Mortal Prey

Rating:
Summary: The best in a long line of Prey
Review: At the end of "Certain Prey" three years ago, Clara Rinker took a shot at Lucas Davenport, missed and called him on the phone to chat about it. You knew then there'd be a sequel, and it's as good as the first - even better.

"Mortal Prey" begins in Cancun when sniper Izzy Cohen fires at Clara killing her lover Paulo Mejia and their unborn child, wounding her. Determined to settle the score, Clara takes off before Paulo's powerful family finds out she was the real target and the St. Louis mob realizes she's still alive. Her hit list includes four "businessmen" led by Nanny Dichter, pioneer of the St. Louis cocaine business, and John Ross who got Clara started as a contract killer and is still one nasty guy. The first hit comes quickly with a lot of little arrows that will point to Clara when the cops, the Feds and Ross start following them, but she'll always be a step or two ahead.

The FBI is holding her younger brother Gene on a trumped up drug charge, so Clara calls Lucas to lay down the ground rules. The lively if unrealistic banter between maverick lawman and outlaw sets the tone for the chase to come. Ten pages later Sandford repeats the conversation as Davenport heard it, capturing the gut level connection between them while their two minds work at warp speed toward opposite ends.

There's a steady flow of great action with Lucas and his unofficial partner ex-cop Mickey Andreno working the streets and Agents Mallard, Malone and the rest of the FBI providing high tech back up and firepower. Through page 350 the story follows a somewhat structured outline, moving from one showdown to the next. Then Sandford gives us three quick closing chapters. He provides a sufficient degree of closure to this saga but leaves enough loose ends and surviving old and new characters that I would bet on, hope for, future St. Louis based / Rinker related Prey stories.

One thought for Sandford's next effort: Certain Easy Rules of the Mind in the Eyes of a Secret Chosen Mortal turn Silent in the Sudden Shadow of the Winter Night.

Translated: The Prey series has been great, but don't let the 90s Lucas wear us down. Keep the stories coming, but trade in the Porsche.

Rating:
Summary: The 'man-hunt' for Clara Rinker
Review: Clara Rinker was the female assassin Lucas Davenport met in an earlier book, Certain Prey. She managed to escape both him and the FBI, and have been hiding in Mexico. Something terrible happens down there, and Clara is forced to go back to the States to seek revenge. While Clara gets aquainted with old friends and foes, Davenport and the FBI figures out, that because of the incidents in Mexico, they should begin looking for Clara in the States again. Soon dead bodies start to turn up, and there is no doubt in Davenport's mind that it is Clara's work. But neither he nor the FBI can find her. Lucas is helping out the feds, but it is not before he starts investigating on his own, with the help from a couple of retired cops, that he starts to find the rigth track. Question is, will Clara succeed in escaping this time as well?

Rating:
Summary: CLARA RINKER IS BACK AGAIN!!!
Review: I absolutly loved "Certain Prey" the 10th novel in the Prey Series. "Mortal Prey" is the 13th novel in the Prey Series and it is as good, if not better than "Certain Prey."
A woman who is a hired hit-man, or should I say hit-person to be politically correct...Clara Rinker is one of those characters that you read about and can't forget because of her lack of respect for life. This time around in "Mortal Prey" Clara looses one person she would have loved and protected, her unborn baby. Her boyfriend is taken down by a hit man and Clara goes down with him but survives, yet looses her unborn baby. Needless to say we find out early in the novel who the hit-man was really after....
Without giving the whole story away Clara gets really mad and goes on a killing spree. Enters, Lucas Davenport detective.
This is another brilliant novel in the Prey series! John Sanford has done it again.HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Just a note. You really should read the series from the very beginning to give this book justice. It would be hard to understand what is going on, especially in Lucas Davenports (the main character) life and other main characters in the book. This is the best detective series I have ever read! You won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Sandford does it again!
Review: I was thrilled to see a new book in Sandford's Prey series! I couldn't wait to read it and I wasn't disappointed. This was such an enjoyable ride.

