With Naked Prey, John Sandford proved again that his writing is as fresh and compulsively readable as ever. "This is vintage Sandford, which is to say all but impossible to put down," said The Washington Post. "Sprawling, suspenseful, tough-minded [and] sheer fun."

Six months ago, Lucas Davenport tackled his first case as a statewide troubleshooter, and he thought that one was plenty strange enough. But that was before the Russian got killed. On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Vladimir Orslov is found shot dead, three holes in his head and heart, and though nobody knows why, everybody-the local cops, the FBI, and the Russians themselves-has a theory. And when it turns out he had very high government connections, that's when it hits the fan.

A Russian cop flies in from Moscow, Davenport flies in from Minneapolis, law enforcement and press types swarm the crime scene-and, in the middle of it all, there is another murder. Is there a relationship between the two? What is the Russian cop hiding from Davenport? Is she-yes, it's a woman-a cop at all? Why was the man shot with . . . fifty-year-old bullets? Before he can find the answers, Davenport will have to follow a trail back to another place, another time, and battle the shadows he discovers there-shadows that turn out to be both very real and very deadly.

One would think that after so many Prey books, that they would decline as so many series do. (Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series comes to mind) Even though Lucas is no longer the playboy, and is now a married man with children, the series still remains fresh. This one differs somewhat in that we know who the killer is. It is a matter of Lucas figuring it out.

Lucas Davenport is back in the "Prey" series.

Instead of a book focused on Davenport, they elelemnt of the Prey series is quite ploy centered. Meaning in my mind you don't have to be that familiar with the previous character development in the series. "Hidden Prey" very much can stand alone without the rest of the series.

The plot starts with a Russian found dead in a Minnesota port. Three holes in his head and heart. Due to the connections of the victim, this becomes at least a low level international incident, and a Russian cop (or is it an intelligence agent?) come in from Moscow to conduct her own investigation.

The other oddity is that the murder weapon appears to be a fifty year old gun and evidence is pointing to a very deep sleeper cell of Communists and their 90 year old leader.

I found the plot of the book fascinating and it kept me enthralled to the end.

When a Russian worker on a grain ship is killed near Duluth, at first it seems random. However, soon it comes out that the man is not who he appears to be - he is the son of one of the New Russian wealthy class, an oil tycoon, and his father wants to know why he was killed, and why he was presenting himself under an assumed name (not to mention carrying several other sets of identification with him). Accordingly a Russian will be coming over to assist and oversee the investigation. The governor sends in Lucas Davenport to to find out what is going on.

Lucas, working with Nadya (the Russian agent) and local police officer Jerry Reasons (and Lucas' own undercover assistant Micky Andreno, who is called up from St. Louis), soon realizes that there is a lot more to this whole situation than meets the eye, but it seems that the more they pry into things, the more people are being threatened, and the more people are being killed. Can he discover the answer in time?

I really enjoyed this entry in the series - to see this country from the eyes of Nadya ("everywhere there are signs - why do you have so many signs?" and "everything is work work work money money money - in every other country people enjoy sitting, drinking, dancing") alone was worth reading the book. Sandford did a wonderful job portraying her and I wonder how he did the research to create this character, because she feels VERY real. Although we know more than the investigators do, we don't know everything and the intrigue and tension stays high throughout the course of the book, keeping the reader glued to the pages throughout.

Definitely a must-read recommendation from me!

Lucas Davenport continues his employment for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension working for his long time employer Rose Marie. The Governor is concerned about a Russian man that was found dead near Duluth that is discovered was a Russian spy. Lucas is sent to assist the local police with the investigation to ensure that there will be no political fallout that will cause problems for the Governor. But before the investigation really gets started, the body count begins to add up and Lucas and friends realize that this investigation is going to be more complicated than they originally realized. Lucas finds himself in the middle of learning about Soviet spy rings as well as family dynamics in a local small town. He must connect all the dots before more people die.

The Prey series has disappointed me for a while, but this one was a huge letdown. It wasn't so much that it was bad as that it just wasn't good. The plot was somewhat random and hard to follow at times. There really was not any suspense as the killers are revealed from the start and we just watch to see if Lucas will figure them out. And the killers' motive is never adequately explained which makes it difficult to get interested in what is going on. The end could not be more anticlimactic. Overall it is just a boring book. The pages do not turn. And Lucas' relationship with his family and wife, Weather, have taken such a backseat that it doesn't even have that as a redeeming quality. A big disappointment from what this series once was.

Another great book by John Sandford. The plot involves a Soviet spy ring withering on the vine at the end of the Cold War coming back to life to protect itself. Lucas Davenport with the help of a Russian intellignce operative, Major Nadezha Kalin (Nadya), takes us thru twists and turns as they slowly piece together the puzzle. One thing I liked about this book is that not every loose end is neatly tied up at the end resembling the true reality of crimes. Maybe they got 90%, but they still were pondering a couple of things. I liked it - a good read!