Invisible Prey (Lucas Davenport Mysteries) (Hardcover)

by John Sandford (Author) "An ANONYMOUS VAN, some-kind-of-pale, cruised Summit Avenue, windows dark with the coming night..." (more)
Key Phrases: stolen antiques, insurance list, Amity Anderson, Jane Widdler, Rose Marie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Sandford opts for a contemplative procedural rather than a high-octane nail-biter for his 17th novel to feature Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport (after 2005's Broken Prey). The brave and intelligent Davenport, one of contemporary crime fiction's more congenial sleuths, is working a politically sensitive case—state senator Burt Kline is on the edge of being arrested for having sex with a minor—when he's called in to investigate the beating death of wealthy widow Constance Bucher and her maid. Bucher lived in a mansion stuffed with antiques, though it's unclear if robbery was the motive for the murders. Several run-of-the-mill suspects are dealt with before the reader learns the identity of the two killers, who continue to murder a string of folks all variously connected to the Bucher slaying. Eventually, the Bucher and Kline cases come together in an unexpected way. Interesting and unusual supporting characters, good and bad guys alike, enhance an intriguing puzzle. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Constance Bucher is in her eighties, wealthy, and lives in a lovely Twin Cities home brimming with antiques. Bucher and her maid slip into past tense when intruders bludgeon them to death and trash the house. The victim's social standing is enough for the governor to assign his top investigator, Lucas Davenport, to investigate. The easy solution would be to label the crime a junkie killing, but when a painting stored in the attic (and worth a cool half-million) turns up missing, it's clear that this was no random attack. Aided by an imaginative intern, Davenport uncovers a series of similar crimes across the Midwest in which the victims were all old, wealthy art collectors. Concurrently, Davenport is working on a politically sensitive case in which a local politician has been accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old. And maybe her mother. Or maybe they're angling for a civil payday as opposed to criminal justice. The latest in the Preyseries is more thriller than mystery; the villains are revealed early, and the plot is advanced through the bad guys' point of view. Davenport unravels their scheme by pulling on a small thread, and it's his immersion into the murky world of art, antiques, museums, and donors that gives this one its cachet. As always for Sandford, entertaining and intelligent reading. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399154213
• ISBN-13: 978-0399154218
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,928 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Sanford at the top of his game, May 20, 2007

By	Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This is Sanford's 17th novel featuring Lucas Davenport. All of them have been good reading by a master of the police procedural. A few have been slightly better than the others. "Invisible Prey" comes close to being the best of the lot.

As always Lucas Davenport, a Special Agent for Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is called in when a situation is too tough for a local police department or too politically sensitive. "Promoting" Lucas to this job from his former job with a police department was a brilliant move by Sandford, as it lets Davenport roam the landscape without being bothered by jurisdiction. Clever guy, Mr. Sanford.

The story opens with two women, an elderly heiress and her maid, being brutally bludgeoned on a dark and rainy night in a home in St. Paul's most element neighborhood. (Yes, Sanford really does set the scene on a dark and rainy night. Also, inexplicably, the dustjack puts the opening murders in Minneapolis, rather than St. Paul.)

Lucas is dealing at the moment with a very politically sensitive investigation of a local politician who may have had just a bit too much to do with the minor daughter of his current paramour. But the old woman's murder, especially because of it's brutality, carries some poltical weight too, so Lucas looks in on the scene.

The two disparate investigations - a sex scandal and a double murder - ultimately become involved.

Sanford writes some of the best police procedurals to be found. His characters are solid and have depth. Lucas Davenport's wealth, acquired in an accidental second career as a software developer, is helpful in giving the character wider latitude in his social millieu and in setting him apart from his law enforcement officer peers. Sanford is very clever when it comes to character and plot development. A few books back, he introduced Weather, a surgeon, younger than Sandford who is now his wife and the mother of his young son. There is a standard cast of characters arond Lucas and most them are here. There's Marie, Davenport's hard driving, politically savvy boss; Flowers, the oddball investigator; Jenkins and Shrake, the two cops who often provide muscle when needed.

In this novel, Sanford adds a young Afican-American boy who provides a couple of key clues. I suspect he will play a role in subsequent novels. He also adds Sandy, a young woman intern whose quirky character and investigative skills wouldn't be surprising to see in future books.

Sanford identifies the killers early to the reader and then play very adroitly with the reader as Davenport attempts to discover who they are. Along the way, we get a few characters who might be involved and might not be. We also get to meeet a few people who aren't very pleasant.

Sanford plays the mystery and the reader along beautifully. As the last hundred of pages or so rush by, Davenport starts closing in, though it isn't until close to the end that we're sure the killers will be found before Davenport himself becomes a victim.

Overall, a great police procedural with believable characters and solid plotting by a master of the genre. Definitely page turner material. (Too bad they don't still make detective movies like they used to: Lucas Davenport would be the basis for a great series.)

Jerry

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but the edge doesn't seem to be there any more..., August 25, 2007

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've been a fan of the Prey series by John Sandford over the years. But lately the titles haven't captured my attention as much as they used to. In the latest, Invisible Prey, I once again find myself thinking that it was an enjoyable read, but the excitement and edge isn't there any more.

Lucas Davenport is pulled into a case where an older lady and her maid are brutally murdered. The trashed house makes it look like it could be a burglary gone bad, but something doesn't quite ring true for Davenport. He's able to find a couple other crimes that have somewhat the same characteristics, and the common element has to do with antiques and a particular set of quilts. You find out very quickly who the guilty parties are in the killings, and the story revolves around the desperation of the killers and their need to eliminate Lucas from the case in order to avoid being run down. There's a subplot involving an accusation of improper behavior with a minor and a state senator. Lucas is also involved in this case, and the killers attempt to mess up that case, also to draw Lucas in a different direction.

In many of the earlier Prey stories, there was a strong element of how Lucas would use his intellect and gaming skills to anticipate and solve the crimes. But lately, that characteristic is more secondary, and too much time is spent dwelling on his new political position in the bureau. The story is fine as a typical crime novel, but the things that used to draw me to Davenport aren't there much now. I'll likely keep reading new installments in the series, but I don't know that I consider them a "must read" any more...

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a fine novel, September 20, 2007

By	Newt Gingrich (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews ("THE")

John Sandford does it again with Invisible Prey. Lucas Davenport, who is one of the most believable characters in modern crime fiction, continues his career in breaking a case that is deliciously complex, involves wonderfully convoluted and perverse characters and carries you from connection to connection until suddenly it will all make sense. This is a fine novel about interesting people, some of whom are doing violent and destructive things and others whom simply want to lead nice, decent lives and catches both the way in which the innocent can without cause be destroyed by evil, and the way in which good can in the end triumph. As an optimist, I find it always comforting to read John Sandford's novels and in particular I enjoy his Lucas Davenport pursuit of justice.