Mind Prey
by John Sandford
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Book Reviews of Mind Prey
Book Review: Mind your keyboard and it's a great read too
Summary: 5 Stars
It's not necessary to read John Sandford's "Prey" series in order, but the books are so damn good and so well written it seems a pity NOT to give the author his due and admire the development of his many characters. The foremost of course is Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport, Porsche driving, game writing homicide detective. In Mind Prey, number 7 in the series, Davenport is up against a deeply twisted adversary: born a psychopath and created a sociopath, as Sandford points out. John Mail is also a fan of Davenport's games and after kidnapping a psychiatrist who used to treat him, along with her 2 children, he taunts Davenport with clues. The clues precipitate the involvement of one of Sandford's finer creations, Davenport's childhood friend Elle Kruger, a Catholic nun. Its good to see Elle again as she was only mentioned in the previous book. It was also refreshing to find Weather Karkinnen still alive and kicking and in Lucas's sights as wife material throughout this book.
"Mind Prey" is what i have come to expect from Sandford and the reason he is on my permanent order list. It is fast paced, well-plotted and quirky. All the Prey books to date have been definite 'unputdownable pageturners'. One of Sandford's quirks I particularly admire is his fascination, as given expression through Davenport, for technology. Lucas Davenport has made millions developing first role-playing games, then police simulations on computer, and now also has a company producing computer games. We also have a character called "Del Capslock", who was admittedly undercover for a long time. Cute hey! "Mind Prey" comes as highly recommended as all of Sandford's Prey series to date. I'm really enjoying slowly working through the series and the years. Definitely 5 stars all the way for the series so far.
Book Review: A solid thriller in the series
Summary: 5 Stars
Mind Prey is one of the better thrillers in the Prey Series. The plot is very simple. An obsessed pshycho kidnpaps his former therapist Andi Mannette and her two daughters and enslaves them and sexually abuses the mom. The abuse grows worse and worse and the three are sure to die unless Lucas Davenport can find them.
John Mail had ruthless parents that turned him into a pshycopath, although only a few paragraphs are spent on why Mail is who he is. Instead, we learn of his evil from the treatment of Andi Mannette. He is physically and sexually abusive yet Andi and her daughters manage to cope and struggle to find hope in their bleak situation.
In the Prey series, nothing comes easy for Lucas and his cops, and they spend hours and hours doing the routine police work that will hopefully turn up answers. Sandford as usual leaves no loose ends. Davenport noticed something irregular in a girl's apartment early in the novel and it doesn't come into play until the very end. While Mail is the kidnapper, Davenport investiages her father, husband and business partner as well. Could someone else be involved in the kidnapping? Lucas uses a brutal but effective method to find out.
Mind Prey is a fun book. Sandford borders on foolishness by giving the killers a personal tie to Davenport in some of his novels. In this one, Mail is a computer gamer who likes to match wits with Davenport. And I'm still not sure why Mail was giving clues to the police. Still, Sandford is nowhere near James Patterson when it comes to making the villian's motives a personal vendetta against the main character.
Another solid thriller in the series that is probably the best series out there.
Book Review: to ' not so open minded' reviewer at Barnes and Noble
Summary: 3 Stars
Lucas did a great job of handling scum like Mail. As for Lucas' black and white morality, I have no problems with it. At least Lucas stands for something. He gets the job done. He's a great cop. Good for him.
Its is bleeding hearts like yourself that cause the direction that America is headed into. And the defense lawyers and others that don't force people to be accountable for their actions that cause the problems in thsi country. Too much whining and complaining and griping about ebing abused as a chilkd is while someone is rapist or murderer. I say, just shoot the people like Mail. That will solve the problem.
In this latest Prey book, Lucas is racing against the clock to save a kindapped doctor, Andie Manette and her two daughters who have been stripped, humilated, and brutally assualted to satisfy the violent sexual fantasies of a former mental patient named John Mail.
To me, there were several villians here, the nasty and greedy ex husband, Tower and the psychiatrist, Wolfe, who kept from the police, two former patients who were sexual offenders. These two have betrayed Andie in the worst way possible bys etting her up to be killed and worse by Mail so they dissolve Andie's trust fund! And worse, what they did isn't considered illegal! Horrible1 and Lucas is called a little harsh? Please! The man did a great job on Wolfe, who squealed and whined about her rights being violated after she refused to let the police know about a former patient who is a sex offender. let her know what it feels like for once. Give her a taste of her own medicine.
Book Review: The best yet?
Summary: 5 Stars
We immediately know who the villain of this story is (in Winter Prey we had no idea), so the focus is on an intense series of police procedural moves--eventually reckless ones--in a desperate full court press to pin down the kidnapper. He really is a smart fellow, who glides invisibly around the police traps, much as his chapters slide past the cops'. One of the scariest things about Sandford's stories is how often the victims aren't doing anything stupid, just what you or I'd do, like picking up your kids after school. Unusually, there are three views of the crime in this story: the kidnapper's, Chief Davenport's, and, for once, the victims'--who aren't immediately killed off. Too, the story ranges all over the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, with lots of fresh air chases of the elusive madman. Sandford misses a rare trick by not pushing, after setting up, the babbling psychotherapist, Dr. Girdler, as another suspect in collusion with the kidnapper. Davenport's romantic entaglements are much subdued: he's finally gotten serious with one woman. The use of lucky coincidences, or intuitions on Davenport's part, is more obvious than usual, but powers the bombshell twists and revelations that mean it's awfully hard to put this story down before it's time to get up for work again. I don't usually read a series without taking a break for something different, but that's less the case with Sandford; glad I didn't discover him until he already had several books out: it's so hard waiting a year for the next.Book Review: Another reliable "Prey" novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Entertaining, fast-reading thriller with a little meat on its bones. I like the way Lucas Davenport is a conservative, tough-as-nails crime fighter ("What about the rights of the victim?" would be a perfectly believable Davenport quotation), yet counts as his very favorite people his sensitive nun friend Elle and his liberal girlfriend Weather. Makes for some good character interaction. "Mind Prey" combines the cat-and-mouse plot of a thriller where we know who the psychopath is from the outset, thus letting us get right to the chase, with the puzzle of a whodunit, as an unknown figure is influencing and manipulating the psycho from the shadows. And amid all the chasing and figuring out, Lucas has to decide whether or not to actually give Weather the engagement ring he's been carrying around in his pocket. In other words, lots of fun stuff going on. You really should start at the beginning of the Lucas Davenport series ("Rules of Prey"), but there wouldn't be any huge harm done if you sampled the series with this lightning-fast entry and then jump in at the beginning if you like it. Myself, I can't imagine someone being a crime thriller fan and not reading John Sandford's "Prey" series.