RARA-AVIS: Sandford/Camp -- Prey Series

From: Gerald So ( gso@optonline.net)
Date: 18 Apr 2000


Hello, all.

     I read RULES OF PREY, SHADOW PREY, and EYES OF PREY in an $8 omnibus, and picked up on the predictability others have mentioned. In the end, I'd say the Prey books are too similar to a lot of 80s pop mysteries: attractive mult-talented bad boy protagonist facing cookie-cutter villains.
     Beneath the slick surface, the books seemed to suffer from indecisiveness. I felt the stories would be more suspenseful if told in first-person from Lucas's viewpoint; instead I had to read the third-person.
     Also, Lucas seems like he'd make a great P.I., except he's a cop--the literary equivalent of Nash Bridges. I have the same problem with Burke's Robicheaux series.
     I prefer the Kidd books, written under Camp's own name. Kidd is also an attractive, multi-talented bad boy hero, but he's private. For some reason, roguish qualities in a P.I. bother me less than they do in a cop. Camp should have tried more with Kidd instead of turning out so many Prey books in a row.
     This much said, I would go back to the Prey books, but only at a bargain price.

                                                         Gerald

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