I don't even know what to say. You have Lucas's ward (Letty) trying to justifying killing someone because if she does it that means Lucas won't be involved with it. It makes zero sense and it turned me off the character. She also has a couple of disgusting comments about using people that made me dance the whole way towards she's a psychopath. Between that story-line and the other one Sandford was too all over the place in this one. I didn't care about the criminals trying to shake people down for money. I also don't want to read about the Republican National Convention across two books again. I hope this mess is wrapped up in the 20th book. 

 

In "Wicked Prey" we have a couple of story-lines going on. We have Lucas dealing with a potential sharp shooter looking to take someone out at the Republican National Convention, a group of criminals that his old lover Lily is looking for, and Randy Whitcomb back again looking to get payback against Lucas. Lucas only knows about the first two issues, and is in the dark on the last one. For reasons only known to him, Sandford decides to follow the Letty as we get to see her realizing that Whitcomb is following her and going through an elaborate charade in order to see him taken down. She's worried that if Lucas finds out that Whitcomb was going to hurt or rape her, that Lucas would murder him. I maybe just shook my head at this line of thought. Only teenagers would jump from point A to point Z in an alternate universe this fast.

 

There is very little Lucas and what we get isn't a lot. I was happy about Del expecting his new baby since it will be nice to see if his character changes or what.

 

We have some of the other characters we have known for a long time like Weather, Rose Marie, Jennifer (the woman he had his first child with), etc. 

But this book focuses mostly on Letty. Her justifications were crap and because of her someone was hurt and I just felt nothing but disgust for her. Due to her actions someone is beaten and raped. I felt my whole body shrink away in disgust. I hope we don't see anymore of this character in the series. Or if she is in it, she's just mentioned vaguely.

 

The writing was typical Sandford, but the flow was wrong. Mostly because Sandford tried to juggle three stories and told none of them well. He should have decided what he wanted to focus on. And there are plot holes galore in this one. 

 

"Jennifer Carey was no longer to be trusted. I don’t think cops should kill people. Bullshit, Letty thought"

Yeah cause cops everywhere are totally justified for killing someone. This is talking about Lucas grabbing Whitcomb and murdering him outright. I just...sigh. 

"Letty had been right about that. If he’d known Whitcomb was stalking her, or anyone else in the family, Whitcomb would have died, one way or another. The problem with a psychotic was, there is no way to deflect them, once they’ve fixed on a course. You can’t talk to them, because they’re nuts."

 

Irony? 

 

The ending was a hard shrug. Definitely not one of the best Davenport stories. 

Ehh. I think Letty (Lucas's soon to be adopted daughter) is a psychopath. There is too much happening in this one too. Sandford should have followed either her or focused on the "criminal masterminds". Not both. 

Wicked Prey, Wicked Prey by John Sandford, is maybe 3 Stars. Seriously liked reading about the area since I have spent a lot of time there. Having family in Hudson, WI., where the bad guys stage out of, made it real. Multiple angles are played by the bad guys as they execute some interesting robberies. I also LMAO as I identified with the frustration generated by Lucas’s adopted daughter. He nails the agony and ecstasy of having a teenage daughter. Sometime there will likely be a series featuring her. Obviously, writing about a political event like the Republican convention in Minneapolis in 2008 is going to make this a limited appeal book as we get further away in time. Republicans will not like this book, at least the first 1/3, as Sandford establishes his liberal bona fides…f*ing Republicans is a common refrain. He probably has enough money from all his previous novels to piss off 40+% of potential readers. But why do it?

Another good one by Sandford. i would have to say that the Prey series is my favorite series and has never failed to provide entertainment. I was worried about this one due to the obvious political bias of the author but he managed to pull it off and make it an enjoyable read.

Classic Davenport story. I'm listening to it and I'm on Disc 6. I'm enjoying learning more about Lettie and Lucas' relationship, as she always seemed very 2-dimensional until this book.