Rules of Prey

A Lucas Davenport Novel

By: John Sandford

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare, is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.

©1989 John Sandford (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"A police procedural as effective as it is brutal." (Publishers Weekly)
"Sleek and nasty...a big, scary suspenseful read." (Stephen King)

Holds up!

I was worried at first since it is set 30+ years ago. The story holds up! Lucas Davenport is Minnesota’s James Bond.

Gory story but entertaining

Love Sandford’s stories. I recommend this to this who like police work and psychology. I am a psychologist.

Good little crime story

Interesting character development combined with excellent narration made this a good listen. The crime descriptions were a bit over the top but helped describe the criminal’s mind and illness. I was definitely engaged in spite of the overly described rapes and killings but found myself thinking it may have been a better story with less of the actual crime details. Still recommend for those who enjoy crime thrillers.

Took a few minutes but…

I wasn’t sure if I was going to get into this book at first. Love cop and crime books, but sadistic murder type stuff is generally not my bag. Within about 20 minutes of starting this title, I got sucked in. The author has created a believable character in Davenport and the narrator has done a fine job of bringing him to life. Sure, Davenport is larger than life and not the true embodiment of most cops but that’s what makes him so compelling. I’m on my way to check out book 2 in the series. I recommend this book.

Davenport at the beginning

Exciting start to finish. We meet Davenport in this Book 1, setting the stage for later books with him as the main character.

Outdated

Although I listen to this in 2024, this being very outdated text, it was still a great story to listen to. Lucas Davenport is a character that you can see on the big screen. I was enthralled and truly enjoyed the story.

The cool main character

I like the character he almost seemed like a real person but the fiction provided enough spice to keep it interesting.

This Works

Lucas Davenport is intelligent, macho, rich, and irresistible to women… a character strength and flaw. In other words, he’s the fantasy cop-character for guys who want to swagger away from a nasty adventure, just skirting the law, with knuckles sore from colliding with bad-guys’ multiply broken bones. If you want all of that manly-stuff in a thriller that usefully fast paced: This book works.

Richard Ferrone's voice is exactly right to capture the grit of Rules of Prey.

Very Good indeed!

I can definitely recommend this book. Good narration too which I feel can make or break an audio book. Nicely done.

old story, but still interesting and tense

As an old story, there is old tech here, like cops having to scrounge for quarters to call in emergencies on pay phones. Other than that, it is still pretty timely and well done.

As Sandford says in the Afterword, he wanted to create an outrageous character who broke rules but whom women would still like. I quit liking him when he continued f.., I mean, sleeping around. He's smart and crafty, invents role-playing games, drives a Porsche, and knows how to win at the races. Except for his philandering, I did like him (but I like Dismas Hardy better).

The case is interesting, the murders terrible and frightening. We know who the murderer is soon off, but Davenport, of course, doesn't. There are only a couple hints as to what twisted the creep, one at the beginning and one at the end, but they are not explained or developed. Maybe that's a flaw, maybe not. Maybe we don't need to know why a creep turns creep.

There are a lot of stories in this series, so you can settle in with a good writer and a main character who appeals to both cops and reporters.