Kemper's Reviews > Winter Prey

Since his New York adventure from the last book was wrapped up, Lucas Davenport is again bored and at loose ends. With nothing better to do, Lucas is riding out a long winter in his cabin in the woods of Wisconsin. Once again it’s the murder of innocent people that will give Davenport something to occupy his time. The guy really needs a hobby…

A vicious killer who thinks of himself as the Iceman is desperate to stop a compromising photograph becoming public so he butchers a family and burns their house down to try and destroy it. With the town’s priest implicated in the crime and the small community terrified, the overwhelmed sheriff asks Davenport for help. As Lucas tries to track him down the Iceman grows ever more desperate and violent.

The Prey series has such a generally consistent level of quality that it’s hard to pick a high point for the series, but I’d name this one as my favorite. Having Lucas work with a bunch of small town cops was a new wrinkle to the formula, especially since the last book had Davenport in New York so it really felt like a change of pace.

The Iceman was one of the nastier and more memorable killers in the long list of villains the series has had, and Sandford did a great job of showing us his point of view while disguising his identity so that when he’s finally revealed it’s a very satisfying answer. This one is also a turning point for the series with the introduction of Weather Karkinnen, the doctor who’d become a very important figure in Lucas’s life.

Another aspect that sets this one apart is the backdrop of an absolutely brutal winter. Blizzards and temperatures well below freezing have made simply going outside incredibly dangerous. Sandford has a talent for making you feel the wind chill, and the way he describes a frozen wasteland creates a bleak mood that perfectly matches the crimes that drive the story. This one is Sandford at his best.

Next: Lucas vs. the psycho cat burglar in Night Prey.