Phantom Prey [Hardcover]

John Sandford (Author)

Book Description

Series: Prey | Publication Date: May 6, 2008

Lucas Davenport has had disturbing cases before— but never one quite like this, in the shocking new Prey novel from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author.

John Sandford’s most recent Davenport novel, Invisible Prey, was hailed as “one of his best books in recent memory” (The Washington Post); “as fresh and entertaining as ever” (Chicago Sun-Times); and “rivetingly readable” (Richmond Times-Dispatch). But this time, he’s got something quite special in store.

A widow comes home to her large house in a wealthy, exclusive suburb to find blood everywhere, no body—and her collegeaged daughter missing. She’s always known that her daughter ran with a bad bunch. What did she call them—Goths? Freaks is more like it, running around with all that makeup and black clothing, listening to that awful music, so attracted to death. And now this.

But the police can’t find the girl, alive or dead, and when a second Goth is found slashed to death in Minneapolis, the widow truly panics. There’s someone she knows, a surgeon named Weather Davenport, whose husband is a big deal with the police, and she implores Weather to get him directly involved. Lucas begins to investigate only reluctantly—but then when a third Goth is slashed in what is now looking like a Jackthe- Ripper series of killings, he starts working it hard. The clues don’t seem to add up, though. And then there’s the young Goth who keeps appearing and disappearing: Who is she? Where does she come from and, more important, where does she vanish to? And why does Lucas keep getting the sneaking suspicion that there is something else going on here . . . something very, very bad indeed?

Filled with his brilliant trademark suspense and some of the most interesting characters in thriller fiction, Phantom Prey is further proof that “Sandford is in a class of his own” (The Orlando Sentinel).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Sandford's solid 18th Prey novel (after Invisible Prey), Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Lucas Davenport, who's received numerous promotions in the course of the series, ought to be taking the desk aspects of his job more seriously. But the man remains more comfortable working a stakeout, interviewing suspects and taking down bad guys than he is filling out personnel evaluation forms on his staff—which explains why he's still getting shot at, peeping at a cocaine dealer's wife hoping for a glimpse of her husband and, at his wife's behest, looking into the unsolved kidnapping and presumed murder of a wealthy young woman into the goth scene. It becomes clear that a serial killer is targeting goths as well as anyone, including Lucas, who gets in the way. While some pretty murky psychology encumbers the plot, Sandford delivers the kind of riveting action that keeps thriller fans turning the pages. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Frances Austin is a missing heiress. Traces of blood in her well-connected mother Alyssa’s home lead Lucas Davenport, head of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, to assume the worst, but without a body, he can’t be sure. The investigation centers on Frances’ involvement in the Twin Cities’ goth community. The goths’ collective obsession with death and darkness makes them an obvious starting point, but Davenport believes it’s a form of youthful angst rather than an inherently evil social trend. But when other young goths connected to Frances are murdered, Davenport is forced to rethink his theory. Like all good investigators, he follows the money, in this case, a $50,000 withdrawal from Frances’ account and its subsequent disbursement over a 20-day period preceding Frances’ disappearance. When Davenport is wounded coming out of a goth club after conducting a series of background interviews, he realizes he’s closing in on the killer but has no idea who or why. The eighteenth entry in the best-selling Prey series is Sandford’s usual mix of clever plotting, gallows humor, and explosive action, but this time he mixes in a bit of the seemingly supernatural. Davenport doesn’t realize it—and neither will readers—but he’s actually working on two cases. The solution to one is mundanely tragic; the second genuinely disturbing. Expect another trip to the best-seller lists for one of the most consistently entertaining crime writers working today. --Wes Lukowsky

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (May 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399155007
• ISBN-13: 978-0399155000
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Sandford was born John 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 archaeological 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent Lucas Davenport police procedural, May 10, 2008

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Phantom Prey (Hardcover)

Back for his eighteenth appearance, Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is not only on the job, but in top form.

The main story concerns Alyssa Austin, recently widowed when the airplane carrying her millionaire pilot husband Hunter crashed in Canada, comes home to discover the alarm system of her tony suburban home turned off, but no one in the house. Knowing the housekeeper Helen is gone for the day, Alyssa calls out for her daughter Frances who might be visiting. Alyssa searches the house and finds what turns out to be a small blood stain on the wallpape. The blood belongs to Frances and the police find that more blood has been wiped from the floors.

But there is no corpse.

A sub-plot concerns Lucas Davenport and colleague Del staking out the apartment of the wife of dope dealer, who apparently is immodest of often peels off her top with the shades up. The cops are trying to nab her currently absent drug kingpin husband.

Lucas Davenport is independently wealthy because he developed and sold a software company. He doesn't have to work, but he likes being a cop and solving the really tough cases, which just happens to be what the BCA does. In earlier stories, Sandford spent a lot of time developing Lucas Davenport. This time around, Davenport, married to surgeon Weather, with a young son and adopted teenage daughter is less introspective and more action oriented.

