Sudden Prey

I love these books and can't get enough of them. They are so violent but sometimes things don't really jive with reality. I think that is the reason I can enjoy them for the most part. The times I have started to read a true crime story and get to this level of craziness, I find I can't continue. I can't enjoy these books if they are too real. I want the bad guys to lose and the good guys to win in the end.

This story was pretty intense with an escaped convict and a couple of his buddies ganging up to kill cops or their family. To add flame to the fire they had a cop working with them and feeding them information. They had something on him so he was blackmailed into giving them information about cops and where they lived. He didn't really want anyone to get hurt so he was trying to play both sides. This was one of those books I didn't want to put down but at the same time I didn't want it to end too soon.

A few things did bother me about the story - like the women who didn't want to stay in protection when there were madmen after them. So, they knew these guys were gunning for the wives/girlfriends of the police and had actually killed some and wounded some. Who in their right mind would insist on going to work anyway? I found myself hoping the two women, ex-girlfriend and fiancée, would get killed just because they were so annoying and stupid. In some of the other books too there was some conversation with these women and Davenport that was just plain stupid. Basically, they are turned off by how he gets this thrill from the job or getting the bad guy. They don't like it when criminals are killed instead of talked down, locked up, and “fixed”. It's like the author wants you to hate them.

Then, there was the case of two characters seeming to have a personality change at the end of the book. Sure people might might snap but it's doubtful they would ever really get nice.

So, in a nutshell, I loved it AND hated it. I still give it 4 stars for the impossible-to-put-downness minus a few stupid moments.