Mortal Prey (Lucas Davenport #13)

I am a fan of Sanford’s witty and suspenseful crime thrillers, and I found this to be especially enjoyable and well written. Like all of his Prey or Virgil Flowers books, this one is sprinkled with nuggets of clever phrases that make you smile and reach for a pen. Such as on p.77: “Cut the crap, Jimmy. I’ll give you two thousand bucks apiece for either two or three guns.” Jimmy processed this for a minute, and she could see it all trickling down through his brain, like raindrops of thought on a windowpane. That is simply gorgeous.

This is a landmark book in the Prey Series in several ways. The story of Clara Rinker, an assassin for the underworld based in St Louis, began with Certain Prey. Here in Mortal Prey we pick up her story as she has been living in Mexico, recuperating from her wounds from that first part of her story. She was wounded in the end of that episode by Lucas after she tried to ambush him at his home. She called him as she was preparing to leave the Country. That final discussion is worth reading again before you start this book. It sets the tone for this book. They both have some level of affection for the other and yet they are seriously trying to kill each other.

In this story Clara has been wounded in Mexico by an assassin sent down from the US. She was pregnant by the son of a rich Mexican and lost their baby. She vows to find the US underworld figure who ordered the assassination. After further recuperation, she comes to St Louis looking for them and finds some. Her recuperation included some instruction in rifle shooting. The FBI is looking for her. They are in the strange position of protecting known criminals from her. They call in Lucas on temporary leave from his new position with the Minnesota Division of Criminal Apprehension. The FBI is mainly chasing its tail and Lucas helps straighten them out and get back on track for Rinker. After getting most of the underworld guys, Rinker starts shooting FBI people. She finally escapes from a gunfight with Lucas’ .45 slug in her butt and gets help from her Mexican friends.

So that’s the story – or is it? Lucas has to accomplish his wedding to the pregnant Weather who has stayed safely out of danger in Minneapolis while all this violence took place in St Louis. Lucas sets up his wedding as a trap to lure Rinker in to a final confrontation. The wedding party is full of cops and FBI agents. Marcy Sherrill stood in for the “bride” and carried her revolver like a purse through the service. Rinker took her final shot as the “wedding party” posed for photos on the steps of the church. (Rinker was only slightly bothered by the fact the church was not the denomination Lucas had mentioned in one of their “friendly” chats. Lucas shed a tear over Clara’s fallen body. He was in her crosshairs. It is an excellent story.

We were introduced to Andreno, a retired St Louis cop who helps Lucas navigate around St Louis. Lucas may offer him a job with the Minnesota Department of Criminal Apprehension. He and Lucas make a good pair.

I am an ardent John Sandford fan. I recently purchased and read the complete Prey series and then the complete Flowers series in order, and I’m only sorry I’ll have to wait for the next book in both series. Sandford is a novelist with the rare ability to carry over characters and plot elements with complete believabiity while allowing both to develop in interesting, unexpected but natural ways – the only other “serial” novelist who does this nearly as well is Anthony Trollope, and he avoids murders. I re-read these books with pleasure as great or greater than the first reading because the fast-paced narrative and unexpected plot developments pulls you to read fast the first time; the second or third you can pay attention to atmosphere (he’s great on significant landscape detail), character growth, and situation development. Sandford writes like a real novelist, not like someone trying to impress academia with his literary exclusivity.

John Sandfords best of a lot of many great novels. This is the only novel I have ever read that made me feel real sorrow for a paid murderer. His St. Louis characters were very good and his description of Frontenac was right on the button. I was in St Louis at a downtown bar on which the Blue Note had to be based. Not much about the Hill but the novel was not about good food.

In this, his 13th book in the Lucas Davenport series, Sandford can’t resist getting Lucas out of town, despite his impending nuptials, new baby, and new house (or should I say palace?) in Minneapolis. Sandford can surround Lucas with the mundane, but never for long….it’s on to St. Louis (where he does a credible job of giving the reader the “feel” of the city), by way of Cancun, Mexico. Lucas’ globetrotting arises when the FBI includes him in the hunt for Clara Rinker. She’s surfaced again
(Sandford introduced her in “Certain Prey”, where she definitely got the better of Davenport) and the FBI wants her out of circulation.
Who better to help them than Davenport? Although he’s seeking revenge for a near-mortal blow that Rinker, the most effective hitwoman in the business, dealt him, Davenport has an instinct for what Clara would do, and that instinct helps keep the FBI close on her heels. The FBI team is unaware that Davenport has made himself a member of a close circle of ex-cops in St. Louis, men who are bored with the retirement life, whose knowledge of the city helps give Davenport the clues the team needs to corner Rinker and end her local killing spree of crime bosses who sought to kill her and ended her engagement and pregnancy. Loftus and Andreno, two of the local ex-cops, are great characters, and one would think that Sandford will bring them back.
This is Sandford’s best work in awhile, and he’s successful at alternating the point of view of his tale between Lucas and Rinker herself. Rinker becomes multi-dimensional in the telling of the tale from her perspective. The book is a nonstop thrillride of near-misses in getting to Rinker, and Davenport finishes it off with not one, but two, big surprises in the ending.
Sandford returns to masterful form, and you will not be able to put “Mortal Prey” down!

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