Lucas Davenport "Prey" series by John Sandford

During my listening binges, one of the first series that I binged and have since almost completely devoured is the Lucas Davenport "Prey" series. Before I was ill, I predominantly read YA books, which I still enjoy occasionally but right now, the easiest book for me to read is a thriller or a good mystery without a whiny teenaged protagonist (I have preteen children for that, so I get my fill!). 

 

I was merely looking for a series that had a ton of books in it because I was in a major binge mood after not being able to read or even listen to audiobooks for over two years. And I'm guessing I'm not the only one who likes familiar likeable but flawed protagonists that you get to see again book after book. So I randomly picked up Rules of Prey and was hooked.

There is not a big mystery to the majority of this series. Generally, the books start from the viewpoint of the murderer and goes through one of his/her murders. But many times we are told who the bad guy is and then the rest of the book is set up so that there is a long cat/mouse match (who the cat and who the mouse is may vary) between Lucas and the bad guy. But Lucas is a really interesting protagonist. I envision him looking kind of like Clint Eastwood and being all broody like. He is described as "liking women and women liking him," and I find his relationships refreshing because they are so not what I'm used to. He has many flings, sometimes at the same time, but it isn't just about the sex, while the sex is generally good. He is just really INTERESTED in the women as people, and that is amazing. And the women are also not catty, they understand who they are with, and generally, are not jealous, which may just be the kind of woman he is attracted to. Someone so confident that if he sleeps with another woman, they realize he likes her just as much, he just likes... a lot of women for different reasons. And they are realistic about this. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm the jealous type. I could never date or marry someone like Lucas. He is way too attracted to danger and women and violence. But he is very interesting to read about. But he isn't just a random cowboy gunslinger although he is that too. Lucas also dresses really well. He loves a tailored Italian suit. In addition to this, apparently he is a computer game designer whiz who on the side of his regular job as a police man, has built his own company and made millions. His best friend is a nun. He struggles with depression. He is many times a vigilante. I could go on and on. 

I'm not going to spoil you any more for the series although there is a LOT to talk about. I may put a spoiler alert on a future post so I can discuss some of the future characters that come up that are just too good to ignore, and some have even spawned their own spin off series, and rightly so. But if you need a good series to binge and not worry that the next book is going to be a bust (there are definitely better books in the series than others but you can always count on your favorite characters being there), I would definitely try this.

I'm back... for real this time

Hi everyone!

It's been... several years since my last post. Lots of catch up on. I guess first things first. Around the time my second child was born, 4 years ago, I started to feel super fatigued. It became really hard to do anything normal, and in time, that included reading books. This was a huge blow to me because reading, as you all know, has been more than just a past time. In many times of my life, it was a lifeline, a joy, a passion. To have that taken away with so many other things... it was devastating. Fast forward to last year, I was diagnosed with systemic Sjogrens. This is an autoimmune disease that is best known to attack your tear ducts and saliva glands but mine affects my whole body, which led to many of my sensory nerves dying and a lot of my other body functions to go insane. I was placed on the right medication finally, and a year later, I'm again able to read. Reading print books is still spotty. I can do it, but it takes a lot more effort. Audiobooks have become my lifeline so I have been blazing through hundreds of books this way while I work on rehabbing antiques. A far cry from my past life of mostly brain work, but my concentration was sapped first of everything. Honestly, I'm overjoyed to have any part of reading coming back to me. I am worlds better than I was even a year ago, and I am starting to slowly rebuild my body through intense physical therapy. I doubt I'll ever be able to read like I did before, but that doesn't mean I cannot participate. So anticipate a post once in a while from your good friend. Writing posts takes a lot of concentration so it will hardly be as often as before, but anything is better than nothing! I know I supposedly posted a couple of days ago but that was an old post. I blame the ghosts lol! I hope you are all doing well.