I enjoyed the return of Rinker...and while I agree with other reviewers that Clara Rinker was the star of this book...with Davenport playing a "supporting role"...it was a nice change. I enjoyed peeking into the mind of the bad guy or is that bad girl?

I liked the balance of Rinker's ambushes against Lucas's detective work. I didn't see the ending coming...and not too many books catch me off guard in the end.

I also enjoyed the addition of new characters that it appears will be reappearing in the next books and look forward to seeing what developes as Davenport moves into his new job.

All in all a great book!

Rating:
Summary: Hell Hath No Fury
Review: In Mortal Prey, thirteenth installment of the "Prey" series, John Sanford "reunites" Lucas Davenport with Clara Rinker, the highly successful hit woman who almost cashed in Lucas's chips once before.
Rinker became involved with Lucas when she accepted a job in Minneapolis, and Lucas managed to track her down and almost catch her. She tried to kill him, he almost killed her, and she retired after almost being killed by her employers who didn't want her retired and loose knowing all she knew about them. Between books, she escaped to Mexico and quite by accident became involved with the son of a drug ring godfather. She figured out who the family was, but they didn't know about her.
The new story begins when a sniper kills Rinker's boyfriend and almost kills her as well, and does cause her to lose the baby she is carrying. Everyone assumes the hit is connected to her boy friend's family. Not Rinker. She knows it is her old employers trying to tie up a loose end, and she is also concerned that the family will find out and blame her. So she takes off as soon as she gets well, and heads to St. Louise for revenge. When the facts about Rinker come to light, the FBI gets involved and brings in Lucas, who has come closer than anyone else to apprehending her.
Even though the FBI has figured out who her probable targets are and is trying to protect them, Rinker stays one step ahead. The task force stays as close at they do only because Lucas brings street cop smarts into the game to go with the computer-driven FBI analyses. The suspense builds, the blood flows, and the bad guys fall away one by one.
In the end, after a surprising plot twist, there is justice of a kind. Does Rinker get away from Lucas again? Read Sandford's Mortal Prey and find out.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect beach chair thriller!
Review: The best thrillers are the ones where you are both cheering for the cops and the villain. Clara Rinker is an assassin with a very personal and sympathetic mission. She is clever, cold, and sophisticated. She is out for revenge for the killing of her true love and their unborn child. Her goal is to eliminate four mob bosses. Lucas Davenport, the hero of the series, is part of an FBI "study group" out to stop her. She is smart but vulnerable, but he is equal to the task without being omniscient.

Like his other novels, Sandford makes the reader feel like they are really part of a police investigation---all the good bits, without the boring police procedural parts. The story and the writing is perfect for reading. One could almost see a screen play, but so much of the story goes on around the moves of the main characters that any picture inside the reader's head seems more vivid than what can possibly be portrayed on screen. His style and the action is tight, gripping, and easy to follow.

The ending is predictable, but it is so cynical and in line with the tone of the novel and the rest of the series---it is so real---that it leaves the reader feeling very satisfied and wanting more.

The writer just gets better and better. Can't wait for his next story.

Rating:
Summary: Lucas Davenport Meets His Match....Almost
Review: This may well be the best plotted book of the "Prey" series. Lucas Davenport once danced with Clara Rinker, the most clever of all assassins and a female to boot. Clara had escaped from him in a previous case and seemingly disappeared. Living in South America in what she thought was a new and good life with her lover, Paulo, her world is shattered when Paulo is gunned down. Only Clara knows the bullet was actually intended for her. Clara is wounded in the shooting but during her recovery she learns to shoot long distance firearms and plans her revenge. Returning to St. Louis she methodically guns down the mobsters that she believed to have been responsible for Paulo's death. The FBI calls in Lucas Davenport because he is one of the few people who have actually met Clara in person.

She sucessfully kills several people while "the chase is on" and begins to look unstopable. After finally being wounded, she recovers one more time and follows Lucas back to Minneapolis.

Buy the book...read it when you have time to finish it...and enjoy a good mystery. Hope the next one is on the way.