John Sandford is back with his dapper, dangerous Minneapolis deputy police chief Lucas Davenport for a ninth "preyer" meeting. Fans of the series will be glad to hear that it's full of smart suspense and deduction as well as explosive action. Davenport and his fellow cops are still recovering from the deadly revenge scheme that maimed them in Sudden Prey, which seems to have ended the relationship between Lucas and his doctor lady friend. This accounts for the depression that dogs him as he is sent to investigate the killing of top banking executive Daniel Kresge in a hunting lodge north of Minneapolis. Any of Kresge's four fellow hunters--all employees at his Polaris Bank--could have shot him, and all had motives, as did his almost ex-wife. About halfway through the book we find out who the real killer is, just a few pages before Lucas does, and that villain is a masterful creation, an example of the banality of evil worthy of Hannah Arendt. This is where Sandford's beautifully honed skills at creating suspense really kick in: he keeps us fascinated as Davenport, revitalized by an affair with a jaunty colleague, tries to turn what we all know into hard evidence. --Dick Adler

A wealthy banker is shot dead during a hunting trip. Many people wanted him killed-but even Lucas Davenport can't fathom the real reason why.

The first half of this book drags and drags. Between being caught up in the previous book in the series and the dull Wilson McDonald angle, this one didn't pick up until after the halfway point. When it finally did get going, it was a great ride to the end.

We start with a cast of bank executives on a hunting trip, and soon the president of the bank is dead. The possiblities range from those on the trip to just about anyone else. Soon the bodies pile up and the mystery goes on. A real page turner!

I'm a fan of John Sandford's PREY series, although I feel some entries are far better than others. Although many people seem to consider SECRET PREY a major comeback for the series, I found it a disappointment.

This is the ninth book in the series, and Lucas Davenport is pretty much invulnerable at this point, more like a superhero than an actual human being. In SECRET PREY, there's not a single scene where I felt like he was in any real danger. Most of the supporting and new characters are pretty much underdeveloped caricatures, not worth caring for. As a result, the suspense factor in this book is low.

This book begins with an interesting mystery, but Sandford reveals the identity of the perpetrator about mid-way through, and we're back in serial killer territory again. Sandford has tread this territory many times before, and I found little fresh about this particular go-around. The dialogue is snappy as always, but it doesn't have much story to back it up.

The only aspect of SECRET PREY I truly enjoyed was Davenport's new girlfriend, who is infinitely more interesting than his doctor fiancee. Other than that, this is a pretty by-the-numbers effort by Sanford, not nearly as good as RULES OF PREY, EYES OF PREY, or WITNER PREY. My advice is to start with those if you haven't read them.

In SECRET PREY, a bank executive is murdered while deer hunting, and Lucas Davenport must sort through a myriad of suspects and motives to find out who the twisted killer actually is. I've read all but a three of the "Prey" books, and they all have one thing in common. THEY ARE AWESOME. Don't get me wrong, they aren't perfect. I think there is too much bad language, for one, and, well that's about it. I read a few out of order then started reading the series in order.

Daniel S. Kresge is the CEO of Polaris Bank. Polaris is about to merge with another bank and this merger will cause some people to make a lot of money, and others to lose their jobs. Kresge is shot while hunting and no murder weapon or witnesses are found. Was it a hunting accident or did one of the four people with him kill him. There is Susan O'Dell, a smart women who in her past had an affair with an unamed artist (Sandford's Kidd, I believe). Wilson McDonald has family ties that date back to Polaris for 100 years. He is also a drunk and beats his wife. Robles is a computer geek that let it be known on an internet chat room that it would help him if Kresge died. James Bone, an ivy leaguer, smart, a friend of Davenport, could be next in line now that Kresge is dead. These four all have friends and acquaintences with various hidden agendas. As you can see, the character list is extensive, and at times hard to keep track of. But, don't worry, at the center of it all is Lucas Davenport.

Lucas is still trying to hold it together after his fiance Weather left him. She left him because she was still traumatizes over Lucas ordering a sniper to kill a bad guy whose head exploded only inches away from hers. Lucas is good in this novel, as his cast of friends, Del, Sloan, and Marci. I enjoyed the humor and the interaction between Lucas and his friends. Aside from a few moments, Lucas and co. never seemed in danger.

Aside from changing Lucas from book to book, the hard part in the series is creating new and interesting villians. Stanford's strength and what makes him stand out is the equal point of view time he gives to his villians and suspects. We feel like we know them, and that makes the chase that much more exciting. In SECRET PREY, Stanford once again creates a unique villian and reveals them in an original manner.

Readers considering Stanford will love this book, but I recommend you start at the first, Rules of Prey. It is just as good as all the rest. Also, give his Kidd series a shot. They're a lot of fun as well.

The question of how far a person would go to gain power and prestige, especially when that person came from a background of abuse, is answered in this terrific continuation of the "Prey" series by John Sanford, featuring the ever-resourceful Lucas Davenport. When an apparent hunting accident turns into a murder investigation, things begin to heat up as an anonymous tipster points out a pattern of past "accidents" leading straight to a suspect. When that suspect is, himself, killed, the case should be closed. However, someone seems to still be out to get Lucas - Weather's house is firebombed, and his long-time friend Sister Mary Joseph (Elle Kruger) is attacked and brutally beaten. Can Lucas discover who the culprit is in time?

The start is a little slow and, unlike many of the earlier books in this series, we do not know who the culprit is until well into the book - leaving us as much in the dark as the investigators, which quite adds to the suspense. By about half-way through the book, the tension is mounting and the death toll is climbing and it becomes quite difficult to put the book down. I am a fan of this whole series of books and can recommend them all. This is a great piece in the whole puzzle that is the story of Lucas Davenport.