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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

A good read, but not great. Still recommended.

I wasn't too keen on this book. It kind of dragged on and on. This story started with 2 murders and ended with half a dozen dead. Lucas Davenport has a keen sense for justice but this story was not interesting to me.

Partially read / partially a DNF lol

This Book had a lot ups and downs. But once you get into it you want to get to the end and figure out who killed the main character. You do have to back re read some of again to make sure understand where they are in the case. There is also a lot of interesting twist and turns throughout the book.
I also liked how this book is set in the 1900s early 2000s with some of the technology.

2⭐️

I first read this book when it was first published about 20 years ago. I don’t remember this book at all. This second time around seemed to take me forever to finish, a book I typically finish in a couple of days. It wasn’t exciting—it just plodded along with a little action here and there. The ending was such a let down, not only because it was so anticlimactic, but also because of the absurdity of it. In the end, I could have easily skipped this one. I know that sometimes police procedurals/murder mysteries can often get bogged down. Lucas Davenport books rarely do, yet this offering lacked excitement-it was a big snooze fest for me surprisingly. I had also forgotten that in these earlier books, Lucas was a total man whore in thought and actions.

In this book there were some titillating and taboo sexual escapades between several characters in the book. Throw in drugs, religious zealots and multiple murders, and I guess Sanford thought those aspects of the story would translate into an excellent read; unfortunately, they did not. They made the book rather sleazy. Certainly not up to Sandford’s usual standards.

Book 10 was a big hit for me and a joy to re-read. I wish I had decided to read something more rewarding. Nonetheless, I will continue to re-read the series an await the upcoming Book 30.