Silent Prey opens in a courtroom in Minneapolis. The murder case against Bekker has drawn to a close and the jury is leaving the room to decide his fate. In the truest sense of a madman, Bekker thinks he is merely misunderstood. What others perceive as torture and murder, Bekker believes is medical experimentation. And now, these people are going to put him away for good.
During the past month Bekker has been faking a medical condition that requires him to use the restroom all the time. With the jury gone, Bekker asks the cop to let him use the facilities. The cop's one mistake is unlocking the handcuffs. Bekker kills the cop with a hidden razor. Disguised as a lunchtime jogger, Bekker escapes out of the courtroom. A serial killer is again on the loose.
As retired police officer Lucas Davenport is fixing his roof, a taxi pulls up at his house. Out pops his ex-lover, Lily, who is now a cop in New York City. It turns out she is here on official business. Bekker is hiding out and killing the citizens of New York. So far, no agency or established committee has been able to find Bekker. Lily has been dispatched to Minneapolis to get Davenport to come back to New York and talk to the press.
Lucas has past experience with Bekker, who killed the woman loved. When Davenport caught Bekker the first time, he gave him a huge beating, permanently scarring his face. It was a close as he could get without murdering the nutcase. Lucas is intrigued by the request to become unofficially involved with the case, as it would give him a chance to put Bekker away once and for all.
However, Lily confesses the real reason he is wanted in New York. It seems within the same department that is trying to find Bekker, there is a rogue "Robin Hood" cop, or group of officers, that is eliminating all the scum in the city. In other words, murders and rapists are quietly being killed in an attempt to better the city. Lucas is wanted to work on the Bekker case as a means of finding the Robin Hood.
Lucas arrives in New York with his work cut out for him. Everyone in the department, including his friend Lily is a suspect as the possible Robin Hood.
Meanwhile, Bekker continues to seek out his victims. He straps them to his table and performs ghastly experiments on them. His final act is the removal of the victims' eyelids. It's his signature on each murder and just one more reason the entire country wants him behind bars.
Silent Prey is an absolutely gripping tale that follows the trail of a psychopathic killer, the police force that's trying to find him, and the man who is looking for another murderer within the department itself.
What I have told you is merely the first chapters. This is a tale of twisted suspense. The officers are so close to Bekker, yet he outsmarts them all. At one point, he's even in the same building as those who want his hide.
Lucas gets a little too close to Robin Hood as well and barely makes it out alive.
I normally don't use this phrase, but Silent Prey is definitely a page-turner. There isn't a single slow section of which to speak.
This book does have its dark elements. The Bekker character is very disturbing and I found Sandford's descriptions of his crimes difficult to read at times. Of course this is only fiction, but the guy seemed realistically warped.
Love interests are included in the plot, but are kept to a minimum. That's a good thing, because too much nookie would have taken away from the action. (Did I really just use the word nookie in this review? Sheesh, it's late) Lucas becomes slightly involved with one of the female officers, but must keep a working distance at the same time in case she's part of the Robin Hood team.
There was really only one thing that bothered me regarding Silent Prey. Now, I don't claim to be an expert in the field of criminal justice. However, it just doesn't seem right that the men and women of the NYPD would call on a retired cop from Minnesota to help them out. Of course, without that help, there would be no book to review, so I'll just keep quiet.
Everything else in the book was fine. The characters seemed real to me, right down to their social distance which some cops express. The dialogue was interesting. Though the vulgarity may offend some, I felt it was just another part of the story.
In case you don't know, John Sandford has written a series of Prey books revolving around the Lucas Davenport character. I have yet to read a bad book in the bunch and recommend you check out the entire series.
I will be recommending Silent Prey to my friends. It is an ideal book when you need a little excitement and suspense in your reading schedule.
