"Prey" Put These Books In Order Quiz

This 1989 novel, "Rules of Prey", is where we first meet Lucas Davenport (one of my all-time favorite protagonists). He is arrogant, wears expensive suits, drives a Porsche, and designs simulation games for extra cash. But beyond that, he is an amazing detective.

He is paired against Louis Vullion, a killer who uses rules to keep his crimes perfectly organized. Louis considers himself a games master but he has run into his match. This introductory book stands out, not only because we learn about Lucas, but that it alternates viewpoints between the hunter and the hunted from the very beginning.

This book, the second in the series and out in 1990, takes Lucas out of his comfort zone as he handles a politically charged case involving historical injustice, ritualistic killings, and the treatment of Native Americans. Each victim in "Shadow Prey" has a history of bad behavior, but the only thing the killings have in common is the murder weapon, which is a Native American ceremonial knife. Lucas faces the first (of many over the series) of bureaucratic issues as he goes between his home of Minneapolis and Washington, DC.

The book also introduces Lily Rothenburg, a New York police officer who will be part of Lucas' life off and on.

"Eyes of Prey", from 1991, is one of the darker novels in the series. The third book to featue Lucas Davenport, we see him in a depressed state of mind as he struggles with PTSD from his last couple of cases. He is also suffering from personal relationship issues. On top of all of that, he is helping his friend Del track down a pair of hideous serial killers who, as it happens, slashes the eyes of the victims. Del wants justice served, and Lucas (through a variety of interesting twists) is going to make sure of it.

"Silent Prey" from 1992 is the fourth in the series. The familiar part of the novel is not just Lucas, of course, but also the villain. It is the evil killer from "Eyes of Prey". The setting, however, is not back in Minneapolis but is in New York City.

The killer is still searching the eyes of his dying victims (in a grotesque experiement) for what they can reveal. The city's police force reaches out to Lucas as a consultant. While there, he teams up with his significant other, Lily, to also help her in a quest to track down a group called the Robin Hoods who are acting as murderous vigalantes. Lucas deals with his own vendetta as well as working on their form of it.

"Winter Prey", from 1993, finds Lucas now in his cabin in the wintery northern woody area of Minnesota after he has chosen to leave the police department. However, he is not there long before he finds himself asked by the local authorities to help them with a new case.

A sociopath named Iceman is on the loose and has killed multiple people. On the scene, Davenport meets Dr. Weather Karkinnen, surgeon and sometimes county coroner. Weather will become an important figure in this and other books. Iceman is killing people to protect his identity of someone involved in a child sex ring. Weather could potentially identify him so now she is on his radar to kill. During an action packed encounter in the frozen woods, Lucas is shot but saved by Weather.

"Night Prey", from 1994, showcases Lucas again in Minneapolis and back in a special branch of the police force there. He is assigned to work with a state investigator named Meagan who is sure the latest string of killings is the result of a serial killer.

Although they clash quite a bit, Lucas and Meagan start in on the trail of a cat burgler-turned-killer named Koop who is extemely obsessed with a woman. Because he can't have her, he kills to make himself feel better. A gamble to trap Koop backfires and there is a huge confrontation where Meagan (who is dying of cancer) dies in order to stop Koop. Lucas (hurt again) goes back to fighting (more) serial killers.

"Mind Prey", from 1995, is John Sandford's seventh novel featuring Lucas Davenport. This book starts with (surprisingly) not a series of serial killings but a kidnapping. A local wealthy businessman's wife and daughters have been taken by an ex-psychiatric patient named Mail. Mail then begins to pit his mind against Lucas with calls, random clues, gaming ciphers, and even dead bodies dressed to look like the kidnap victim.

The action intensifies until Lucas and his team figure out that Mail has the females in an underground bunker.

In typical nail biting suspense, the reader finds out the mother and oldest daughter have fought back over time and that the youngest daughter is rescued so all are (at least physically) OK. Can't say the same for the killer who ends up killing himself.

In the 1996 book "Sudden Prey", Lucas Davenport and some fellow police officers capture two women bank robbers who both end up dead in a shootout. Unfortunately, they are related to convict Dick LaChaise who immediately plots his prison escape and retaliation for their deaths.

He truly believes in "eye for an eye". He then begins to kill the police officers' relatives. Lucas is aware that his significant other, Weather, will be on that list. Lucas tries to track down and stop Dick but an unknown corrupt policeman is aiding the criminals.

The book then delves into not only the tracking and deaths of the criminals but also a peek into the psychology and actions of the justice system.

"Secret Prey", from 1998, opens with the chairman of Polaris Bank lying dead in the woods surrounded by other executives that were on his hunting party. Each of them had a reason to kill him. That's where Lucas Davenport comes into the picture. Depressed after his fiance, Weather, left him, Davenport dives into the mystery to avoid thinking about his personal problems.

The novel then follows Davenport's tracking each of the suspects and delving into their motivations and thought processes. In an interesting twist to us readers, the villian (in a typical whodunit) is not revealed until the ending of the story.

In this 1999 book, "Certain Prey", Lucas is now embroiled with two female villains. Carmel Loan always like to get what she wants and she wants a man she knows who is married. So she decides to hire an assassin to take out the wife. She hires gritty, smart, and pretty Clara Rinker who almost never messes up.

The key words there are "almost never". This time she left a witness. And Lucas is pulled into the case. Somehow he is always two steps behind them and is taken aback with dealing with Carmel who sees the whole thing as a business transaction go wrong. One woman is killed but the other escapes to (maybe) appear in later novels.