Mind Prey

I'm binge rereading this series, so my perspective is probably warped a bit by seeing the novels so close together. Just the same, it's an interesting experience. Sandford's growth as fiction writer is a lot of fun to see. His plotting is getting tighter and his characters are becoming more human, less cliched. At the same time, the relentless stream of violence against women, especially sexual violence, is becoming a hinderance to my reading.

To his credit, Sandford does not go in for graphic depictions of rape, which were unfortunately all too common in 1980s and 90s police thrillers. He also does a fantastic job of acknowledging the damage done by such assaults without making it the defining element of characters who survive such show more violence. I can think of two characters in his novels (I won't spoil anything by saying which ones) who survive rape and then appear in later volumes as side characters playing normal side character roles. It sounds mad to say it now, but back when these novels were written, this was unheard of, especially coming from a male author. I've always appreciated Sandford for this. Unfortunately, he began writing fiction in a time and in a genre that used violence against women as a primary plot device (just as action movies still rely on fridging the wife/girlfriend to justify the protagonist's violence). He was writing to a market and it took him a while to be confident enough in the loyalty of his readership to bring in other types of plots on the regular.

This novel is well-told and quite tense. Since I'm rereading, I knew how it ends, but even so, Sandford kept me turning pages. show less

Synopsis: '"Run for it." It was raining when psychiatrist Andi Manette left the parent-teacher conference with her two young daughters, and she was distracted. She barely noticed the red van parked near her, barely noticed the van door slide open as they dashed to the car. The last thing she did notice was the hand reaching out for her and the voice from out of the past — and the three of them were gone.
Hours later, Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport stood in the parking lot, a bloody shoe in his hand, the ground stained pink around him, and knew, instinctively, that this would be one of the worst cases he'd ever been on. A man who could steal children . . . With an urgency born of dread, Lucas presses the attack, while in an isolated show more farmhouse, Andi Manette does the same, summoning all her skills to battle an obsessed captor. She knows the man who has taken her and her daughters, knows there is a chink in his armor, if only she can find it. But for both her and Davenport, time is already running out.' From the author's website.
Review: Wow! Complicated, smart, with the underlying theme that women will do what they must to survive. This is probably the most procedural of the books in the series to date, yet there is an element of chaos in the 'bad guy's' actions that cause the story to twist and turn. show less

Of the entire series so far, Mind Prey is the meanest. The Prey novels follow Lucas Davenport through a series of encounters with socio/psychopaths and Mind Prey is one of the few that deal with a sexual predator. John Mail, the nemesis in question, is mean. Plain and simple. Furthermore his quarry are women and children and Sandford pulls no punches in his creation of a warped and mentally unstable villain. Davenport as ever, effortlessly sparks wry and enjoyable narrative and the cast around hi1ms paint a story that flows and is easy to believe. Sandford's style rarely misses the mark and in Mind Prey everything hits home, with a gripping story of two men desperate to succeed, both willing to do whatever it takes. Mind Prey doesn't show more let up and each chapter builds the pressure, ultimately creating a great and suspenseful read. Standalone or in the series, Mind Prey shouldn't be missed. show less

This was my second foray into Sandford’s Prey series, and it is a significant improvement over my first one, Rules of Prey (#1 in the series). In this, the 7th in the series, then-Detective, now-Deputy-Chief Davenport appears to have matured somewhat (he only beds one female character), though his police procedures remain suspect (he gives a verbally brutal interrogation to a woman he knows has at least an even chance of being uninvolved in the crime).

Once again, there is no who-done-it mystery to the story; we are introduced to the homicidal maniac at the start. Also, as in “Rules of Prey,” the baddie feels compelled to make a game of it with Davenport, calling him up to taunt him and to provide him with clues to decipher. Where show more this book improves on the previous one, though, is in the plot turns and developments that keep a shadow of doubt hanging over the outcome. show less

This was definitely an improvement over the previous two installments. The story moves along quickly, well it sort of has to in this instance, and with a frenzied effort by Davenport on all fronts. This story has some ethical issues addressed as well as Davenport stressing over a personal dilemma during the crisis, which makes for a few will he or won't he moments along the way. Weather's actions at the end have me really not liking her and hoping for their relationship to end. If he had to think that long, it's obviously a mistake and I'm was quite surprised he didn't react angrily to her actions.

This is the best of the Prey series that I've read. I consider myself a mini-expert based on having read seven of these titles in just a few weeks. The John Mail character was so completely crazy and ruthless, and the plight of the victims so awful--the reader just has to be at the edge of her seat the entire way through. I was thinking about the notion of genre books and how they can't compare to literary fiction. But they don't have to. A good detective novel has the ability to stir up just the right brew of emotion and interest to create a reasonable and resonate reaction in the reader. Sometimes that's just good enough.

Trigger warning for rape.

"Night Prey" is a hard read to get through. A woman (Andi Manette) and her two daughters are kidnapped by a former patient of hers. It's a race against time for Lucas and his detectives to figure out where she is and save her before she and her daughters are killed. I have to say that the main reason why I gave this four stars is that it's a bit convoluted when you read how the man who kidnaps her was roped into the whole thing. It just seemed ridiculously complicated. I also love though how Manette in the end was instrumental in saving herself and the police were just more background players in this.

"Night Prey" has a man who after kidnapping Andi Manette and her two daughters decides to play a game with show more Lucas Davenport when he realizes who he is. Lucas at this time has become pretty famous in the gaming community, and the unknown man wants to show Lucas that he is not as smart as he is. So it's a game of wits between the two men with Lucas coming every closer to capturing the bad guy.

Andi Manette and her daughters are developed very well in this one. I often was cringing inside reading about what was happening with Andi and what she was doing to keep her daughters alive. We find out that she and her husband are having problems and even her partner in her psychiatry practice has something to hide.

The writing was good, the flow was okay, I just felt at times that nothing was happening. We had Lucas and the police chasing after red herrings and it got old after a while.

The ending was changed based on an introduction from Sandford and I have to say thank goodness. It would have been grim. show less