David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "prey-series"
Field of Prey
John Sanford’s PREY novels are different from other mystery thriller/suspense vehicles in that we usually know who the culprits are from the beginning. This one starts with an abduction of a woman who gets away.
Heather Jorgenson is kidnapped by two dirtballs, one of whom throws her in the back seat of his pickup. She’s tied up in a mail sack, but she’s got a knife, and she works herself free, reaches up and stabs a man named Horn in the neck several times. She doesn’t know he has a partner, but she gets away by running through a cornfield, then finds a place to call the cops.
This begins one of the subplots. What the heck is going on with Horn, who should, by all rights, be dead? We’re shortly introduced to a football player and his girlfriend who discover the dumping ground for over twenty victims. It’s an old cistern, referred to from then on as The Black Hole.
People from Minnesota will recognize the place names: Zumbrota, Red Wing, and Holbein, two small towns and a small city near the Wisconsin border. Red Wing is infamous as home to a reform school. As young people there weren’t many boys who weren’t threatened with being sent to Red Wing if they misbehaved. When Lucas Davenport is called to the scene he must contend with the Wisconsin state police who lay claim to some of the bodies, and a Goodhue County detective named Caitrin Mattson who has a very big chip on her shoulder. Also, for some reason Lucas takes his adopted daughter, Lettie, along. She’s been showing more than a little interest in her dad’s profession, and she’s already good at it. Weather, Lucas’s wife, puts a stop to that when she asks to go again later on.
Del, Lucas’s number one partner, is involved in a gun running/drug case involving some senior citizens and Virgil Flowers is on vacation, then must deal with another case in Iowa. There’s some funny interplay between that “effing” Flowers and Davenport when he learns Virgil knows Caitrin. She’s a very good looking woman. Former lech Davenport is tempted, but he’s happily married to Weather.
It’s not long before, the second string killer, R.A., targets Caitrin as his next victim, and that’s where most of the suspense lies. R.A. looks like a lump of clay, but like the senior citizens, he’s more imposing than he looks. He also seems to be getting help from Horn, who should be dead.
Davenport does not have the lead in this case. That job went to the more careful Bob Shaffer, who keep a murder book that he carries with him every place he goes; he also has a smaller notebook. Both will become instrumental later on in the story.
This is one of the better PREY novles, but Lucas drops the ball upon occasion. A little girl identifies a man who may be one of the killers as her mailman. He was sorting mail at the time, so it couldn’t be him. It takes forever and a day for Lucas to show the picture to the locals. Lucas also keeps a file of dirtballs who might know the kind of psycho who would do this sort of thing. He actually has the name of the killer before he’s distracted by Del’s case in Texas and doesn’t follow through. Doesn’t sound like Lucas Davenport.
The climax scene is riveting; usually I’m not to worried when it’s Lucas who’s in a fight for his life, because Sandford isn’t going to sacrifice his bread and brother for a twist, but in this one it’s somebody else who has us really worried.
Long time fans of the PREY series will welcome the return of Elle, Lucas’s childhood friend, now a nun and a psychologist. She helps Heather Jorgenson remember more of what happened the night she was kidnapped.
Heather Jorgenson is kidnapped by two dirtballs, one of whom throws her in the back seat of his pickup. She’s tied up in a mail sack, but she’s got a knife, and she works herself free, reaches up and stabs a man named Horn in the neck several times. She doesn’t know he has a partner, but she gets away by running through a cornfield, then finds a place to call the cops.
This begins one of the subplots. What the heck is going on with Horn, who should, by all rights, be dead? We’re shortly introduced to a football player and his girlfriend who discover the dumping ground for over twenty victims. It’s an old cistern, referred to from then on as The Black Hole.
People from Minnesota will recognize the place names: Zumbrota, Red Wing, and Holbein, two small towns and a small city near the Wisconsin border. Red Wing is infamous as home to a reform school. As young people there weren’t many boys who weren’t threatened with being sent to Red Wing if they misbehaved. When Lucas Davenport is called to the scene he must contend with the Wisconsin state police who lay claim to some of the bodies, and a Goodhue County detective named Caitrin Mattson who has a very big chip on her shoulder. Also, for some reason Lucas takes his adopted daughter, Lettie, along. She’s been showing more than a little interest in her dad’s profession, and she’s already good at it. Weather, Lucas’s wife, puts a stop to that when she asks to go again later on.
Del, Lucas’s number one partner, is involved in a gun running/drug case involving some senior citizens and Virgil Flowers is on vacation, then must deal with another case in Iowa. There’s some funny interplay between that “effing” Flowers and Davenport when he learns Virgil knows Caitrin. She’s a very good looking woman. Former lech Davenport is tempted, but he’s happily married to Weather.
It’s not long before, the second string killer, R.A., targets Caitrin as his next victim, and that’s where most of the suspense lies. R.A. looks like a lump of clay, but like the senior citizens, he’s more imposing than he looks. He also seems to be getting help from Horn, who should be dead.
