In the 10th installment of his popular Prey series, John Sandford (a.k.a. John Camp) pits his popular antihero, Lucas Davenport, against a pair of cunning killers unlike any he has encountered before.

Attorney Carmel Loan is preternaturally beautiful, intelligent, and ambitious. When she becomes infatuated with fellow barrister Hale Allen, she isn't going to let a little thing like his being married get in her way. A quick meeting with an ex-client sets up the hit on Hale's wife, Barbara. The professional killer, Clara Rinker, is one of the best in the business. Smart, attractive, with a gentle Southern drawl, no one would suspect her of being a top Mafia hit man... er, hit person. When she takes the Allen assignment, she figures it will be easy money for a day's work. But things go wrong from the beginning. Loan's ex-client made a tape of the meeting, and is shaking her down for money. Worse, the shooting of a witness--a cop--brings deputy inspector Lucas Davenport into the case. Somehow Davenport has not only linked Loan to the killing, but seems to have a lead on Rinker as well. Carmel and Clara team up to clean up the loose ends, which includes getting Davenport off their back by whatever means necessary.

Like all of Sandford's books, Certain Prey is a fast and furious ride. Fans of previous Prey books will find Davenport a little older, a little more wary, but no less sharp-witted and determined. Though parts of the plot may stretch the limits of credulity and the dialogue falls a little flat in places, this is still a wonderfully crafted thriller, possibly one of the best of 1999. Certain Prey cements Sandford's standing among such luminaries as James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block, and Thomas Harris. --Perry Atterberry

Lucas Davenport confronts an entirely new kind of adversary in this harrowing new "Prey" novel. Her name is Clara Rinker, an attractive, pleasant Southern woman--the best hitwoman in the business. But when she's hired for a job in Minnesota and a witness survives, that's when Davenport gets on her case--with no idea of the toll that it will take on him.

This entry in the Lucas Davenport series starts out great, with a professional hit-woman coming to town. And, for the first half of the book, the pro killer and the crazy lawyer who hired her make a good pair. By midway, the story has collapsed in on itself a bit, and becomes plodding. It tries, but never quite pulls itself out of the slump.

There aren't any real pieces of character development, in terms of the main characters, in this book, and that felt out of place. If the author had replaced Lucas and Co. with another set of generic characters, this one would have worked quite well as a stand-alone.

As a teenager, Clara Rinker ran away from home and an abusive stepfather. While working as a dancer in a strip club, Clara is raped but plots her vengeance and kills the man who assaulted her. This begins a long career for Clara as a hired killer. Carmel Loan is a successful defense attorney in Minneapolis, a woman who is used to getting what she wants. And she wants Hale Allen, but standing in her way is Allen's wife. Through a third-party, Carmel hires Clara to kill Allen's wife, at which point, Lucas Davenport steps into the picture. Before Clara can enjoy her new relationship with Allen, the liaison she used to contact Clara tries to blackmail Carmel, so Carmel hires Clara personally to take care of this matter. From this point, things begin to unravel, which requires Clara and Carmel to team up and commit more murders. All the while, Davenport and his crew are one step behind the two killers, with no evidence to tie either one to any of the murders.

This is the tenth book in the Prey series by John Sandford, which remains as fresh at this point as at the beginning. Lucas Davenport is an engaging character, an intelligent and intense investigator who enjoys his career chasing killers. Although there is no actual mystery to figure out here, which marks this as more of a thriller, the chase by Davenport and several strong secondary characters is fine-tuned and all the more enjoyable to follow.

On the surface, Carmel Loan and Clara Rinker couldn't be more different. Carmel is one of the best criminal defense lawyers in Minneapolis - as a result she has the fancy apartment, nice clothes, high profile car - she seems to have it all. Meanwhile, Clara left home when she was in her early teens because her stepfather was molesting her and became a stripper. One night after the bar closed, a drunken patron raped her in the parking lot - she arranged help from the owners of the bar for her revenge and ended up killing him. From this stemmed her career as an assassin - and one of the best in the country. She also makes a lot of money, but doesn't dare to live such a high-profile life, because to all appearances she only owns a bar in Wichita, KS while she attends school. Nonetheless, they have one thing in common - they are very good at arranging murder.

Carmel saw one thing she wanted that she could not have - another lawyer at her firm called Allen Hale. The problem was, he was married. So she contacted one of her clients, who put her in touch with Clara to arrange the murder of Barbara Hale. Clara is a professional and things almost go perfectly - except the client to whom Carmel went for this information videotaped her, and is now blackmailing her. So, she and Clara need to clean up. As each cleaning up leads to additional complications, the bodies begin to pile up and Lucas Davenport begins to smell a rat.

Intricately plotted, this is a terrifically fun book in many ways. While Carmel is a not-very-nice person (she is a lawyer, after all), you can't help but almost like Clara. After all, she bears no malice - it is just a job to her. Many misdirects and close calls leave Lucas and co. flustered as they just keep "missing by inches" when it comes to catching up with Clara.

This is one of my favorite books in the series, mostly because of the introduction of Clara. I wish things had turned out differently for her (she shows up on a subsequent book) and she had turned into a returning character, but no such luck. At any rate, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the "Prey" series, a good thriller and/or a book with interesting anti-heroes.

I'm a big fan of John Sandford's PREY novels, and have read most of the books in the series. But this tenth entry, CERTAIN PREY, is in my opinion one of the weakest entries.

As a reader, I don't expect thrillers to be completely realistic. But in CERTAIN PREY, Sandford chooses to do away with reality completely, and creates a silly storyline involving two female killers. Neither killer is even remotely believable, and both border on cartoonish in their behavior. Over and over again, I found myself rolling my eyes at much of this book's over-the-top plot and characterization.

Even worse, CERTAIN PREY doesn't really have a lot of suspense. The reader always knows whats going on, and who the killers are, so very little is revealed as the plot progresses. For the most part, this novel left me bored and indifferent.

I realize many fans like CERTAIN PREY, but I personally believe that RULES OF PREY and WINTER PREY are far superior to this misfire. If you've never tried Sandford, my suggestion is to read these two books first.

Sandford has done it again. Time and time again I pick up the next Prey novel starring Lucas Davenport and wonder, is this going to be a recycled plot line with different villain names? You would think that after a dozen books we would be running out of criminal types and motivations. However, while some of the Prey books have some similarities, "Certain Prey" is cleverly original.

Enter a lawyer and her hired hit-woman. As they work together to tie up a few loose ends they become a smooth operating killing machine. Davenport has crafted one of my favorite killers so far in "Certain Prey." Rinker is definitely fun to read about and watch in action. This story is one that is hard to put down; needless to say, I stayed up a little to late to finish this book.

Highly recommended for all Sandford/Davenport fans. "Certain Prey" will not disappoint you. This would make a good stand alone book for those readers who have not read the countless Prey books that lead up to this one; but, greater appreciation will come for those who have read them all in order.