Lucas Davenport #11

Easy Prey

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A Lucas Davenport thriller by internationally bestselling novelist John Sandford.

In life she was a high-profile model. In death Alie'e Maison is the focus of a media firestorm that's demanding action from Lucas Davenport and the Minneapolis Police. Especially as one of his own men is a suspect in her murder.

But when a series of bizarre, seemingly unrelated slayings rock the city, Davenport suspects a connection that runs deeper than anyone has imagined - one that leads to an ingenious killer more ruthless than anyone had feared.

480 pages, Paperback

First published April 1,2000

This edition

Format
480 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 2004 by Simon \u0026 Schuster
ISBN
9780743484183
ASIN
0743484185
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Lucas Davenport

    Lucas Davenport

    Tall and dark. A solidly-built man. Initially a detective on the Minneapolis police force. Later his title is Office of Special Investigations - he operates semi-independently. Even later he rises to Deputy Chief. He has a rep for violence. Later he is wi...

  • Weather Karkinnen

    Weather Karkinnen

    Lucas meets her in #5 in northern Wisconsin; shes a doctor in #26, Gabrielle is about 4 and Sam is in grade 3 and about 8. Plus theres their adopted daughter Let...

  • Del Capslock

    Del Capslock

    An agent with first the MPD, and then the BCA. His cousin is Stephanie Bekker. Wounded by gunrunners in Texas during one case. Close to Lucas. His wife is Cheryl, a nurse. In Easy Prey, entry #11, he works with Detective Lane. Later, detective...

  • Rose Marie Roux

    Rose Marie Roux

    Initially the Chief of Police in Minneapolis. Then Lucas boss at the BCA where she is Commissioner of Public Safety. Shes a very political leader but a nervous one. On and off smoker. Large woman. Married to a tall, balding lawyer.more...

  • Dick Milton (Easy Prey)

    Dick Milton (easy Prey)

    The media specialist at MPD. A former newspaper reporter....

  • Carl Knox

    Carl Knox

    He owns a road grading company. Knox Equipment....

About the author

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John Sandford was born John Roswell Camp on February 23, 1944, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the public schools in Cedar Rapids, graduating from Washington High School in 1962. He then spent four years at the University of Iowa, graduating with a bachelor's degree in American Studies in 1966. In 1966, he married Susan Lee Jones of Cedar Rapids, a fellow student at the University of Iowa. He was in the U.S. Army from 1966-68, worked as a reporter for the Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian from 1968-1970, and went back to the University of Iowa from 1970-1971, where he received a master's degree in journalism. He was a reporter for The Miami Herald from 1971-78, and then a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer-Press from 1978-1990; in 1980, he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and he won the Pulitzer in 1986 for a series of stories about a midwestern farm crisis. From 1990 to the present he has written thriller novels. He's also the author of two non-fiction books, one on plastic surgery and one on art. He is the principal financial backer of a major archeological project in the Jordan Valley of Israel, with a website at www.rehov.org In addition to archaeology, he is deeply interested in art (painting) and photography. He both hunts and fishes. He has two children, Roswell and Emily, and one grandson, Benjamin. His wife, Susan, died of metastasized breast cancer in May, 2007, and is greatly missed.

Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
30(30%)
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3 stars
39(39%)
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100 reviews All reviews
April 17,2025
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Damn I wish I had Davenport’s problem. The choice of three women to go to bed with!! But that’s just a slight diversion to main plot, a convoluted examination of the murder of two women at the one time. I am a great fan of Sandford but this is a mess of a story. People keep getting popped off regularly throughout the story. As usual the reader is introduced to the murderer in the early stages of the novel. He then disappears and by the time you reach the last page there has been that many murders that you are unsure who that character was at the beginning and if you are like me, you don’t really care.
This story did not have any real tension and for too long there was no narrowing down as to who the culprit was. I found it a real mess of a story.
One interesting aspect is when you have read many of the Prey series, to go back and observe Lucas Davenport in his younger and sexually active days. You appreciate how Sandford has developed Davenport’s character.
In this book Davenport meets up with Weather again and as the well read reader knows she ends up becoming his wife.
Not the best of the Prey series and unfortunately one of the weakest.
April 17,2025
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4.3 Stars. Another very good, well written "Prey" novel. I love these books & I haven't really read them in order like i probably should, but i dont think its hampered my enjoyment, you can just pick one at random and know its gonna be a fun read.
April 17,2025
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hmmmm. not one of the best, actually closer to my leastfavorite. appears our writer wad trying some new wrinkles and they were ehhhhhhh ok. but I cant skip a book and they are fast paced and generally entertaining. never really bought into the story and introducing the killer near the endwas anticlimatic overall. wwells
April 17,2025
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A supermodel is found strangled at a wild house party and her death is guaranteed to create a media frenzy. There are also two other factors complicating Lucas Davenport’s investigation. The first is that a another body is found in a closet at the house, and the second is that one of his cops, an undercover narcotics officer, was also at the party. Lucas will have to put a little overtime in on this one.

With a house full of drugged up fashion industry people there when the model was killed, Davenport has plenty of suspects to check out, and he has to keep the media beast fed with daily distractions and tidbits to avoid it turning its fearsome attention on the police department and consuming it whole. There are other diversions like needing to get a convicted murderer out of prison when his alleged victim shows up alive and well.

And then there are the women. Lucas has always been a bit of a man-ho, but he’s pushing his luck after he runs into an old flame with a shaky marriage as well as flirting with a beautiful ex-model. Then there’s his ex-fiancé who shows up and may be interested in reconciliation.

This is one of the more off-beat books in the Prey series. There’s a surprising amount of humor despite all the death with a running joke about Lucas refusing to turn on his cell phone and numerous funny exchanges between characters. There’s even a slightly shocking admission that occurs after an officer has been hurt when Lucas comments that he’d actually been having fun up until that point because a puzzling high profile murder with intense media and political pressure is his idea of a good time.

This is also one of the few Davenport thrillers where we don’t get much of the killer’s point of view. There are only a couple of interludes where Sandford gave us brief glimpses of what the killer was thinking, and even at the end after it’s been resolved we never get the usual shift to the villain’s outlook so they can explain themselves a bit.

It’s a fun read and enjoyable as a whodunit, but it doesn’t have the same momentum and drive that most of the Prey books did. It almost seems relaxed compared to the others. So while it’s another entertaining Davenport story, it’s far from the best of the series.

Next: Lucas chases an artistic serial killer in Chosen Prey.
April 17,2025
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While I would not rank this entry up with the best books in the series (too much relationship angst) it was still well worth listening to since Richard Ferrone did his usual stellar job with the narration.
April 17,2025
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This instalment in the Lucas Davenport series did not seem up to par as the others. The story started slowly and finally picked up the pace in the second half. There were too many false herrings and the perp managed to get away with quite a bit without getting caught quickly. Too much time was spent on Lucas contemplating three different relationships. Yet, I did stick with the story until the end since I did want resolution of the case.
April 17,2025
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I really like the Lucas Davenport series but this one was not good. The plot was just messy and then the killer was “who”????? Awful. This book was either rushed or not well thought out. And pleeeaaassseee! Lucas with three different women. It’s getting to the point where it’s just yuck. He’s not exactly a spring chicken anymore. Mr. Sandford, stop living vicariously through your character. Come on. There’s fiction and then there’s realistic fiction. Can we please get back to slightly realistic? I’m trying one more book and praying it’s better. I haven’t been disappointed until this one. I couldn’t wait for it to end.
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