Phantom Prey
by John Sandford
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Book Summary Information
Author: John SandfordEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-05-05
ISBN: 0425227987
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Berkley
Book Reviews of Phantom Prey
Book Review: Murder among the Goths
Summary: 4 Stars
The problem with a long-time series character is keeping him (or her) fresh. Certainly, over the course of eighteen or so Prey novels, the character of Lucas Davenport has had his bouts of staleness. As originally introduced in Rules of Prey, Davenport had a bit of an edge, with both his constant womanizing and his willingness to break the rules to solve a crime. In later novels, Davenport would become far more domesticated and less interesting; books with a tamer Davenport generally didn't stand out from the crowd of serial killer thrillers.
Happily, John Sandford's Phantom Prey shows elements of the old Davenport, whether he's ogling a woman he has under surveillance, flirting with another witness or looking the other way as a nasty criminal gets a little street justice while "resisting arrest". This darker Davenport is more appealing and redeems a story with a rather pedestrian plot.
In Phantom Prey, Davenport is asked to investigate the case of his wife's friend's daughter, who disappeared under mysterious and violent circumstances: the only trace of her is some blood. As a state cop, he's not really involved in the case, but he offers to at least give it a look. The missing young woman, Frances Austin, was spending time in the Goth community of Minneapolis, which may be linked to the murder. The link seems more obvious when a Goth girl known as Fairy starts killing people she has linked to Frances disappearance.
Other things are going on that are occupying Davenport's attention. A lesser sub-plot involves Davenport planning security for an upcoming Republican convention. More important is Davenport's effort to capture a notorious drug dealer, an effort that will entail keeping the dealer's wife under surveillance.
Many readers will have little trouble figuring out who Fairy is, and the key to her identity uses one of the more tired cliches of suspense fiction. It is to Sandford's credit that he seems to realize how contrived it is and reveals Fairy's identity by mid-book, not saving it for a big twist at the end. Overall, however, this is a decent book, one that should easily satisfy Sandford fans. It's not the best Davenport book, but even an okay one is good enough to be pretty entertaining.
Summary of Phantom Prey
A wealthy widow returns to her large home in an exclusive Minneapolis suburb to find blood everywhere, no body - and her student daughter missing. Instantly, she suspects the involvement of the weird Goth crowd her daughter had been hanging around with. With no sign of the widow's daughter, dead or alive, a second Goth is found slashed to death - but it's only when a third dead Goth turns up that Lucas Davenport gets involved. But the clues don't seem to add up. Then there's the young Goth who keeps appearing and disappearing. Who is she? Where does she come from and, more importantly, where does she vanish to? And why does Davenport get the sneaking suspicion that there is something else going on here - something very, very bad indeed?Literature & Fiction Books
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