More Sandford

Continuing our look at the first five or six books in John Sandford's series about sometimes-cop and sometimes-cop-consultant Lucas Davenport, our attention turns to Silent Prey, which I liked but didn't love. Here are some thoughts I recently filed on Amazon:

Silent Prey was a solid if unspectacular read. I guess I was a little disappointed that the complexity and richness promised by the set up, where two major plotlines are set in motion, didn't actually come about. Rather, you get a pretty good serial killer plotline (Lucas Davenport's rematch with the psychotic physician Michael Bekker) and a sketchy, not-often-mentioned secondary plot involving police vigilantes. This second plot was also a little gimmicky, relying on 11th hour "aha!" moments in Davenport's head as he pieces together the little details he's accumulated over the course of the story. Not bad stuff, mind you, but I guess I prefer more operatic, sweeping Davenport moments rather than the Sherlock Holmes-style deduction scenes on hand here.

Another quibble: The previous novel, Eyes of Prey, had a terrific final-page revelation about one of the series major supporting players, so I quickly picked up this next installment to see how Lucas would deal with this person in light of the information he now had about the character. But Silent Prey deals only briefly with the issue, and not in the meaty fashion I was waiting for. Oh well, there's always the next book.

To conclude with some of the story's strengths, I once again enjoyed the cop banter (though Lucas is technically only a consultant to the cops this time out), the action scenes, the clever surprises (especially in the Bekker storyline) and the big confrontations. And Lucas' passionate yet troubled interaction with the fairer sex remains compelling.

Perhaps I'll give Lucas Davenport and John Sandford a bit of a break before moving on in this series, as maybe it's a little unfair of me to dive right into each installment with big expectations. So I think I'll first let another thriller writer or two entertain me before heading back to this series to check out "Winter Prey". But I will be back.

Silent Prey is available on Kindle for $7.19.