Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed "Rules of Prey", the first entry in Mr. Sandford's long-running "Prey" series, so I happily picked up this follow-up title. This was very good, too: lots of tension, good banter between the cops, a challenging case, and some interesting fringe stuff involving Lucas Davenport's newest lady love and his other domestic challenges.
As far as cop thrillers go, there's nothing particularly earth shattering or ground breaking here, but I think that's the point: Mr. Sandford knows what a good cop thriller should be and delivers it, not worrying about throwing in gimmicky plot contrivances to set it apart from other thrillers. The entertainment comes from solid craftmanship, Sandford's eye for detail, a dozen or so engaging characters, and a good thriller story.
I also liked the shades of grey that complicate the proceedings in several areas. For example, one can't really blame the criminal antagonists here for wanting to accomplish their goals, which is to draw attention to the injustices against American Indians and exact revenge for one particular injustice. But things quickly spiral out of control when the antagonists use new violence to respond to old violence. And things are further complicated because one of the antagonists really likes doing violence, with "the cause" only being a convenient excuse to undertake it.
Like the newer edition of "Rules of Prey" that I recently read, this newer edition of "Shadow Prey" features a brief but illuminating new introduction by the author, where he discusses the challenges of coming up with a good follow up to a successful debut thriller.
As far as cop thrillers go, there's nothing particularly earth shattering or ground breaking here, but I think that's the point: Mr. Sandford knows what a good cop thriller should be and delivers it, not worrying about throwing in gimmicky plot contrivances to set it apart from other thrillers. The entertainment comes from solid craftmanship, Sandford's eye for detail, a dozen or so engaging characters, and a good thriller story.
I also liked the shades of grey that complicate the proceedings in several areas. For example, one can't really blame the criminal antagonists here for wanting to accomplish their goals, which is to draw attention to the injustices against American Indians and exact revenge for one particular injustice. But things quickly spiral out of control when the antagonists use new violence to respond to old violence. And things are further complicated because one of the antagonists really likes doing violence, with "the cause" only being a convenient excuse to undertake it.
Like the newer edition of "Rules of Prey" that I recently read, this newer edition of "Shadow Prey" features a brief but illuminating new introduction by the author, where he discusses the challenges of coming up with a good follow up to a successful debut thriller.
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