Rules of Prey

Rating:
Summary: Master of Suspense
Review: The "maddog" has been killing for a long time but his most recent game takes place in Minnesota's Twin Cities where he's already killed two, almost three, women. As a lawyer in "normal life," this guy's pretty clever and applies many "rules" to prevent getting caught. To help the police grasp the concept of his latest game, he leaves one of his rules with each victim, cut out of newspaper, carefully taped together. Never kill anyone you know. Never have a motive. Never carry a weapon after it has been used, and so on.

Minneapolis Lieutenant Lucas Davenport also enjoys games. He invents strategic video games, drives a Porsche, likes to fish, collects guns, and, like our serial-killer, plays by his own rules. The rebel in him should've got him fired long ago. But, despite his style and ethics, he gets results. Now he's assigned to catch this demented serial-killer but the "maddog" will certainly have the cops chasing their own tails in this thriller.

Lucas is a genuine and complex character. I'll enjoy getting to know him better throughout the series. He's kind and sensitive when he can be, crude and tough when he needs to be. For such a tough guy, you'll be surprised to know he's afraid of flying. He loves women. Many women. The media loves him, one anchorwoman in particular. But often, they use each other to their own professional advantage.

John Sandford delivers a debut novel filled with suspense and realism. The entire police investigation seems so authentic and easy to follow that the reader applauds their breakthroughs and sympathizes with their foul-ups. Their tactics are truly absorbing, often educational. Sandford doesn't bore the reader with lines of needless detail, but provides remarkable descriptions, narratives and key information throughout the book. My only complaint is the utter stupidity Lucas Davenport's women possess, especially when it comes to their relationships with him. They're all just too casual about break-ups and infidelities. But still, never a dull moment in this first of many "Prey Series" books.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing
Review: This book was an intriguing start to the "Prey" series. This was my first encounter with the "Prey" series and with John Sandford and I was very satisfied. Lucas Davenport is an interesting and mutil-dimensional character. I found myself caring about him and the supporting cast just as much as the plot. The relationship between him and Jennifer Carey was very complex and I hope to see it develop in further novels. The only thing that's holding me back from 5 stars is that the Maddogs' motives were never fully expained. I am almost done with Shadow Prey and plan to read the rest of the books in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Please, tell me the series gets better than this.
Review: I find it amazing that John Sanford manages to take a half-dozen interesting character quirks and combines them all to create a hero you couldn't care less about.

Maybe it's because I grew up with detectives like Columbo and Nero Wolfe, but I tend to like my heroes to have the occasional flaw. Lucas Davenport is a tough and experienced cop who doesn't play by the rules. He also has rugged good looks and an animal magnatism that allows him to bed almost every woman he meets (except stupid girls and the nun with the skin problem, so I guess that proves he has standards). But he also has a sensitive side, as he enjoys reading poetry on the sly. And he's a genius, a popular game designer, which means he's also wealthy. Wow, this guy is good at everything. How boring. He's the kind of character I would expect a sexually frustrated high-school student to create.

Now let's add a serial killer into the mix, but make him a socially inept loser who is inferior to our man Davenport in every way imagineable (oh, he's clever, but not as clever as Lucas), and you have two main characters that you really don't care to read about.

Sanford has a habit of making even supporting characters appear shabby, incompetent and unappealing around Davenport (including TWO pairs of Fat Cop and Skinny Cop duos), and has him so on top of everybody else that he has to advise the Chief of Police how to handle the Media and information control (don't the police have people to handle that?).

Finally, Sanford proves repeatedly that he knows little about police procedure or the historical crimes he references (newsflash: David Berkowitz was not the lone killer in the Son of Sam case, and he wasn't caught because a cop looked in his apartment window and saw copies of the letters. He lived on the second floor, you see...). I can only assume by the success of the Prey series the books have improved. Actually, I can only hope.

Rating:
Summary: Superb debut to my favorite new series!
Review: My wife bugged me for months to read this series and when I finally broke down, I kicked myself for not starting it sooner. Sandford's books following Minneapolis Police Detective Lucas Davenport are some of the best I've discovered in a long time. I'm working my way through the series and loving it!

Davenport is a maverick, brilliant, somewhat-womanizing detective.  I wasn't sure at first whether or not I'd like the character, but I quickly found myself a big fan of his. He's a cocky loner on the surface, but the digger you deep, the more sensitivity and warmth you find. Sandford has done a wonderful job of creating a character who is both intriguing and believable. (If you're hoping to create a mystery series, you'd better come up with a compelling protagonist and Sandford has certainly done that.)

This book finds Davenport on the trail of a cunning serial killer who sticks to a carefully thought-out set of rules in an attempt to escape capture (hence the title of the book). The mystery really kept me on my toes, wondering how Lucas would manage to capture this deranged murdered.

John Sandford's Prey series is recommended to fans of Michael Connelly, Robert B. Parker, and anyone who enjoys a good detective novel.

Rating:
Summary: Never-ending Excitement
Review: Rules of Prey, which is written by John Sandford, is a great tale between a heroic detective and a serial killer. This story is a part of a series that is written by John Sandford. A theme common among many books, but this novel keeps getting more interesting throughout the entire plot. It is an exciting book to read and easy to follow along. Any person would enjoy reading this book.

