugh. As usual, kids ruin things! show less