Secret Prey [Hardcover]

John Sandford (Author)

Book Description

Series: Prey | Publication Date: May 11, 1998

Everybody has his secrets. But some of them will get you killed. John Sandford has long been praised as one of the most gifted thriller writers at work in this country or any other (Richmond-Times Dispatch)--but this time he surpasses himself. The company chairman lay on the cold ground of the woods, his eyes unseeing, his orange hunting jacket punctured by a rifle bullet at close range. Around him stood the four executives with whom he had been hunting, each with his or her own complicated agenda, each with a reason not to be sorrowful about the man's death. If he read it in a book, Lucas Davenport thought, it would seem like one of those classic murder mysteries, the kind where the detective gathers everyone together at the end and solves the case with a little speech. But it wasn't going to be that easy, he knew. There were currents running through this group, hints and whispers of something much greater than the murder of a single man. He had felt this way not long before, sensed the curling of an indefinable evil, and not only had it nearly gotten him killed, it had lost him his fiance, who'd never been able to recover from the violence of the encounter. Sometime soon, unless he could stop it, there would be another death, and then still another, and Davenport couldn't help but wonder if maybe this time, the final death might not be his own. . . . John Sandford has written extraordinary thrillers before, but nothing to top the startling twists and unrelenting suspense of Secret Prey.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

John Sandford is back with his dapper, dangerous Minneapolis deputy police chief Lucas Davenport for a ninth "preyer" meeting. Fans of the series will be glad to hear that it's full of smart suspense and deduction as well as explosive action. Davenport and his fellow cops are still recovering from the deadly revenge scheme that maimed them in Sudden Prey, which seems to have ended the relationship between Lucas and his doctor lady friend. This accounts for the depression that dogs him as he is sent to investigate the killing of top banking executive Daniel Kresge in a hunting lodge north of Minneapolis. Any of Kresge's four fellow hunters--all employees at his Polaris Bank--could have shot him, and all had motives, as did his almost ex-wife. About halfway through the book we find out who the real killer is, just a few pages before Lucas does, and that villain is a masterful creation, an example of the banality of evil worthy of Hannah Arendt. This is where Sandford's beautifully honed skills at creating suspense really kick in: he keeps us fascinated as Davenport, revitalized by an affair with a jaunty colleague, tries to turn what we all know into hard evidence. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

After his muscle-stretching sidestep in 1997's The Night Crew, Sandford is back with his ninth Prey novel featuring dapper, dangerous Minneapolis cop Lucas Davenport. Fans of the series will be glad to hear that this is the best installment in years?full of smart suspense and deduction as well as explosive action. Newcomers can plunge in without backstory research; all they need to know is that Davenport and his fellow cops are still nursing the wounds they garnered in Sudden Prey and that a depressed Lucas has gotten dumped by Weather, his girlfriend in that novel, when he is sent to investigate the murder of banking executive Daniel Kresge in a hunting lodge north of Minneapolis. Any of Kresge's four fellow hunters?all employees at his Polaris Bank?could have shot him, and all had motives (as did his "soon-to-be-ex-wife"). We find out about halfway through the book who the real killer is, just a few pages before Lucas does, and that villain is a masterful creation. This is where Sandford's suspense-making skills really kick in, keeping us fascinated as Davenport?revitalized by an affair with a jaunty colleague?tries to turn what we all know into hard evidence.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (May 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399143823
• ISBN-13: 978-0399143823
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #580,817 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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Once I had a secret love, that lived within this heart of mine." Song lyrics, October 6, 2010

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Secret Prey (Hardcover)

I give this gem a 4 1/2 star rating.

Just when the reader is thinking that John Sandford's "Secret Prey," is going to be a somewhat predictable story, the author provides his magic touch and the novel soars to a most dramatic and memorable thriller.

Bank president Daniel Kresge is murdered while on a hunting trip. He had been in the process of leading his bank into a merger that would have made him rich but would cost many of his employees their jobs. Kresge was also in the midst of a costly divorce so there were endless possibilities as to who the killer might be.

The two employees in line to take over the bank are Susan O'Dell and James Bone. They begin maneuvering for control while placing Wilson McDonald in charge during the transition.

It was almost as if the story was an afternoon soap opera with the various conspirators and Bone having an affair with Kresge's wife.

Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport is leading the investigation. Just as he and his team feel that they are close to identifying the killer, another bank executive is murdered and they are back to the chalk board. The hunt for the killer intensifies as Davenport takes certain steps and the killer counters. It's almost a dance of the dead.

Sandford does a masterful job. He makes the reader wonder who the killer could be, then, when Lucas has narrowed it down to one person, Davenport must get the evidence to stop the killing put away a ruthless killer.

The characters are excellent and well described. The author portrays the Minnesota countryside nicely so that the reader can visualize what the setting must look like.

I enjoyed the novel and recommend it highly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good Prey-novel, January 8, 2004

By 

Louise (Copenhagen V, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Prey (Lucas Davenport, No 9) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lucas Davenport is called to the scene of what seems like a hunting accident. A wealthy banker has been shot dead during the first minutes of the company's yearly hunting trip. An accident? No. Nobody really believe it was an accident, a lot of people had reasons for killing the man. As Davenport starts digging into the backgrounds and lives of the suspects, he unveils more secrets, and it soon becomes very confusing. He knows he is on to something, but it keeps slipping his mind. He finds himself thrown off track numerous times, for one reason or the other, as well as he has to deal with a new girlfriend and the memories of the old girlfriend, whom he was going to marry. In the end, everything leads him towards the real killer, who does not stop killing only one person. A great Lucas Davenport mystery.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pretty good ride!, June 1, 1998

By 

Terry Mathews (a small town in east Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Prey (Hardcover)

I'm new to John Sanford, but I read two previous books before starting "Secret Prey." I thought it might be nice to know a little bit of the hero's history. The two books I read were pretty brutal and graphic, but I liked Lucas Davenport.

I read "Secret Prey" in one day...and I enjoyed it. I thought the plot moved right along and I liked the little side trip the author took with the silver-haired opium club.

I look forward to other Lucas Davenport stories...and I like him with the lady cop much better than I liked him with the lady surgeon. The lady cop understands the nature of his work and she doesn't take anything from him that she doesn't give right back, in spades. There's more fire and vinegar in this relationship and I thought it really rang true.

"Secret Prey" is a great summer book.....