Certain Prey

Attorney Carmel Loan is beautiful, intelligent, ambitious - and used to getting what she wants. When she becomes infatuated with fellow barrister Hale Allen, she isn't going to let a little thing like his being married get in the way.

Review by Travis Starnes

In Certain Prey Davenport teams with a pair of FBI agents to track down a ruthless killer for hire.  Unlike most of the earlier books in the series where Davenport is pitted against someone out for personal gain or a straight psychopath, this installment his foe is much more meticulous.

This book has a different feel then the previous parts of the prey series.  In earlier books he was reacting to the criminal’s actions trying to stop them before whatever plan the bad guy came to fruition.  In Certain Prey Sandford has reversed the roles with the bad guy being pushed by Davenport and company, reacting to his moves.  The feel of the book is definitely different and really helps pump some new life into the series.  While I have enjoyed every installment so far I was starting to notice a pattern in the stories so it is nice to have a pallet cleanser.

I really like the characters introduced in this book.  Both the duplicitous lawyer and Rinker are really interesting, and the interplay between them was as enjoyable as anything between Davenport and his team.  On the flip side I found most the interaction between Lucas and the FBI agents to be kind of bland and lacking in the normal quality I expect from characters in Sandford’s work.  At this point Davenport is about as developed as it seems like he is going to get and while we get some changes in his base character it seems like Sandford indents to hold the status quo for a while, character development wise.

What I liked most about this book is the cat and mouse chase of it.  Lucas’s pursuit of Rinker and her reactions to it are really well thought out and enjoyable.  My only real complain is how they keep pointing out how lucky Lucas is.  Sure he is lucky but he has always succeeded before based on his tenacity and reasoning ability.  It was taken as far as many of the turns that happen in this novel are more luck based then caused by any of Davenports qualities.  It felt like a cheapening of the character to me, taking away part of the essence that really makes Davenport a fun character.

The whole luck thing aside I still really liked this book.  It might be in my top 3 or 4 of the novels so far in this series.  The pacing is excellent, we get good character development out of his new adversaries and you can’t help but like the bad guy in this book. All in all a fun read.