I've been following John Sandford's Prey series of books for many years, but sadly, they no longer have the spark they used to have. I still really enjoy Sandford's use of dialouge and his ability to make you look left when you should be looking right, but Wicked Prey simply didn't live up to the promise of his earlier books.

The Prey series is all about Lucas Davenport, a police officer in Minnesota. By this book, he's risen in the ranks to be head of a major crimes unit. Lucas' family, though present in the books, aren't usually that involved in the story, but that wasn't this case in Wicked Prey.

A few books back, Lucas took custody of a street-wise teen named Letty, whose quick thinking helped save his life. Like many teens, Letty thinks she's bullet proof, so when she finds out that she's being stalked by a man Lucas once sent to prison, she takes matters into her own hands.

The story takes place during the Republican convention and that means the cops have their hands full with protestors, pick pockets and assorted petty crimes. They also have an assasin in town and a group of high-end theieves who are out to rob the special delegates. These guys have huge amounts of cash all in small bills that they use to pay for lunches, supplies and probably bribes. This is illegal, so when the guys get robbed, they can't tell the cops the whole truth and that's the beauty of the plan.

But Lucas and his guys are smart and bit by bit, they put it all together and begin tightening the noose around the thieves. That causes the team to panic and a cop is killed. Everything escalates from there and that's when the story gets a little hard to follow. There are too many people, too many twists and turns and then the one thing I really hate -- a huge coincidence.

Letty's stalker has a run in with the leader of the theives and suddenly both cases are connected. As a parent, I certainly do feel for poor Lucas who has his hands full only to find out that his "daughter" is putting herself in harm's way. This all happens just days before they're about to go to court to make a formal adoption and there's a very poignant scene near the end where Letty expects Lucas to call off the adoption because of all the trouble she'd caused.

If you're thinking of reading any of the Prey series, I'd recommend Winter Prey, but with warnings. The books are by nature, violent. They have some foul language and Winter Prey in particular has a sexual component. If those things bother you, stay away from this series.

If, however, you enjoy a well-written police procedural that looks into the mind of a killer, read Winter Prey. This book, Wicked Prey is only for die-hard Davenport fans.

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