Customer Reviews

Winter Prey

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

John Sandford's first 4 novels were certainly varied and assured enough to distinguish themselves as worthy entries in their genre. Yet, as interesting as the villians in those pieces were, the plots didn't have a lot of momentum to them, mostly because Sandford gave the reader too much information ahead of his lead character, Lucas Davenport. So, instead of keeping us on the edge of our seats, we basically waited for Davenport to discover what we already knew, diluting the immediacy and urgency of the plot.

Luckily, with WINTER PREY, Sandford has changed his structure to the better, creating a nerve-frying tale of terror that ranks with the finest of the decade. The eerie snowbound locations lend plenty of isolated, creepy texture to the plot, while Sandford brilliantly elicits a disturbing, menacing atmosphere that puts us right into the story, giving us ingenious clues and surprise plot revelations to keep us glued to the pages all night long. Lucas Davenport emerges as a fully realized individual, while the supporting characters are first-rate, as are the action scenes and forensic details. A masterpiece.

"Winter Prey" was a great edge of your seat mystery/thriller and the tone very much reminded me of those good old film noirs with Humphrey Bogart. Of course this is a much more modern tale. There was delicious suspense, heart pumping action with wild chases on snowmobiles,shoot outs, good guys to root for, and a villain(who from the beginning and most of the book we only know as "The Ice Man"), as bad and evil as they come. Author Sandford kept me involved and guessing every step of the way, and throws in some great surprises.

It is a blistery cold winter in a small woodsy town in Wisconsin. Everyone knows everyone, and are shocked and frightened to learn of a brutally horrible murder. The cops are questioning and gathering evidence, and it all points to one man. But no one will believe the suspect is guilty. Enter an out-of-town Detective to help with the case. Lucas Davenport knows his stuff. He is fearless and rugged and a reputation for getting his man..one way or another. Time is crucial, the killings have just begun, and all seem to revolve around a photograph that is the only solid clue. A woman Doctor could be the next victim and as Lucas tries his best to protect her while closing in, we also see another side to this tough guy, and the two grow closer, adding a layer of romance to this multi-faceted story as well.

The story would probably be considered R rated. It deals with some very sensitive subject matter(I don't want to give away too much), has quite a bit of violence and language as well. So may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Here is a superb Unabridged audio edition with a chilling read by Richard Ferrone:Winter Prey {Unabridged} {Audio} {Cd}

I know there are other Lucas Davenport Mysteries, but this was my first, and now I am hooked and adding others to my cart.

Highly Recommended for those who love a great suspenseful tale....Enjoy....Laurie

also recommended:
Deadly Vision

Lucas Davenport ain't never going to be Harry Bosch, but he's a good enough morally ambivalent character that you care about what he does and why he does it. Of the Prey series, this is a standout for its plot about ugly sexual behavior in the sticks and for its detailed evocation of Minnesota in the dead (no pun intended) of winter. Mystery aficionados already know this book, and they'll tell you that another great thing about it is that Sandford plays fair with the plot. Things get strange, but there's a logical thread throughout. Superior reading for long-distance air travel.

Winter Prey is the first book I have read by John Sandford. I wish I had found him before now. The book was great. I was in a trance the whole time, just living in my mind what he had written. Lucas Davenport was a great character. I cannot say enough good things about him or Shelly Carr, or the good lady Doctor and of course the Iceman. The book was well written, held my attention and was believeable. Parker or Connelly were my favorite authors until now. I would hate to choose between the three mystery writers. I hope his other books are as good.

I really liked Winter Prey, the killer, "The Iceman" was throughly chilling. It takes many twists and turns, you never know what will happen next. You can't figure out who the killer is, and why he is stalking this little town. The romance between Lucas and Weather is really great.

This thriller is as tight and spell-binding as Sandford's others in the Prey series. I read the books out of order and really enjoyed finding out how Davenport and Weather came together.

Lucas Davenport is back and better than ever. With Winter Prey, Sandford relocates Davenport yet again, this time to the frozen countryside of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Sandford's last Prey novel, Silent Prey, tried something similar, moving Davenport to NYC but it was, unfortunately, not at all successful. Luckily Winter Prey proves to be a much better installment in the series.

Much of the action and plot of the book follows Sandford's "prey format" and Sandford doesn't disappoint in Winter Prey. Quite a bit of the appeal in these stories is derived from the evolving back-story and the development of Davenport. And while Winter Prey largely ignored recurring characters seen in previous novels, Sandford's characters were likable and I can only hope that some of them return.

Overall, if you felt burned by Silent Prey, you'll feel much better after Winter Prey. A real page-turner.

I am going to keep this review short and simple. This book is much like all the other Prey novels so far, except the killer is not necessarily a serial killer. The antagonist is a person who killed a family in the first chapter in order to try and save himself from being arrested later, because of the knowledge they hold.

This book succeeds because of the drastic change in enviornment (the frozen tundra of northern Wisconsin), the nature of the crimes compared to previous books, and some fresh charcters. The snow-mobiles are pretty cool, too.

This book will more than likely be one of your favorite Prey books (so far) IF you are a Sandford/Davenport fan. It is a great change of pace from a slightly overused serial killer formula from the previous books. This book will hopefully change the pace for all Prey books to come and make sure they are not just the same books with different names and settings.

If you haven't read any of the prey books this is a good one to start with even if it is the 5th in the series. In this book Lucas is in Wisconsin to find a killer, in the middle of witner were at times it is below 0. The killer nickname is the Ice man who rides around on a snowmoblie. It starts with Him killing a some people in a small town. The cops don't know what to do so they get Lucas out of is nice warm cabin to help them. When Helping him out he finds out a lot more then he should of. In this book and all of John Sandford books it is a can't put down book. With a ending that will have you in shock.

This is my third book in the Prey series and I haven't been reading in order. Winter Prey opens with a grisly murder in the snowy Wisconsin woods. Davenport is called in to help because the local police know he lives nearby and they don't have experience in this kind of thing.

The killer is the "Iceman" who is involved in child porn. There is one scene with the "yellow-haired girl" that goes into the evil of the child porn then this subject isn't really discussed much anymore. The Iceman is obviously evil because of the murders he committs, but more could have been written about the evil grip he had over the kids who seemed to worship him.

This novel was a traditional police mystery with Davenport tracking down clues before finally finding out who the killer is. This novel introduces Weather, Lucas's love interest for many more novels.

Winter Prey is another exciting entry in the series. Sandford is a good author who follows a similar formula for all his novels yet they still seem fresh and exciting.