Extreme Prey (A Prey Novel) by John Sandford (Epub)

Description

After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation—no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend the governor is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun!” he says, and it kind of is—until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor…and anyone who gets in the way.

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Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I have read all of the Prey series. Initially I was drawn to the books by their setting, mostly in the Twin Cities, where I grew up, studied and worked until I moved away for job-related reasons. Besides the plots (specially Eyes of Prey), the books kept me connected to my past.Extreme Prey is the most recent and the last one I will read in the series. Sandford has exploited a formula that has ceased for me to capture my attention. Generally it was the psychological examination of the characters, particularly Lucas Davenport, and the parallel-action style (the reader knows what is happening and going through the mind of both Davenport and his prey) that appealed to me. This is still true of Extreme Prey. However, now everything seems trite and repetitive: descriptions of Davenport’s clothing’s designer (who cares?), the numerous iterations of how he punches numbers on his smart phone (wouldn’t “He called” do?), the extraneous details that add nothing to the plot-, the overabundance of details about Lucas’ cars, as if we needed to be impressed with his good taste and affluence–I’ve had enough. The ending of Extreme Prey seems forced, an overview of details necessary to tie all loose ends, but narrated in a superficial, matter-of-fact fashion, immaturely for a writer of his experience and ability.That gathering at the lake cabin: what did that have to do with anything? Weather gets a mention, the rest of the family vanishes except for a mention of Letty and her hot-clad girlfriends.It has been a great ride, following Lucas’ evolution throughout the series, being astonished at the fascinating characters–particularly the evil ones–and reminiscing about my dear Twin Cites whenever the action took place there. Now it’s time to say good-bye and stop waiting for the next tome to come out in April each year.

⭐ Good read. Lucas Davenport is “between jobs”, having left the Minnesota BCI in the last book because of a pain in the ass political boss who didn’t appreciate Lucas’ tactics. The governor of Minnesota (Elmer Henderson) is running for President but really wants to be VP on the Democrat ticket. He asks Lucas to look into possible threats against the other leading Democratic presidential candidate (Mike Bowden) who is more likely to be the party winner and who the governor would like to serve under as VP. Bowden has a cabinet position in the Obama administration (hah, unstated but assumed) and is described as less a “far lefty” than Henderson is. Davenport finds operating an investigation without a badge has major disadvantages, but also a few advantages. In the end, he cracks the plot, it fails and Bowden is unharmed…buts lots of other people are killed or wounded. For his good work, Davenport is offered a new job as a US Marshal. The story ends with him yet undecided about that, but you can guess he will take it. Lots of action in this book makes it a fun and enjoyable read. Another great Prey novel for Sandford to add to his collection!

⭐ Author John Sandford and the lead character in his PREY novels, Lucas Davenport, have made some big moves lately. Sandford has moved to New Mexico, and Lucas has quit his job working for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.But Lucas is back in the saddle when governor Elmer Henderson, who is running for president in the Iowa caucuses, asks for his help. Seems like these two weirdos have been hounding him to move to the center so leading democratic candidate Michaela “Mike” Bowden (think Hillary) doesn’t win the democratic nomination for president.Sandford likes to show you who we’re dealing with and why they are the way they are. So he introduces us to Marlys and Clay Purdy early on. She’s an old sixties radical and he’s done time in the Middle East with the National Guard and is suffering from some form of PTS.Henderson has a hunch these two are planning some kind of dangerous scheme. He doesn’t have a name, but he has a description for Lucas; she has white curly hair and he has gray eyes. Lucas still has connections in the BCA, and he compiles a list of possible radical organizations who might have a gripe against Bowden. Then, as usual in a PREY novel, people start dropping like flies.Sandford also has another motive. Lucas needs a badge. He’s having trouble enough getting the head of the Iowa state cops to give him some support. It takes a tongue-lashing by the Iowa governor to get the jealous director to give him four state cops to help him track these people down. Bowden isn’t helping either; she insists on doing a “walk through” during the Iowa State Fair, the worst possible place to provide security, with thousands of people milling about.This is an instructive book for beginning writers. If your character is tied up in a chair waiting for the axe to drop, you can’t have him/her reach into a desk drawer and find a knife. That’s too convenient. You need to plant that knife earlier in the story. Lucas does track down the Purdys, but they’re gone by the time he finds their farm. There’s a workshop in the hayloft, and Lucas finds several bolts; he can’t quite make the connection, but he does in the nick of time. The dummy should’ve known what they were for, but he was concentrating on snipers. There’s evidence Clay is a crack shot.Sandford does accomplish his goal because Lucas always gets his man (sometimes woman), at least ninety-nine percent of the time. At the end of the novel, somebody owes him one (I think you can guess who that might be) and that something turns out to be a job.

⭐ If there is a Prey book that I’ve missed reading over the years, I can’t think which one it would be. Some of them have been better than others but I like the way John Sanderson writes and have enjoyed them all. This one was no different. But the setting and the crime Lucas Davenport was chasing was different and was sort of adjusted to the times in which we find ourselves living. Others have given a good synopsis so I won’t do that, just tell Davenport fans what they would like to know. The book is fast paced and has Lucas driving from end of Iowa to the other and even as fast as he usually drives I found myself almost worn out keeping up with his pace. In some ways the book was predictable for those who have read most of the Prey books in that you think Lucas is always going to come out on top. As usual, he was leaving no stone unturned to protect those people he needed to protect. And there were twists and sideways moves enough to keep me wondering until the last if maybe this was one time he wasn’t going to make it in time. It was touch and go and Sanderson knows how to write a thriller.

