Extreme Prey
Extreme Prey (Lucas Davenport #26)
By: John Sandford
My main issue with this book was the swearing and language. *F- you* was a common thread. Lots of f bombs and all the other swear words and just crass talk in general. I don’t know if that’s how normal people talk but even if it was, do we really need to spell it all out?! And for that reason, I won’t be reading any more of his books.
This book was given to me as a gift. I had not read anything else by this author before but a friend of my husband thought I would like it because I like these types of books and I live in Iowa- which is where the whole book takes place. I will admit, it was fun to read about places or things that I’m familiar with. Although with all the Iowa town/road name dropping in the book, MY hometown wasn’t mentioned… but you can’t have it all!
Honestly I think the language hindered my ability to engage or be objective about the storyline and characters but let’s review it anyway. Having not read any other books, I did not feel any real interest with the characters. I did not see any growth or development. They all seemed a little flat to me.
The premise: a radical political party near Pella hates a presidential candidate and plans to kill her. It’s a game of cat and mouse- Lucas (the main guy; rich and stylish ex-cop) must figure out who made the threats and get to them before they enact their plan. So as the reader, we know who the culprits are from the beginning. Not usually my preference but I will say, for all his flaws, Sandford did create good suspense. It’s a long book and I read it pretty quickly for that reason.
As for the “realistic” aspect of the story- with these kind of books you suspend parts of reality for the story whether that be legal realities or political realities- I did not read it too critically in that regard BUT THE ONE THING: the main info Lucas has to go off of to find these people is that it’s an old woman with curly white hair with a son with “distinctive grey eyes.” (mentioned like 50+ times) What does that mean?? Grey eyes are the least interesting eyes out there. And people don’t really register people’s eye color, like ever. How would anyone be able to identify distinctive grey eyes or when asked go- “Oh yeah- what’s his head has distinctive grey eyes. It’s surely not the other hundred people I know, they have distinctive blue eyes, hazel eyes, and brown eyes respectively. But I could never forget those grey eyes.” Is it just me?? Do you guys take note of people’s eyes?? Are you thinking of someone with grey eyes right now?? Sigh. Sometimes reality needs to be reality and authors need to think of some better leads for cops to have. Also, if someone can share with me a person who has distinctive grey eyes, I will increase the positivity of this review.
So anyway. If language doesn’t bother you, you’ll like this book. AND you’ll get a nice little tour of the great state of Iowa.