Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Gathering Prey (The Prey Series Book 25)

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2021

This is probably the 24th book i have read of this series i skipped over this one until now. The story started of intense as always but i have a problem with his daughter Letty 1, she's to smart mouth
2. one minute shes to young to know whats going on 3. the next Lucas has her working the case 4. the only reason she gets away with stuff is because she acts like him and he approves. In this book this is the first mention of his biological daughter who he never speaks of. He makes liars out of other cops when going after the bad guys. I like the Virgil Flowers character much better, series #20, to #24 were better than this one.

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Donna R. Moss

not his best

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2020

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Start by saying I love Lucas Davenport books. BUT this is not even close to the best of them. I miss all the people we are used to, Del, Shrake, Jenkins, Virgil, Sandy, Rose Marie, & even Weather (who I could do without) & the governor. The Bad Guys are given way too much time - they aren't interesting at all, unlike most of Mr. Sandford's criminals. The plot is very sketchy & pretty uninteresting. Letty is a little flaky as usual & that part was ok. It is worth reading but don't look for the usual "can't put down until the last dog is dead". It is easy to put down, but also easy to pick up again. So, I am again waiting for the next Prey book & am pretty sure it will be back to the best ever mystery series. We are all very interested in what Lucas is going to do now that he is out of the BCA, & hoping that it doesn't mean that the series is ending!!

4 people found this helpful

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Peanut's Mom

Stay away

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2021

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I've held Sanford's writing style of crime solving with a touch of humor in high regard for years. Until Gathering Prey. I regret even starting to read it and am tossing it in the garbage after barely getting halfway through. Awful storyline with unnecessary descriptions of horrible violent acts perpetrated by a band of loonies. Yuck.

3 people found this helpful

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Scott

Horrible book!!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2022

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I do not understand all the good reviews. 1st off this book is a paid advertisement for CNN.

The author pads the book with boring details like numerous stops to buy coffee, to buy lunch and to buy diet coke.

Nothing about this series rings true. Law Enforcement do not make enough to buy a Porche and a Mercedes SUV, even with a wife who is a surgeon. Also owning two homes... Not credible.

The plot is stolen from the Manson family but is much more insane. Pilate the Manson character could never inspire anyone to follow him because he is more of a follower who has to get directions from other people. The real Manson planned everything himself.

All the Characters are unrealistic and act foolishly.

A huge waste of time.

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WMF

Too many weaknesses other than decent pacing....

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2017

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First, let me qualify this by saying I'm a huge Greg Iles fan and a huge Nelson DeMille fan, so the bar for me in action/adventure/thriller novels is very high. This book is "okay," but I didn't really find any strong character development or amazing powers of description, or even a super strong plot line. Lots of things in the book could have been developed further to make the story more realistic, but the writer just drops the ball. Maybe the biggest problem is that it's more like reading a comic book than a novel. The hero takes over all law enforcement functions anywhere he goes, which is just poor research and poor attention to realistic detail. The daughter gets the story going, but actually her involvement makes no sense if you stop to think about it. The key here is not to think about it, because all the natural questions that pop into your head as you wish it were more realistic aren't going to be answered. I read the book to get it over with. The pace was good enough for that. Would I read another of this guy's books? Nope.

7 people found this helpful

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Fred Camfield

A different type criminal

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2015

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Lucas is drawn into a case by his adopted daughter who is attempting to help a young woman whom she met out in San Francisco when the woman was busking. Now the woman is worried about her male companion who went off to meet a group and disappeared. The group seem to be a strange religious cult, but think in terms of Manson (if you remember him). The group has a dangerous, possibly insane, charismatic leader who goes by the name Pilate. The plot moves through South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. People don't stay in place very long - usually just long enough to cause trouble.

The novel has violence ranging from gun fights to physical attacks. Expect some people to die. There are some unlikely heroes and heroines. In the Upper Peninsula, everyone has access to at least a rifle, and many have military training. You will get a lot of details about tracking and containing dangerous criminals. There is sexual content, mainly by discussion. I would give the novel an R rating, with motion picture potential. It has a surprise ending. I am not sure where the author intends to take the characters. Virgil Flowers makes a brief cameo appearance, but Lucas takes the lead on the law inforcement side, aided by various other people.