⭐ Michaela “Mike” Bowden is running for president as her campaign heads for Iowa and its State Fair. She’s a woman, a liberal, ex-Secretary of State, (sound familiar?) and is hated by conservative folks who have banded together in a group called the Progressive Peoples Party of Iowa (PPPI). Marlys Purdy, an Iowa citizen in her sixties, is a member of PPPI and hates the idea of Bowden becoming president. Purdy’s son, Cole, is an Iraq veteran and has the same views of Bowden as his mom. Cole was wounded in Iraq and hasn’t fully recovered from his experience; he’s an expert marksman with a huge personal armory and is familiar with explosives such as C4. Both Marlys and Cole have some evil plans to throw a serious monkey wrench into Bowden’s campaign. Entering this mix is Lucas Davenport, the protagonist of author John Sandford’s previous twenty-five novels where the second word in all their titles is Prey. Lucas is an ex-cop in Minnesota and has been requested by his governor to get involved in the security aspects of Bowden’s campaign. Davenport reminds me of two similar guys: Sheriff Walt Longmire (of Craig Johnson novels) and former Sheriff Cork O’Connor (in William Kent Krueger’s books). This is not a bad thing but Davenport doesn’t seem to have any unique or memorable talents. Marlys and Cole Purdy move under the radar of security officials as Bowden’s campaign heads relentlessly towards the State Fair ignoring the warning signs. You get the feeling that the story will end well but the big surprise is how it ends.

⭐ This was one of the more engaging Lucas Davenport books I’ve read in a while. Lucas is adrift, no longer a cop. But he gets back into the game when he’s asked to help track down the source of threatening e-mails a presidential candidate has receivedSandford continues to write short scenes that could be combined into a longer one. But in Chapter 3 he does just the opposite, writing scenes that should be broken into shorter scenes because he changes the POV within them.He also brings two of his other main characters – Kidd and LuEllen – in but calls her ‘Lauren’ here. Did I miss something somewhere? Is this a new character? Or did Sandford change her name. Or is it an error on publisher Simon & Schuster’s part?The conclusion was a bit off the mark. The bad guys are thwarted but Davenport doesn’t do it. While such an ending is very real-world, readers like their main characters to carry the day. And the wrap-up goes on a little too long before Sandford delivers the set-up for the next book.Still, overall, this is one of the more consistently good series on the market, so the next book in it is on my ‘To Read’ list.

⭐ When Lucas Davenport is involved, the action always gets going quickly and the pace is sustained all the way to the end. this novel is no exception. Like all the Prey novels, this one picked up speed quickly and sustained the momentum all the way to the end. Investigating the potential of a threat to a presidential candidate, Davenport has to sort through the members of a radical anti-government movement to see whether or not the candidate really has anything to fear. As usual, this novel has its share of twists and turns and quirky characters, and proves to be a good, fast-paced read.

⭐ Extreme Prey picked up the pace after longer than I generally overlook but became fast paced and well crafted to its riveting end. In the slow start up, Lucas Davenport fails to “get”, even after a glaring incident, how his potential witnesses may scurry about providing cover for others or how meeting with them puts them in possibly mortal danger. He doesn’t surveil or request surveillance after interviewing and therefor misses critical clues. Lucas appeared rusty in that and other ways, not the clever and incisive investigator we’ve come to know in earlier Sanford novels. Character development is superb, as usual. All in all, Sandford explores and exposes a group and area culture he likely has not experienced to pull a dark, clandestine group into the sunlight. Lucas Davenport has returned, to be cast in yet another high level investigative position … or not. For that we will have to wait.

⭐ While reading this I kept mumbling, “Oh, my god…is John Sanford a great writer or what?” His research is amazing, his words are even better, his situations shock me and I’m so envious because I can never come up with stuff this good. I realize he’s got ‘people’ who do his research, but his writing never fails to amaze. He makes me cringe. He makes me giggle. He causes me to even tear up on occasion. I love Davenport, but I have to admit my very favorite of his characters is Virgil (don’t make me say it) Flowers. Virgil makes a very brief appearance in this book, as does another character he’s written about, Kidd, but this one is all about Davenport, the very first character of his I ever read about. Davenport goes all out (as per usual) to find out who is trying to kill a political candidate – it’s a thread he has to turn into a rope and then a big ol’ pipeline to discover who is behind this. It’s current, it’s electrifying and it’s excellent. I review a lot of items on Amazon, and I very seldom give 5’s, because I just think people should have something to strive for. This gets a 5, but I hope Sanford will continue to make great steps forward. Thank you for the journey, J.S.!

⭐ Let me say up front I love John Sandford- he is my favorite author- I have read every one of his Prey books and almost everything else he has written. I felt this book was not up to his usual suspense. I almost always read his books in less than 3 days and while I did this one also I just didn’t feel it was as good as some he has done. His characters were ok and you definitely felt you knew them by the end of the book but they were lacking- exactly what I am not sure, but lacking. I hope his next book will be back to his usual and while I am not giving this book as much as I would like to be able to its still worth reading. If your a John Sandford fan you will like this and of course Lucas Davenport is his usual self. Sorry John, I didn’t feel this one was as good as many in the past.

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