Field of Prey

Lucas Davenport, Book 24

By: John Sandford

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from number-one New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize winner John Sandford.

The night after the fourth of July, Layton Carlson, Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky. And unlucky.

He’d picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, an abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private, and quiet. The only problem was...something smelled bad - like, really bad. He mentioned it to a county deputy he knew, and when the cop took a look, he found a body stuffed down a cistern. And then another, and another.

By the time Lucas Davenport was called in, the police were up to 15 bodies and counting. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, when Lucas began to investigate, he made some disturbing discoveries of his own. The victims had been killed over a great many years, one every summer, regular as clockwork. How could this have happened without anybody noticing?

Because one thing was for sure: The killer had to live close by. He was probably even someone they saw every day....

©2014 John Sanford (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"One of [Sandford’s] best. His writing and the appeal of his lead character are as fresh as ever. This author is a master writer and he pulls out all the stops to tell the latest adventure.... For those who think they know everything they need to know about Lucas Davenport, this book proves them wrong. It also shows that Sanford still has some tricks up his sleeve when it comes to writing totally engrossing books. Sanford has always been at the top of any list of great mystery writers and this latest book shows why.... It is one of his best and that makes it something really special." (Huffington Post)

"Consistently brilliant, Sandford shows the methodical steps inherent in such a case, without sacrificing plot, pacing or character." (Cleveland Plain-Dealer)

"Sandford seems to top himself with each new installment; the latest is no exception to that rule.... It doesn’t get any better than Field of Prey.... This is a series you must be reading if you are not already." (bookreporter.com)

Sandford and Ferrone deliver

What I like about the Prey series is John Sandford's ability to continually create some pretty evil guys. He doesn't disappoint in this installment with the really oily dynamic duo of Horn and R-A. Neither of them have anything even resembling a redeeming social value. They are perfect bad guys. Sanford also introduces a new character, who I hope will appear in upcoming installments. Catrin Mattsson had a baptism of fire in this novel and is deserving of a Virgil Flowers kind of spinoff. I hope we at least see her in future Prey offerings. Finally, Richard Ferrone made this story come to life with his dead-on vocal interpretations. A musician could read music and lyrics from a new song and have an idea of what the finished product would sound like. But hearing the instrumentation and vocals would, for most of us, make for a better experience. Same goes with Audible books. Reading them would be fun but listening to them is much better. And with a narrator like Ferrone, the experience is kicked up a notch. A five-star winner. Keep 'em coming.

Time to haul out my Prayer Review

This may appear again now and then.

Dear God: Please let this man write another book soon and please let me be here to listen to it. I can't say something like 'even his worst book is good' because I can't think of anything he's done that is worse than anything else.

Before I post this list I have to say that Sandford, Parker and MacDonald are EXTRA special. And Richard Ferrone as John Sandford's voice is an amazing match. Like George Guidall with Craig Johnson and pretty much anything George reads.

Robert B. Parker lived in this space for me as did John D. MacDonald, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, John Hart, Craig Johnson, John Lescroart, William Kent Krueger Ridley Pearson ,and Jonathan Kellerman. Some others are really good but these guys have something special. If you are into mystery-thrillers I just gave you a back catalog I wish I could have...but I HAVE had it and it is an incredible treasure. I stopped going to libraries and swap places just so I can encourage these guys by sending them money. Please enjoy.

Sandford never lets me down

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Another excellent book from this author. I like that Ferrone always narrates and that they don't use lots of sound effects. It is good to see that he is slowly working his daughter into a role for future books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bone, almost seemed able to carry out the missions.

What does Richard Ferrone bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

When I do read, I still hear his voice doing the narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Sandford has another winner.

Typical Sandford book with a lot of gruesome storylines mixed in with family love and friendships along with caring hearts for anyone in need or different. Don't feel so concerned about family in the twin-cities.

It's A Dark One

Any additional comments?

It's kind of tough saying much about this book without giving away too much. Lucas is on a very strange case involving a seriel killer that's been killing since the 80's or 90's without getting caught. There's an old well that's discovered to hold many of the bodies and the story just keeps getting stranger from that point on.

Now here's a fun fact. While listening to this story there was a couple of phone calls with Virgil Flowers where he hints at a couple cases he's working on, but Davenport and Virgil agree it's best he doesn't know too much about what he's doing......So I just recently listened to the Virgil Flowers book "Deadline" where he breaks in with his side of the phone calls. How cool is that? The same calls about another situation spread between two books with different main characters.....I never heard of something like that before

Best in several years

Would you consider the audio edition of Field of Prey to be better than the print version?

Not necessarily. The narrator is ok but not great — doesn't add much. The strength is the plot and the dialogue, as usual.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lucas Davenport is one of my favorite characters in hard boiled fiction. Edgy enough to be interesting and realistic.

What about Richard Ferrone’s performance did you like?

Not much, frankly. He does a pretty good job at varying his voice for the characters, but his voice for the villain in this book is inappropriate.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes — couldn't wait to get into my car to continue listening.

Any additional comments?

The last Davenport book had a lame plot but this one hurtled along. The best Prey in a long time.

Excellent suspenseful novel!

If you could sum up Field of Prey in three words, what would they be?

Can't put it down.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

Have you listened to any of Richard Ferrone’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Ferrone is very good at Sandford's novels, I think of his voice as Lucus Davenport'sVoice.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Nonstop suspense

better than average installment

the evil-doers are well done in this installment, and I like the introduction of the small town sheriff. I like that Lucas reverts to some of his old-school habits, which is why DearReader falls in love with the character. He's gotten a tad stodgey lately. better story than a couple of the previous books. a solid addition to a familiar series.

Best of Prey series

Field of Prey is one of the best in the Prey series. Didn’t want to stop listening. Great story and very suspenseful.

easy listen

loved it! Good book.
along the lines as previous prey novels. keeps you reading.