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yevolem 's review for:
Gathering Prey
by John Sandford
Gathering Prey is the 25th entry in this series that started in 1989. It certainly has changed a lot from its initial books. I think it would be a lot easier progressing forward the the series rather than having read a later book and then trying to read from the beginning. Some may only prefer certain eras of the book. I won't have thoughts on that until I've caught up with the series near the end of the year. If nothing else, the author knows how to keep it fresh over time, even if there are sometimes some lackluster attempts. That wasn't the case with this entry. It's a cathartic throwback to earlier days in several different ways while also continuing to progress as it always has.
As soon as the book started, I thought to myself, "These criminals are the Charlie Manson family, but worse" and sure enough later the text says explicitly says that. There are a lot in the group, 20 or so, which was too many to develop them all, but the several that were, were done well. There was just as much time spent from their perspective as was needed as well. Due to the number of people and states involved, this was more like a FBI manhunt than a state organization investigation. The ending for the criminals was unfortunately typical of the series, but there are limited options for a narrative and cult leader like this.
The fun of this series has almost always been watching it unfold rather then figuring out a mystery. That's one thing that hasn't changed much, it's been much more a thriller than anything else from the beginning, as far as I already remember now. The body count and geographical area have both been increasing. This book is probably also the most severe indictment of the current state of the police, media, politics and bureaucracy yet. There's a lot of emotion expressed here, which also quickly made it obvious that the current phase of Davenport's life was untenable. So it was indeed the case that this was the final book of this era. History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, so the ending was rather similar to one of the earlier transition books.
As soon as the book started, I thought to myself, "These criminals are the Charlie Manson family, but worse" and sure enough later the text says explicitly says that. There are a lot in the group, 20 or so, which was too many to develop them all, but the several that were, were done well. There was just as much time spent from their perspective as was needed as well. Due to the number of people and states involved, this was more like a FBI manhunt than a state organization investigation. The ending for the criminals was unfortunately typical of the series, but there are limited options for a narrative and cult leader like this.
The fun of this series has almost always been watching it unfold rather then figuring out a mystery. That's one thing that hasn't changed much, it's been much more a thriller than anything else from the beginning, as far as I already remember now. The body count and geographical area have both been increasing. This book is probably also the most severe indictment of the current state of the police, media, politics and bureaucracy yet. There's a lot of emotion expressed here, which also quickly made it obvious that the current phase of Davenport's life was untenable. So it was indeed the case that this was the final book of this era. History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, so the ending was rather similar to one of the earlier transition books.