7 people found this helpful

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steamboat willy

John Sandford has been my favorite author for years

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2015

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John Sandford has been my favorite author for years. This book is a big letdown - just not up to par with his outstanding Prey series. It felt during the reading like the author has perhaps tired of the Davenport entourage ( not meaning it as a spoiler but the ending then kind of justifies the feeling). This work has very little of the rich camaraderie and humor among the regular cast of characters who have populated past Prey novels. A few phone calls to the "regulars" inserted here and there are the only appearances of the colorful Davenport associates, other than Letty. The plot reaches far from Lucas' normal habitat that readers have enjoyed for so long. Gratuitous violence takes a front seat from rich dialogue and colorful byplay. I don't know what comes next for Lucas, if anything, but sure hope it is a return by Sandford to less gruesomeness, more byplay and more mystery. I am hoping that later this year there is another Virgil Flowers book on the horizon that will bring us fans back to the author's terrific fun read.

12 people found this helpful

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L J Wessling

One of the best Prey books

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022

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I stopped reading the Prey books for a while because there was too much about Davenport’s personal life and his wife, Weather, the boring surgeon, and an awful lot of local color which only works if you’re a Minnesotan. But this book starts off with a bang and the plot keeps building to an exciting conclusion. Nobody’s gonna call this literature, but it’s a quick read with lots of shoot’em up action. I learned a lot about a real group called the Juggalos and I’m dying to try Faygo soda now!

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Henry E. Dorfman

Who wrote this?

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2015

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Of late, the author seems enamored with West Coast cult leaders and young women gone commando. That may add color but not a thick enough coat to cover the flaws in this book.

In this variation of his recent theme, Davenport’s adopted daughter (Letty) befriends a nomadic homeless young woman who has run afoul of a lethal cult who has killed one of her companions. Her smartest move would be to disappear into the vastness of the continent, but she pursues the killers across the country. Letty allows herself to be drawn into this folly and she, in turn, entrains Lucas.

The rest of the book is his pursuit of the gang. That is short on surprises, cleverness, revelations or anything else that would hook your interest. It might pass muster for someone who hasn’t read the richer, earlier “Prey” books, but falls well short of the mark for the rest of us. It doesn’t ring like a true Sandford book.

7 people found this helpful

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Franklin L. Greene

Another Great Davenport read

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2015

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A well crafted romp for Lucas Davenport and crowd that goes far to confirming my suspicion that every madman and mass murderer in America lives in or near Minneapolis and, as a Michigan native, horror to discover that the plague is spreading to the upper peninsula of the state. As usual with the Sandford novels, it is filled with wild races across Minnesota back roads in a desperate attempt to get there just in time, blind trails, amazing co-incidences, gunfire galore and "what the heck just happened" events.

Letty, Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, meets Skye and Henry, a pair of street buskers and wanderers, in California and offers them a meal. Letty bonds with Skye and, on the spur of the moment, gives Skye a phone number to call if she is ever in Minnesota. Unknown to Letty, Skye and Henry are loosely associated with a gang of Manson style killers and, of course, Killers, wanderers, Letty and Lucas all wind up in the same place at the same time.

Mayhem ensues, with a surprise twist at the end that leaves you hanging in anticipation of the next book in the series.

On the down side, Letty is apparently auditioning for the lead in a remake of "The Perils of Pauline.". The girl apparently has an invincibility complex that has led her from shooting a corrupt police officer her to charging into incredibly dangerous situations from which she is rescued in the nick of time by dumb luck or Daddy's trusty .45. Other characters, notably Virgil Flowers, Dell and Weather make only brief appearances. However, pay close attention to what they do because, when combined with the ending, it is (possibly) a clue to the next book.

All in all, an excellent Sandford romp. Single complaint to the author - why aren't you writing faster? And, even if to produce another Davenport adventure, how could you possibly abandon Kidd and LuEllen? Happily married? With a baby? Davenport suspects but still doesn't know? That is just plain mean!

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5 star		72%
4 star		19%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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