John Sandford's acclaimed Prey novels featuring the brilliant Lucas Davenport have plunged millions of readers into the darkest recesses of the criminal mind. Now Lucas has met his match. His newest nemesis is more intelligent, more deadly, than any he has tracked before: a kidnapper, a violator, and a cruel, wanton killer who knows more about mind games than Lucas himself.

From Publishers Weekly
Minneapolis PD Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport, seen last in Night Prey, carries on as a smart, quirky hero in the seventh "Prey" book. When psychiatrist Andi Manette and her two young daughters are kidnapped, Lucas must discover whether it's a ransom snatch, the work of one of Andi's ex-patients or the ruse of someone in her life who might benefit from her death. (Her father, stepmother, estranged husband and medical partner are all good suspects.) Readers know the kidnapper is John Mail, a scary ex-patient who's entertained nasty dreams of Andi for years. He enacts his violent sex fantasies with the imprisoned Andi; it seems only a matter of time before he will go after the girls. Lucas, meanwhile, draws on all available resources, including his own computer game company, to flush out Mail, a gamer who enjoys taunting Lucas with phone calls. During this time, Andi has been trying to maintain an element of control and contrive an escape. Sandford expertly ratchets up the suspense from beginning to the brutal finish. Lucas does get his villain, but no one comes out of this experience unscarred. Literary Guild main; Doubleday Book Club alternate. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The seventh in the author's best-selling "Prey" series (e.g., Night Prey, LJ 5/15/94).Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Ingenious detective Lucas Davenport knows he's met his match--a wanton killer who knows more about mind games than Lucas himself.

ANNOTATION

Detective Lucas Davenport knows he has met his match. For his newest nemesis is more intelligent--and more deadly--than any he has tracked before. A kidnapper. A violator. A pure, wanton killer who knows more about mind games than Lucas himself. "His seventh, and best, outing in the acclaimed Prey suspense series."--People.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Run for it." It was raining when psychiatrist Andi Manette left the parent-teacher conference with her two young daughters, and she was distracted. She barely noticed the red van parked near her, barely noticed the van door slide open as they dashed to the car. The last thing she did notice was the hand reaching out for her and the voice from out of the past - and then the three of them were gone. Hours later, Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport stood in the parking lot, a bloody shoe in his hand, the ground stained pink around him, and knew, instinctively, that this would be one of the worst cases he'd ever been on. A man who could steal children . . . With an urgency born of dread, Lucas presses the attack, while in an isolated farmhouse, Andi Manette does the same, summoning all her skills to battle an obsessed captor. She knows the man who has taken her and her daughters, knows there is a chink in his armor, if only she can find it. But for both her and Davenport, time is already running out.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Minneapolis PD Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport, seen last in Night Prey, carries on as a smart, quirky hero in the seventh ``Prey'' book. When psychiatrist Andi Manette and her two young daughters are kidnapped, Lucas must discover whether it's a ransom snatch, the work of one of Andi's ex-patients or the ruse of someone in her life who might benefit from her death. (Her father, stepmother, estranged husband and medical partner are all good suspects.) Readers know the kidnapper is John Mail, a scary ex-patient who's entertained nasty dreams of Andi for years. He enacts his violent sex fantasies with the imprisoned Andi; it seems only a matter of time before he will go after the girls. Lucas, meanwhile, draws on all available resources, including his own computer game company, to flush out Mail, a gamer who enjoys taunting Lucas with phone calls. During this time, Andi has been trying to maintain an element of control and contrive an escape. Sandford expertly ratchets up the suspense from beginning to the brutal finish. Lucas does get his villain, but no one comes out of this experience unscarred. Literary Guild main; Doubleday Book Club alternate. (May)

Library Journal