Storm Prey

A Lucas Davenport Novel

By: John Sandford

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The brilliant new Lucas Davenport thriller from the number-one New York Times best-selling author.

"Sandford's track record as a best-selling author is amazing, but it's not an accident," wrote Booklist of Wicked Prey. "His plotting is sharp, his villains are extraordinarily layered, and his good guys are always evolving.

And this time, there's a storm brewing...Very early, 4:45, on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck-and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman in the garage: Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.

Did she see enough? Can she identify them? Gnawing it over later, it seems to them there is only one thing they can do: Find out who she is, and eliminate the only possible witness.

©2010 John Sandford (P)2010 Penguin

Critic reviews

"Sharply drawn characters, intricate plotting, and smooth dialogue make this a sure-fire winner." (Publishers Weekly)

Excellent as always

I love John Sandford writing and Richard Ferrone is an excellent narrator for this series. I always love that f%*9ing flowers!! I glad also to see a spin-off for flowers.

Another Novel that Hits a Visceral Level

Almost all of Davenports Novels are great in my opinion; the only competitors are Reacher & Rapp in my opinion. This doesn't mean I don't think characters like Harvath, Allon, Bosch, etc... do not have fantastic books that shouldn't be missed. Considering the whole body of work, 23 novels I believe including 'Silken Prey', there are few that have this many books within a series let alone having all 23 worthy of at least a once over. Davenport sets a great standard that is hard to match although I think Rapp, Reacher, & Allon are close, but none of those even have over 20 books within a series, plus 2 supporting characters that add another 9-10 more books I think.

One of the reasons I loved this particular book is why most people love any of the detective/military/espionage genre, drama & trying to figure out how the book is going to end. If u enjoy a good read that is a large step up from Patterson yet not at the level of vivid description style of Burke where I personally need to pay more attention (the only reason I left Burke out of the above list is because I think the way Burke writes is so unique even though the underlying content is the same, u really have to concentrate on what is said/read or u piss the poetry Burke uses to describe a simple backyard with a stream running thru it lol), Davenport never disappoints, he's not superman but he is someone u can judge their worth by recounting the enemies he's dealt with one way or another... While it took me a bit to really get into all the 'Prey' books while there were some 'Allon & Burke' books I had to read as well, once I really was able to focus on them I flew thru all the unabridged versions & was left asking for more... the good thing is Sandford will usually give us a fix quickly

Engaging to the end!

Another good "listen" from Sanford, with a wonderful reader! I don't know how he keeps doing it!

loved it!

Haven't read this favorite series in many years and now I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted. I had forgotten how funny and wonderfully drawn his protagonists are. The villains are written in a way that makes them matter to the very end. You don't root for them but there is dignity there.

Off to read the next one!

A head turner plus

Great sub plot with the sisters. Well developed story and well read. Dangling issue with crappy but assume will be back.

rwins

a kinder, gentler ending than usual. lots of murder. not so much gore and Virgil takes the focus off Liucas.

Sandford's human beings

Yes, Richard Ferrone is less than adept at handling accents. That said, his voice and delivery are absolutely perfect for Lucas and the usual cast of characters in a Prey novel. Hearing him establishes instantly that we are back in the Twin Cites with Davenport. Nicely moderated testosterone with a late night feel.
Storm Prey is unique among the Davenport stories in that there is no brilliant antagonist at work here. Just a collection of small time losers trying to clean up the mess they have made with a robbery gone bad. As usual, however, Sandford humanizes even the worst and most repulsive of his bad guys. We want them caught and probably even dead, but we are forced to ride along with them on the trip, and there is always a little Stockholm syndrome working in these books.
Which is why the medical procedure in this book is so brilliant. In the end, Sandford is writing about his characters not just as cops and doctors and hoods and news people but as complex human beings. Actually the crime story here is quite simple and banal and ends up almost solving itself. The evil in the book tears itself apart with little help from Davenport while the life saving mission his wife embarks upon is grueling and charged with passionate commitment. We watch the two narratives develop, occasionally intertwining, and Lucas' family lives always on the margin between the two. The effect is deft and powerful, especially since JS never forgets that the first job of a crime novel is to keep us on the edge of our seat.

Exciting and Engrossing

Storm Prey serves up more of the excellent recipe that John Sanford has the patent on. I was completely caught up in the multiple story lines and Lucas is his usual irrepressible self. I think Richard does another superb job of reading, and with each book in the Prey series, his distinctive voice becomes more and more the voice of Lucas Davenport. If you like the other books in the Prey series, you will absolutely LOVE this book. I don't know what some of the reviewers on here were listening to, but it certainly wasn't THIS book. Great characters, great story, great narration. What else is there?

Please ban the musical interludes in all audiobooks

I've listened to all the previous prey novels and now feel like all the characters even the minor ones are my good friends :) They are all so well written and it's the major reason I keep coming back for more just to see what the Davenport gang will get up to next.

The only reason I downgraded the performance on this book was the annoying random musical piano throughout the novel. I expect to hear this in older audiobooks but not modern ones I don't recall it appearing in the previous books and truly hope it's not in the next.

Music not needed

The musical interludes are distracting and not needed. The narrative performance was excellent as usual.