The characters Lucas Davenport, the detective, and Louis Vullion, also known as the maddog killer, are unique on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Davenport is the typical masculine male figure with his good looks and charm; he sleeps with basically every woman in town ... you can't help but enjoy his lifestyle. The maddog, on the other hand, is more of the quiet character; he is the most grotesque personality imaginable, which, once again, keeps any reader interested. For example the maddog once leaves the message on Davenport's answering machine, "It was lovely," after one of the murders. Both are quite intelligent and know how to play the game.

The thoughts of both characters are written clearly, which creates two stories that tie together at the end. The characters are compelling in the highest forms. Depending on your personality, you'll be rooting for one or the other. Throughout the entire story, you begin to understand the reasoning for each character. The story also includes action that keeps the pages turning the whole time. It is a very enjoyable book to read especially reading in solitude.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but unlikeable protagonist
Review: I liked this book because it held my interest and it wasn't like other serial killer books I'd read. However, Lucas Davenport has to be one of the most cliche, least likeable main characters I've ever read about.

First off, Sandford shamelessly makes him into a Hollywood bad-boy. Lucas is rich, because he designs computer games in addition to his police work, so he drives around in a Porsche and wears flashy Miami Vice-style suits. (Clearly Sandford was making the character marketable in case Hollywood decided to do a movie based on the book.)

And naturally, he has rugged good looks, a facial scar that doesn't disfigure but merely makes him look tough, he sleeps with every woman he makes eye contact with (and I've never seen a character other than Bond who manages to meet so many beautiful women just by walking down the street), and, I almost forgot--he plays by his own rules.

This book had me going until, at every corner, Lucas would break the law to catch the killer. This shows just how little Sandford knows about police investigative procedures, as he has created a character who is far too lazy to catch criminals legitimately and instead resorts to strong-arm tactics. If every cop was like Davenport, this country would be a police state. But what's worst is the way Sandford makes it seem like breaking the law like this is necessary to catch the bad guys, what with all the "legal red tape." Please.

Besides the main character, the book flowed smoothly and holds your interest. Fast paced and a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Put Down
Review: Very suspenseful tale about a "Ted Bundy" type individual who has singlehandedly placed fear in every brunette in the Twin Cities area. He's a very twisted bloodthirsty yet highly intelligent professional man who makes these rules for killing individuals. Davenport plays the cynical yet smart and passionate detective who uses unorthodox but effective methods of tracking the killer.

Very heart pounding in your face thriller and quite a debut for Sandford. Davenport's character is very easy to dislike in this one because he demonstrates the thin line that separates him and the killer.

Sandford has given us a hero who is very flawed but he's being realistic in his approach. Face it, not every individual who hunts down bad guys is a highly moral self-righteous church goer who wants us all to get along. DAvenport is highly selfish and very much a womanizer. He is also smart, ruthless and tough. These attributes are necessary when going after a cold-blooded killer.

Rating:
Summary: good story compromised by average prose/characterizations
Review: 'Rules of Prey' is the first book of John Sandford's 'Prey' series, and its the first book of John Sandford I've read. Coming off of reading my first Dennis Lehane book, which was simply terrific, 'Rule of Prey' in comparison seemed ... amateurish. Oh, the story is fine. Serial killer, enigmatic police investigator, plenty of twists and turns. But Sandford's prose seems rather flat; it read like a script to a good TV crime program or film. And the leading protaganists seemed very formulaic. The likes of Lehane, (Patricia) Highsmith, and (Jim) Thompson have all done much better in dissecting the mind of psychopaths and delivering compelling stories. Having said all this 'Rules of Prey' is a fast and compulsive read.

Now back to the story, we have your psychotic monster who gets sexual pleasure by killing women. He knows he's psychotic. And he knows he's very intelligent. The local police department recruits supercop, who is naturally "a sex machine with all the chicks", to find this monster. As I mention above the story has bumps and turns. It also has a decent ending (no spoilers here).

Bottom line: certainly this territory has covered by better writers than Sandford. Still, 'Rules of Prey' is an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Good, page-turning thriller
Review: While the plot of this book seemed a bt formulaic and predictable, Sandford still manages to keep the reader hooked using some well-written characters and an interesting plot that keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next.

I don't normally read many thrillers, but I picked this up when I was starved for something to read, and I was not disappointed. This book is definitely worth reading, but be careful, because it's possible you will get hooked. After reading Rules of Prey, I continued reading the Prey series for another 10 or 11 books before I was finally able to wrestle myself away from them.

Rating:
Summary: Rules Of Prey-Breaks the Rules
Review: Lucas Davneport, the hero of the story, proves time and time again to be as cold-blooded and violent as any killer he encounters, and this book gives the perfect example of this. To see how humans really react when they take a life (assuming they are not psychopaths, which Davenport may well be), read Dennis Lehane's books such as A Drink Before the War, featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angie Somethingorother.
Aside from this little fact, this book was a very good read, filled with suspense and violence. If you're in to those things, you will probably like this very twisted novel.