Davenport does not have the lead in this case. That job went to the more careful Bob Shaffer, who keep a murder book that he carries with him every place he goes; he also has a smaller notebook. Both will become instrumental later on in the story.
This is one of the better PREY novles, but Lucas drops the ball upon occasion. A little girl identifies a man who may be one of the killers as her mailman. He was sorting mail at the time, so it couldn’t be him. It takes forever and a day for Lucas to show the picture to the locals. Lucas also keeps a file of dirtballs who might know the kind of psycho who would do this sort of thing. He actually has the name of the killer before he’s distracted by Del’s case in Texas and doesn’t follow through. Doesn’t sound like Lucas Davenport.
The climax scene is riveting; usually I’m not to worried when it’s Lucas who’s in a fight for his life, because Sandford isn’t going to sacrifice his bread and brother for a twist, but in this one it’s somebody else who has us really worried.
Long time fans of the PREY series will welcome the return of Elle, Lucas’s childhood friend, now a nun and a psychologist. She helps Heather Jorgenson remember more of what happened the night she was kidnapped.
Gathering Prey
John Camp recently moved to New Mexico. As a result we can expect to see some drastic changes regarding Lucas Davenport and THE PREY series, but not quite yet.
One of the original complaints about the series was the high body count involved. Would a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent with that much blood on his hands be tolerated? Lately Lucas has been standing on his head, trying to avoid killing too many of the miscreants he deals with. Not in this one, and there's a reason for that which I'll get to later.
One of the recent developments in the series has been the addition of Letty, Lucas's adopted daughter, as a major character. She's a lot like Lucas and would like to be involved in law enforcement in some capacity. In this case, she meets a young girl, named Skye who is a Traveler. An old time word for her might be drifter. She and her friend Henry move from place to place doing odd jobs, singing on the streets and begging, then moving on to the next place. Originally I thought the synopsis meant Lucas was involved with the Irish Travellers, a group of Irish conmen and women, who ascend on unsuspecting homeowners in the North during the spring, offering to do roofing jobs and other home improvement jobs, such as sealing the driveway. But if you pay them, beforehand, they disappear. Skye and Henry would be more the drifter type.
The villain of this episode is a Charles Manson type named Pilate, who likes to hurt people. Pilate lures Henry into the group by promising him an acting job. Skye warns him that Pilate is evil, but he won't listen. What happens to Henry and ultimately Skye, brings Lucas into the picture. Here's another unfamiliar group for you, the Juggalos. Think the Grateful Dead. The Juggalos dress up in clown make-up and costumes, listen to music, take drugs, and bascially party. Lucas and Letty follow Skye to Wisconsin and ultimatley to the Upper Penisula in Michigan, first to save Skye (and Lettie), then (for Lucas) to deal with Pilate's violent cult.
Now for the ending. The new director of the BCA is a weasel named Henry Sands. He's upset about the body count and he wants Lucas gone. He's called a meeting to discuss this, but Lucas has already told him to stick it where the sun don't shine. As a result, I would expect the next Prey novel may be set in someplace like New Mexcio. I realize Tony Hillerman has already done that, but there's nothing that says Lucas (and Letty?) have to work for the state cops.
One of the original complaints about the series was the high body count involved. Would a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent with that much blood on his hands be tolerated? Lately Lucas has been standing on his head, trying to avoid killing too many of the miscreants he deals with. Not in this one, and there's a reason for that which I'll get to later.
One of the recent developments in the series has been the addition of Letty, Lucas's adopted daughter, as a major character. She's a lot like Lucas and would like to be involved in law enforcement in some capacity. In this case, she meets a young girl, named Skye who is a Traveler. An old time word for her might be drifter. She and her friend Henry move from place to place doing odd jobs, singing on the streets and begging, then moving on to the next place. Originally I thought the synopsis meant Lucas was involved with the Irish Travellers, a group of Irish conmen and women, who ascend on unsuspecting homeowners in the North during the spring, offering to do roofing jobs and other home improvement jobs, such as sealing the driveway. But if you pay them, beforehand, they disappear. Skye and Henry would be more the drifter type.
The villain of this episode is a Charles Manson type named Pilate, who likes to hurt people. Pilate lures Henry into the group by promising him an acting job. Skye warns him that Pilate is evil, but he won't listen. What happens to Henry and ultimately Skye, brings Lucas into the picture. Here's another unfamiliar group for you, the Juggalos. Think the Grateful Dead. The Juggalos dress up in clown make-up and costumes, listen to music, take drugs, and bascially party. Lucas and Letty follow Skye to Wisconsin and ultimatley to the Upper Penisula in Michigan, first to save Skye (and Lettie), then (for Lucas) to deal with Pilate's violent cult.
Now for the ending. The new director of the BCA is a weasel named Henry Sands. He's upset about the body count and he wants Lucas gone. He's called a meeting to discuss this, but Lucas has already told him to stick it where the sun don't shine. As a result, I would expect the next Prey novel may be set in someplace like New Mexcio. I realize Tony Hillerman has already done that, but there's nothing that says Lucas (and Letty?) have to work for the state cops.
