Shadow Prey by John SandfordMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
From Goodreads: A slumlord in Minneapolis. A New York politician. An Oklahoma judge. Three strangers with one thing in common: each has been butchered with a Native American ceremonial knife by a killer known as Shadow Love. Lucas Davenport and Officer Lily Rothenburg needn't look far for the killer. He's right behind them.
I had to read this one as it wasn’t available on audio and I found it to be a fast read. In this version, Sandford wrote an introduction on how he had initially written this as a political commentary and his publisher had him re-write it as a thriller with political commentary. It is my humble opinion that the views being expressed were rather overshadowed by the sex between the main characters. Really, who is going to pay attention to the nuances of social/political remarks when there are two people trying to climb into each other’s pants?
I also felt the socio-political plot was a bit weak in explanation, background and drive. I can understand the ‘waging war against the injustices of the white man’ (I currently live in proximity to two Indian reservations and I've lived in Minneapolis) but I just wasn’t picking up the urgency or drive I felt was needed to spur a ‘revolution’. It came across as a small group of guys with a long standing grudge, working independently of any organized tribe or law, taking down political figureheads. Nothing was resolved other than everyone ends up dead...which one could interpet as being the point. Nothing changes.
The two subplots surrounding Davenport was interesting character building. It will be fascinating to see how Sandford develops the homicide group from here to book #20 (Storm Prey).
So if you are looking for a engaging, quick to read cop thriller, this does a pretty good job of filling that niche.
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