Very Good. Group of Indian terrorists plot to kill FBI director

Digital audiobook performed by Richard Ferrone.
2.5**

From the book jacket: A war of wits between the street-smart sleuth and a warrior-assassin from an ancient. A slumlord and a welfare supervisor butchered in Minnesapolis ... a rising political star executed in Manhattan … an influential judge taken in Oklahoma City. All the homicides have the same grisly method – the victim’s throat is slashed with an Indian ceremonial knife – and in every case the trail leads back through the Minnesota Native American community.

My reactions:
Book number two in the Lucas Davenport series went a bit off the rails. My audiobook included an interview with the author where he explains that he had wanted to include some current “social justice” issues. Sandford admits in the interview that he wound up rather sidetracked from the main thriller and so abandoned his first effort and rewrote like mad. In my estimation, he was only partly successful.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy many a book with a social justice message. I want to learn about the ugly truths, even when it makes me uncomfortable. But that’s not the reason I read mysteries or thrillers. And that’s a problem with this book. I felt that the message frequently detracted from the forward momentum of the basic thriller plot. The result: neither the social justice message NOR the thriller were fully satisfying. Clearly not Sanford’s best effort.

Richard Ferrone does a marvelous job narrating the audiobook. He keeps a good pace and has an ability to differentiate the characters sufficiently so there is never any confusion about who is speaking. ( )

Second in the Lucas Davenport pantheon of books and by far the best of the lot. Detailed case of a revenge plot byThe Crows (Native Americans) against whites who have done their people harm. One of the rare books where Davenport seems human and not just a tough bastard. An early Davenport novel that fills out his background as a cop on the street with a network of snitches and connections. ( )

This was my second Lucas Davenport (Prey series) book, and the second in the series. I'm a huge Virgil Flowers fan, another Sandford character who works for Lucas Davenport for most of the series. So I'm really hoping to get into the Prey series, but so far, I'm disappointed. A lot of people like this series, some better than the other, so I'm planning to continue for at least another few books, in the hopes that it will get better with experience - and hoping for an appearance from that damn Flowers, too.

My main problem with this one is that so far, Lucas Davenport is not that likeable. He drives around in a Porche, which seems like a poor choice for a cop, unless your name is Sonny Crockett (Miami Vice). Also, there's too much womanizing in my opinion. Even though he's got a serious girlfriend he wants to marry, and has a kid with her, he still plays around, saying he can't help himself. These things make him seem a bit weak to me. Especially after giving out confidential information to his girlfriend, a reporter, in the first book.

This story was fairly interesting, with several bad guys working more or less together. We knew who they were for most of the story, and in fact, the police also knew, or at least were pretty certain for much of the story. But they were hard to catch, and somewhat ruthless.

The story continued a bit after everything was solved and the bad guys were all dealt with. I'm not too sure this was really necessary; to me, at least, it was mostly pretty boring and seemed to drag on too long. ( )

I listened to an abridged version and I don't recommend it, however, the story is 5 stars as I've read it before.

It is an intense story. John Sandford throws every bit of love, passion and violence he seems to have into his stories. I feel overwhelmed when I am finished.

The things that happen in this story changed the course of Lucas Davenport's life. He just doesn't know it yet.
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