When a spring thaw disinters the body of a young woman who's been missing for over a year, Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport doesn't have much to go on except the victim's rumored connection with an unnamed man, who may be an artist and also, perhaps, a priest. But then the deserted property where her body was discovered turns out to be a killing field full of other young blondes last seen in the company of a man with a nasty habit of superimposing their faces on pornographic drawings. Davenport begins to close in on a serial killer whose perverted hobby provides the clues Davenport needs to stop him in his bloody tracks. James Qatar isn't a priest, and he's not really an artist, but he's definitely a monster, one who's met his match in Davenport.

Davenport is a smart, thoughtful cop whose girlfriend is pressuring him to make a commitment to parenthood and whose boss is about to lose her job in a political turnover. While the search for the killer is handled in author John Sandford's usual, crisp, procedural style, it almost seems to be a pretext for exploring the evolution of Davenport's relationship with Dr. Weather Karkinnen. This 12th adventure in the author's popular Prey series will undoubtedly rocket to the top of the bestseller list, though it's not a standout. The novel displays the solid craftsmanship and narrative drive Sandford's known for, but his hero seems a little dispirited and out of sorts. Perhaps fatherhood will give Davenport a new lease on life. In the meantime, check out Sandford's backlist featuring his other hero, Kidd (The Fool's Run, The Empress File, The Devil's Code), who has a nice little walk-on here in which he begins a romance with Davenport's partner Marcy Sherrill. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
HThe 13th title in the Prey series (Easy Prey, etc.) has wealthy Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport in up to his Porsche-driving fingertips. Lucas is trying to track an elusive serial killer while reuniting with former fianc‚e Weather Karkinnen who after a couple of years' estrangement following her narrow escape from a crazy biker in one of Lucas's former cases has suddenly decided she wants to have his baby. Weather is a formidable distraction, but the killer revealed to readers from the beginning as James Qatar, a suave professor of art history with a yen for strangulation proves to require even more attention. Soon after the body of a young blonde is found in a partially excavated grave on a remote wilderness hillside, a deputy sheriff from backwater Wisconsin shows up with a file containing case histories of several women reported missing in Wisconsin and Minnesota over a nine-year period. Fearing the worst, Lucas orders the hillside surveyed; subsequent excavation uncovers seven more bodies. The art world connections of some of the victims and the discovery of pornographic drawings suggests a link to the art community around the local Catholic university. As the net tightens, the usually coolheaded Qatar, already plotting the fate of a daring fabric artist in cahoots with the police, gradually loses control. With Lucas and his team watching his every move, he eludes surveillance and carries out a final desperate attack. Sandford is in top form here, his wry humor and his development of Lucas's combative, affectionate relationship with Weather lighting up the dark of another grisly investigation. Simultaneous audio. (May)Forecast: Sandford's thrillers are reliably excellent, and his latest, a BOMC main selection backed by a national ad/ promo campaign and an author tour, marks a high point in the Prey series. The book should hit #1 its first week out.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Minneapolis deputy police chief Lucas Davenport is trying to track an elusive serial killer and reunite with former fianc e Weather Karkinnen in Sandford's latest novel. Listeners are introduced to James Qatar, a jolly art history professor with strangulation as a hobby. Then the bodies start to pile up. Lucas finds a local pornographic photography ring that publishes its work on the Internet. The routine investigation gathers steam toward the second half of the tale, as Lucas goes after Qatar. This may not be Sandford's best story, but humor and character development help make this mediocre thriller interesting. The work contains mature subject matter and language but is entertaining in both the abridged and unabridged versions. Richard Ferrone's reading of the unabridged set is acceptable, evoking the atmosphere of a 1930s detective story, but Eric Conger's narration of the abridged cassettes and CDs puts the ideal voices to Lucas, his colleagues, friends, and adversaries. Recommended. Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Richard Ferrone's warm and folksy tones, perfectly at home with lighter works such as the comic thrillers of Lawrence Shames, might seem wrong for a slick and tense thriller like this one. However, things work out fine: Ferrone's light style is perfect for the banter between Minneapolis homicide investigator Lucas Davenport and his colleagues, and he has no problem dialing up creepiness when voicing James Qatar, art teacher by day and remorseless killer, dubbed "The Gravedigger," by night. Sandford's story, twelfth in his long-running Prey series, is taut and involving, and Ferrone serves it well. J.P.M. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Troubled by both city politics and his relationship with his fiancee, Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport finds the comfortable routines of a murder investigation as soothing as a worn pair of jeans. The discovery of a young woman's body, missing 18 months, leads to a local pornographic photography ring that posts its handiwork on the Internet. In the confiscated files, Lucas finds a photo of a woman who was standing near the site where the victim's body was found. An excavation uncovers eight more bodies, turning a routine homicide investigation into a desperate search for a monster. This thirteenth Prey novel shows signs that the series may be getting a bit stale. The investigation is routine by procedural standards, and only the last quarter of the novel generates any suspense, as the killer appears to wriggle out of Davenport's net before being pulled back in by an unlikely hand. The good news is that Davenport seems poised for significant personal and occupational changes, which may invigorate future cases. Sandford fans won't consider this one of the series' best, but even mediocre Sandford offers solid entertainment. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
The Lucas Davenport thrillers have become an annual, much-anticipated phenomenon, and it's not hard to see why. Each time out, Sandford combines a variety of plot elements into a slick, furiously paced narrative that is cunningly constructed and virtually impossible to set aside. Chosen Prey, the 12th entry in this remarkably consistent series, finds the hard-edged Minnesota homicide detective spearheading yet another convoluted investigation, this one aimed at bringing down a serial killer -- and sexual psychopath -- known as the Gravedigger.

