This is one of the best Prey novels that I’ve read. It’s very different from the others in that Lucas Davenport isn’t solving a murder mystery but is rather attempting to stop a crazy escaped convict from taking revenge for his recently killed wife and sister.
The escaped convict, Dick LaChaise, bands together with some buddies, each unique and scary, to pursue and punish the police officers responsible. These characters are described in such a way as to invoke comparison with some of the “hoods” I knew back in junior high school. You know the type: the heavy metal, smoking in the bathroom, disrepectful, never get anything better than a “D” kids who come from bad homes and bad parents. Take the worst of that bunch and fast forward 20 years and you have the villains of this novel.
This is the 8th novel in the Prey series. I finished it in three days. It was hard to put down. The high velocity ending is particularly satisfying and closes the novel well.