And there is plenty of action. As it turns out, the distraught mother, Alyssa Austin, owns several exclusive fitness centers, knows Weather and asks her to get her husband involved in the case. Reluctantly, Lucas gets involved - just in time for a series of gruesome murders of young Twin Cities "Goths". Frances, the missing daughter, was into the Goth scene.

Sandford is one of the best police procedural writers around today. He doesn't miss a beat in this one. Davenport is a cerebral cop who is constantly dogging a case, wondering how the leads and clues fit together. Almost as an aside, he tracks a money trail through the Goth community as one after another is murdered. Davenport himself comes in for a close call.

It's a taut thriller, with Davenport displaying more than the occasional flash of brilliant inspiration that brings him one step closer to solving the crimes.

The only unfortunate part of the plot is that Davenport relies upon a device he used to great effect in an earlier "Prey" novel, but it doesn't work so well here. Nope, I'm not going to spoil it for you. You'll know when you see it, even if you haven't read the prior Davenport novels.

It's a small thing that doesn't take any pleasure from the reading because John Sanford is simply one of the finest authors of police procedurals in the business. The nice thing about the "Prey" series is that if you start with one, you might be drawn to reading the others. Start with the first and work your way through all of them. They really are excellent reading.

Jerry

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, but the Davenport series is still a lot of fun, May 19, 2008

By 

Bill Garrison (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Phantom Prey (Hardcover)

John Sandford returns with another entertaining installment in the Lucas Davenport series. In PHANTOM PREY, Alyssa Austin returns home to her gigantic mansion. Something doesn't seem right. She fears there may be an intruder. In a few moments, she discovers some blood on the wall. She fears the worst, and it is confirmed that the blood belonged to her daughter, Frances.

The great Lucas Davenport is spending his days on a stakeout of the beautiful and pregnant Heather Toms. With binoculars, Lucas and friends get to watch her every move. They are watching her in hopes of her fugitive boyfriend showing up. Lucas gets called off the stakeout to do a favor for the governor, who is friends with Alyssa Austin. Mrs. Austin would like Lucas to look into her daughter's disappearance (no body had been found) because the police investigation is at a standstill.

So, Lucas begins investigating Frances Austin. Frances dabbled some in Goth circles, and Lucas pursues many clues in that area. More murders occur and a "fairy" is the likely suspect. The fairy is a waif like figure dressed in black with black hair and black make-up. Lucas can't figure out how the fairy ties in with Frances Austin or the other murders that start piling up.

Prey novels have always been known for their spectacularly evil villians and the ingenuity of Lucas and his pals in finding out who the killers are. To me, what sets Sandford apart from other authors is his ability to get into the minds of the killers and write the story from their point of view as well. He's created some truly evil villians. In Phantom Prey, the villian is a weak point. The reader doesn't get much of look the villians but Sandford makes up for it. While waiting for the plot to thicken and the evil of te villians to take over, the reader gets to follow Lucas as he investigates the crime and just lives his life, and that is a lot of fun.

Sandford also throws out a lot for fans to enjoy, such as references to Kidd and his marriage, Virgil Flowers, and Davenport's contempt for fools her are new age and use Tarot cards.

Bottom line, Sandford fans will enjoy this book. If you're new to Sanford, start at the beginning. The first books in the Prey series are just as good as the last.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lucas never lets me down., May 8, 2008

By 

Lily Courthope - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phantom Prey (Hardcover)

OK, right off the bat I'll say that this book kept me up until the early morning hours, it was that good, but I'll also say this story may not be my favorite of the Davenport stories. It's good, it's intriguing, it's fun as only Sandford can make cop work fun, but the last two Prey novels were so very fine -- heck, what author is capable of hitting a grand slam every time he comes up to bat? This book would be a triple -- and that's the rarest hit in the ball game, ain't it?

What's right: Lucas. Lucas. Lucas. And Del's back, hallelujah! The cop jokes. The stake out. The governor's Ferragamo socks. Letty. References to Virgil Flowers. Oh, shoot, Sandford just nails the flow of the story and all of the little details that make these people come alive for me. Minneapolis-St. Paul just lives in my mind because of Sandford. I sometimes think I could go there and drive around, and not only recognize locations in the books but I would also know how to get from one location to another without a street guide or GPS.

What's wrong: Nothing wrong, exactly, just a couple of things felt slightly out of kilter to me. And it's hard to voice what those are without writing spoilers. There was one character who logically should have been closely examined from the get-go in regards to a murder. And another character, a main character, was something of a disconnect for me, in how she became what she was. See? I can't be specific without writing spoilers, darn it.

Sum total: This 18th entry in the Prey series still shows plenty of the sass, vigor and originality that has made this series last so long. Sandford is quality consistent and this is still a solidly fun read. IMO, there's no such thing as a bad Lucas Davenport story.

(And you know, I only noticed two proofing errors this time around. Either Sandford's team is improving in this regard or the story was so good that I just missed any others.)