As we learn at the very outset, the Gravedigger is James Quatar, an effete, deeply disturbed art historian with a penchant for blondes who remind him of his mother. Several of these iconic blondes have served as unwitting models for James's distinctive brand of pornographic, mix-and-match computer art. And several have simply disappeared from the face of the earth. As the novel opens, the body of Qatar's most recent victim surfaces in a park on the outskirts of Minneapolis. When the park turns out to be a mass graveyard containing eight more victims -- all blonde, all with an affinity for the visual arts -- a statewide manhunt ensues.

Cutting crisply back and forth between the demented perspective of James Qatar and the increasingly frantic perspective of the Minneapolis/St. Paul police departments, Chosen Prey offers a satisfying demonstration of Sandford's by now familiar virtues: brisk, no-frills prose, pungent dialogue, authoritative scene-setting, and a vivid gallery of characters from both sides of the law. These include Davenport himself, Detective Sergeant Marcy Sherrill (who is just returning to action after her near-fatal wounding in Easy Prey), and Davenport's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Dr. Weather Karkinnen, who has now assumed a dominant role in Lucas's always complicated domestic life. Effective new characters include the Gravedigger himself, James Qatar; his voyeuristic paramour (and prospective victim), Ellen Barstad; and Terry Marshall, a veteran law enforcement officer with an intensely personal stake in the investigation.

Chosen Prey easily meets the rigorous standards of its predecessors, and will no doubt provide Sandford's legion of fans with an irresistible, high-adrenaline good time. (Bill Sheehan)

Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. His book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub, At the Foot of the Story Tree, has been published by Subterranean Press .

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An art history professor and writer and cheerful pervert, James Qatar had a hobby: he took secret photographs of women and turned them into highly sexual drawings. One day, he took the hobby a step further and ... well, one thing led to another, and he had to kill her. A man in his position couldn't be too careful, after all. And you know something? He liked it.

Already faced with a welter of confusion in his personal life, Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport decides to take this case himself, hoping that some straightforward police work will clear his head, but as the trail begins to take unexpected turns, it soon becomes clear that nothing is straightforward about this killer. The man is learning as he goes, Lucas realizes, taking great strides forward with each murder. He is becoming a monster - and Lucas may have no choice but to walk right into his lair.

FROM THE CRITICS

USA Today

Surprises await around every bend...a very satisfying ride.

Publishers Weekly

The 13th title in the Prey series (Easy Prey, etc.) has wealthy Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport in up to his Porsche-driving fingertips. Lucas is trying to track an elusive serial killer while reuniting with former fianc e Weather Karkinnen who after a couple of years' estrangement following her narrow escape from a crazy biker in one of Lucas's former cases has suddenly decided she wants to have his baby. Weather is a formidable distraction, but the killer revealed to readers from the beginning as James Qatar, a suave professor of art history with a yen for strangulation proves to require even more attention. Soon after the body of a young blonde is found in a partially excavated grave on a remote wilderness hillside, a deputy sheriff from backwater Wisconsin shows up with a file containing case histories of several women reported missing in Wisconsin and Minnesota over a nine-year period. Fearing the worst, Lucas orders the hillside surveyed; subsequent excavation uncovers seven more bodies. The art world connections of some of the victims and the discovery of pornographic drawings suggests a link to the art community around the local Catholic university. As the net tightens, the usually coolheaded Qatar, already plotting the fate of a daring fabric artist in cahoots with the police, gradually loses control. With Lucas and his team watching his every move, he eludes surveillance and carries out a final desperate attack. Sandford is in top form here, his wry humor and his development of Lucas's combative, affectionate relationship with Weather lighting up the dark of another grisly investigation. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal