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Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18)
Phantom Prey - Lucas Davenport, Bk 18
Author: John Sandford
A widow comes home to her large house in a wealthy, exclusive suburb to find blood everywhere, no body -- and her college-aged daughter missing. She's always known that her daughter ran with a bad bunch. What did she call them "Goths"? Freaks is more like it, running around with all that makeup and black clothing, listening to that...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780399155000
ISBN-10: 0399155007
Publication Date: 5/6/2008
Pages: 384
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 230

3.9 stars, based on 230 ratings
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
I have been a big fan of Sandford's 'Prey' novels--I have read every one! This is one of his best!! If you like the series about the character Lucas Davenport, don't miss this one!
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
5 star This book was as great as the 17 before it. I really like John Sanford and "Lucas Davenport" along with the others in the storys. All 18 in the series have held my interest, sometime enough to cost me sleep. Very good.
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 128 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Davenport fans, you will NOT be disappointed!
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Lucas Davenport at his best. This one I could not put down and it had some twists in it that I didn't even see coming!
MELNELYNN avatar reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 669 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Back for his eighteenth appearance, Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is not only on the job, but in top form.

The main story concerns Alyssa Austin, recently widowed when the airplane carrying her millionaire pilot husband Hunter crashed in Canada, comes home to discover the alarm system of her tony suburban home turned off, but no one in the house. Knowing the housekeeper Helen is gone for the day, Alyssa calls out for her daughter Frances who might be visiting. Alyssa searches the house and finds what turns out to be a small blood stain on the wallpape. The blood belongs to Frances and the police find that more blood has been wiped from the floors.

But there is no corpse.

A sub-plot concerns Lucas Davenport and colleague Del staking out the apartment of the wife of dope dealer, who apparently is immodest of often peels off her top with the shades up. The cops are trying to nab her currently absent drug kingpin husband.

Lucas Davenport is independently wealthy because he developed and sold a software company. He doesn't have to work, but he likes being a cop and solving the really tough cases, which just happens to be what the BCA does. In earlier stories, Sandford spent a lot of time developing Lucas Davenport. This time around, Davenport, married to surgeon Weather, with a young son and adopted teenage daughter is less introspective and more action oriented.

And there is plenty of action. As it turns out, the distraught mother, Alyssa Austin, owns several exclusive fitness centers, knows Weather and asks her to get her husband involved in the case. Reluctantly, Lucas gets involved - just in time for a series of gruesome murders of young Twin Cities "Goths". Frances, the missing daughter, was into the Goth scene.

Sandford is one of the best police procedural writers around today. He doesn't miss a beat in this one. Davenport is a cerebral cop who is constantly dogging a case, wondering how the leads and clues fit together. Almost as an aside, he tracks a money trail through the Goth community as one after another is murdered. Davenport himself comes in for a close call.

It's a taut thriller, with Davenport displaying more than the occasional flash of brilliant inspiration that brings him one step closer to solving the crimes.

John Sanford is simply one of the finest authors of police procedurals in the business. The nice thing about the "Prey" series is that if you start with one, you might be drawn to reading the others. Start with the first and work your way through all of them. They really are excellent reading.
Read All 28 Book Reviews of "Phantom Prey Lucas Davenport Bk 18"

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reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on
Great book. Full of suspense, and didn't know how it would end till I got there. Great read!!
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on
Another great one from John Sandfard!
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 144 more book reviews
Another good one from Sandford, twist and turns that makes you keep reading on. . . . .
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 49 more book reviews
Great book, enjoyed it very much!!
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 330 more book reviews
great read
Chocoholic avatar reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 291 more book reviews
I don't remember where I got this book. I just found it on my bookshelf and figured I would try it. I was not disappointed. It is one book in a long series that you don't have to have read the others to keep up with. I've not read John Sandford's "Prey" series before, but I think I will have to add those on my books to read. It is about a detective named Lucas Davenport who is attempting to solve a strange series of murders in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The one, no two things I disliked about this were the high numbers of characters, and the intertwining of 2 completely different plots. I really dislike reading books with high numbers of characters because I have problems keeping them all straight after a while. Also, Sandford's detective Davenport is working on two different crimes, and the story flip-flops back and forth, adding to the list of characters to keep straight. Other than that, I found this book enormously entertaining and a very quick read.
reviewed Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport, Bk 18) on + 248 more book reviews
Great Sandford story. The Prey series keeps going with terrific story line. I thought that when Lucas married the stories would become stale and unexciting. So far the series remains suspenseful with some humor. Personally I would begin with the first Prey novel if you are new to the series. I like the development of the characters that begin in the first Prey and carry through in the following books. Also for those waiting for a paperback edition, the Berkley paperback edition is available.

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