The Prey [Paperback]

Allison Brennan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st Ballentine Mass Market Edition edition (2006)
• ISBN-10: 0345480236
• ISBN-13: 978-0345480231
• ASIN: B001NK11ZE
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,835,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dear Reader:

Like most writers, I am an avid reader. I started light - Encyclopedia Brown, Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew - but by the time I was eleven, I'd discovered my mom's vast Agatha Christie and Ed McBain collections.

But two things happened on my way to becoming a mystery writer.

First, I discovered Stephen King.

As a thirteen-year-old book fanatic, I learned about page-turners early. I wrote Stephen King a fan letter after reading THE STAND and told him I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. He wrote back and told me: "If you want to be a writer, write." Which I took to mean, why wait until I grew up?

My problem? I never finished anything I started. As soon as I was well into the story and had figured out what was going to happen, I became bored and started a new project.

In high school, I became fascinated with true crime, and it wasn't until college that I started reading my mom's romance novels. They hadn't appealed to me as a teenager, but as a "mature" twenty-one year old, I found them entertaining.

Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, and others introduced me to contemporary novels that didn't involve murder, dismemberment, or deranged clowns living in the sewer.

Over the next decade, I built a career, married, had five kids, but never stopped reading--or writing.

I soon discovered a wonderful blend of suspense and romance with the romantic suspense novels of Tami Hoag, Kay Hooper and Lisa Gardner, and knew exactly what I wanted to write. I could take my mystery reader background, my fascination with true crime, and my desire for the happily ever after, and blend it into a romantic thriller.

I love romance because I want a happy ending. True love should win over adversity. IF the hero and heroine are worthy. They need to earn it, because nothing achieved easily is truly appreciated. But I also love intense thrills and chills because they are physical--fear causes the entire body to react, heart pounding, head thumping, hands shaking.

I'm thrilled to have a new series. LOVE ME TO DEATH started the Lucy Kincaid series. Lucy is an aspiring FBI agent with a troubled past. Readers can follow her from application to Quantico and -- hopefully -- as a Special Agent. The fourth book in the series, SILENCED, will be out on 4.24.12.

Thank you to all my readers who continuing to buy and read my books. I appreciate your feedback and enthusiasm. I will keep writing as long as you keep reading!

Happy Reading!
Allison Brennan

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New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan has published seventeen romantic thrillers, in addition to several short stories. Allison is a five-time RITA award nominee for Best Romantic Suspense, and the Daphne du Maurier winner for Best Mainstream Suspense for FEAR NO EVIL. She also has an essay on Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA in the Edgar-nominated 100 MUST READ THRILLERS.

A former consultant in the California State Legislature, Allison lives in northern California with her husband Dan and their five kids. She's currently writing ... or attending her kids sporting events.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, December 27, 2005

By 

Detra Fitch (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prey: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Three women have known violence in their childhood. They come together as roommates at the FBI training academy. Ten year later, their nightmares really begin.

Rowan Smith left the FBI after she was assigned to a case very similar to her own childhood violence. No one really knew she left to preserve her sanity. She began a writing career and had astounding success. In fact, one of her books is being made into a movie in Hollywood. Rowan thought she had left her past behind her at last. Then a dismembered body is found in Colorado. The victim had the same name, occupation, and looks as a character Rowan wrote in one of her novels. This is followed by a second victim, again eerily similar to a character in one of Rowan novels.

Michael Flynn is an ex-cop. John Flynn is a former DEA agent. The two brothers own and operate a security firm. They are hired to protect Rowan. John believes there is more to it all than they currently know. He also has some secrets of his own that he wants no one to learn of. Yet even he will be astounded as the truth comes out. And the only way to reach the truth is for Rowan to revisit the violence in her past, a past that just may kill them both.

***** It is hard to believe that this is Allison Brennan's debut novel. It is fantastic! This title is the first of a trilogy. Each woman from the academy will get her own story told. You will not have to wait a long time between the stories either. The three books come out with only a month between each. (The other two titles will be "The Hunt" and "The Kill".) I could not read fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. Highly recommended reading! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome debut Thriller...and two more coming!, December 29, 2005

By 

Dianna Love (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prey: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Allison Brennan's first book is a tightly written thriller with a romance that sizzles. Rowan left the FBI four years ago with hopes of finding peace in seclusion at a Malibu beach house where she's penning best selling mystery novels. She's a tortured heroine who still sleeps with her weapon and contends she needs no one. But she wakes one morning to a front yard filled with media, because a killer is using real people to recreate deaths of fictional characters in her story with grisly accuracy.

The fast paced story is woven with gripping emotion, high action and tense scenes as Rowan, her hot Delta Force bodyguard and the FBI try to find the murderer before an end game is played out with Rowan as the final prey. The ending of THE PREY is terrific and the ride to get there intense. I've already ordered THE HUNT and THE KILL.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts You on the Edge of your Recliner, January 3, 2006

By 

Susan Hatler (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prey: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Rowan Smith's hiding from a violent past in order to survive. An ex-FBI agent turned bestselling crime novelist, she finally has a new life when a killer makes her his prey. He commits murders in the exact form of her books, sending Rowan souvenirs of the crimes to taunt her, making it known this is personal and will only end with her death. Bodyguards, Michael and John Flynn are assigned to protect Rowan at all costs. A vow they take literally when each falls for the tormented blonde who, with each murder, teeters further toward the edge of insanity.

As the death toll accumulates, everyone searches frantically for a clue to help them stop the killer. But it's Rowan who must stifle the terrors of her past and avenge the victims of these brutal murders...by going after the killer herself.

If you're looking for a book you can't put down, this is it. Brennan's debut is a "killer" and this reader can't wait to read THE HUNT.