PREYING FOR KEEPS (Shadowrun) [Mass Market Paperback]

Mel Odom (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Roc (1995)
• ASIN: B000GRFXSG
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I write in a number of fields, but always with the hope of telling an interesting tale that will incite a reader to think for himself or herself, to examine his or her own place in the world, and offer a little nudge in the direction of dreams, faith, and personal growth in spite of whatever odds a person has to face. I also believe we were all put here for a purpose. Hopefully, several purposes. I'm a father, a little league coach, a teacher, a friend, and a writer. I struggle to keep that balance, as many of us do these days, but I hold tightly to the belief that I'm doing all I can be doing, and doing what I should be doing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, June 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Preying for Keeps (Shadowrun 21) (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book quite a bit compared to most of the books that have come from FASA. I appreciated that level of ingenuity and realism (for the genre) in the novel, especially compared to The Dragonheart Saga (which was good, but...). Definitely worth five stars. I just wish I could say the same for Odom's latest Shadowrun book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but could have been great, August 7, 2010

By 

Jack Tripper (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Preying for Keeps (Shadowrun 21) (Paperback)

From the opening pages of 'Preying For Keeps' by Mel Odom, I could tell this was going to be a non-stop, slam-bang page-turner of a novel. And it was. The intensity doesn't let up at all for the first 150 pages or so, then, after a short breather that lasts all of maybe 10 pages, it's in full-throttle mode again all the way up to the last page.

Here's the basic plot: In Seattle, Jack Skater and his team of shadowrunners are set-up big time during a run, in which they barely escape intact, and the list of potential suspects grows increasingly large as the story moves along; with the mob, the yakuza, some small-time hoods, and a huge biotech corporation out of the Tir all making that list. Meanwhile, a strange virus is spreading through Seattle that turns it's victims into raving killers.

Odom can definitely write a captivating story, and this one looked like it was shaping up to be a great sci-fi/fantasy novel period, not just a great Shadowrun novel. Unfortunately, it felt a little rushed in places. And considering Odom seems to write 4-5 novels a year (in every genre imaginable), this is almost inevitable. Too bad he didn't devote a little more time in ironing out everything, especially near the end. Still, this is definitely one of the best novels in the series, and features some of the most memorable characters to ever grace the pages of Shadowrun. But the words "what could have been" seem to pop in my mind when I read this novel, and is the main reason I don't consider it one of the elite, 5-star Shadowrun novels, of which there are only a handful.

4.0 stars as far as gaming-related fiction goes.

Ranking among Shadowrun novels, imo- 8th

(BTW, Odom's follow-up Shadowrun novel, 'Headhunters,' features these same characters and is one of the better Shadowrun novels, imho. His last, 'Run Hard Die Fast,' while mainly about Argent, also features some cameos, and is worth checking out as well, even if Odom's Argent didn't quite match Findley's)

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Shadowrun, June 23, 2003

By 

J. SMITH "KILLIN EM" (San Fran CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Preying for Keeps (Shadowrun 21) (Paperback)

Ignore naysayers. This was one of the best shadowrun books I've ever read.