At the beginning of the year, my Dad and I started rereading John Sandford's Prey series in order from the very beginning, from Rules of Prey through Wicked Prey, and the newest addition to the series, Storm Prey. I've long been a fan of Sandford's, and experiencing his development as a writer by rereading the series is fascinating. It also gives me a new appreciation for Sandford's talent as a writer, his development of characters, his pacing, and especially his dialogue. I must admit, some of my favorite throw-away lines come from one of Sandford's novels.
I gave my Dad the new Prey book, Storm Prey, for Father's Day, so we both had to make an exception for the "in order" rule!
It's amazing that 20 books into the Prey series, Lucas Davenport and the Prey books are still riveting. As my Dad says, “he spoils you for other writers.”
In Storm Prey, three men rob a hospital pharmacy and an older man who works in the pharmacy dies because one of the robbers loses control and kicks him viciously when the man tries to get to his cell phone during the robbery.
Davenport's wife, Surgeon Weather Karkinnen, is drawn into the crime when she arrives at the hospital for an early surgery and happens to see the robbers as they are leaving. She is targeted when the hospital insider who provided the information the robbers needed to access the pharmacy decides that Karkinnen is a risk.
Weather's surgery is interspersed with the story as the crime is compounded by more murders. The surgery is a high profile one, involving separating two babies that were born conjoined at the head. You can’t help but begin to root for the babies as the first surgery is called off because of the pharmacy robbery and the clock ticks away on their small lives.
In Storm Prey, Davenport is his usual quirky, wise-cracking, intuitive self. It’s a great read, whether you are a fan of old-fashioned print, you prefer the audiobook version, or you are an e-book reader.
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