Shadow Prey cover art

Shadow Prey

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

$8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

Shadow Prey

Written by: John Sandford
Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy Now for $22.82

Buy Now for $22.82

In Shadow Prey, the crackling sequel to Rules of Prey, Twin Cities sleuth Lucas Davenport teams up with NYPD Lieutenant Lily Rothenberg to track down an elusive killer known only as Shadow Love. Among the victims are a Minneapolis slumlord, a judge from Oklahoma City, and a Manhattan politician. The murder weapon is a Native American ceremonial knife.

©1990 John Sandford (P)2012 Recorded Books Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Thriller Crime
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most Relevant
I enjoyed the is story. I enjoyed the end of it. I work in a kitchen and It is a great story that helps pass the time in dish! Would recommend! Fast paced and intense.

It was quite enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
decent , no Michael connelly or robert Crais but decent none the less. I don't regret listening to it

decent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story is ok. But the narrator is really not good at all. A different narrator might had some excitement to the story. Not getting the 3 rd one because of the narration

Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don't mean this book is full of explicit sex (although there is some). I mean that if 'Shadow Prey' were subjected to a TV/Film/Video Game rating system, it would be 'X-rated'. I'm just fine with viscerally-affecting "gut-punch" descriptions & subject matter (in fact, I quite enjoy True-Crime books that include jawdropping psychopathology and Crime-Thrillers with graphic autopsy findings), but John Sandford crosses the line between "uncomfortable" and "disturbing".
Every character in this book (including Detective Lucas Davenport - his 'Dirty Harry' archetype protagonist) is unethical, duplicitous, mean, and violent. Additionally, as in the first book in the series, readers are taken on the villain's journey into homicidal depravity - but his victims are as unlikable/evil as he is in this one. I found myself not caring about anyone in this book.. to the point that there's a startling lack of tension.
Admittedly, the book is well-written, the dialogue is quite believable, the plot is engrossing, and the pacing is gripping - but regardless, the graphic aspects of the book are unrelenting. Sandford doesn't let up on his dark-dark-dark theme at any point.

Richard Ferrone contributes to the sensation of an overdone atmosphere with a reading that's remarkably faithful to what he's given (an emotive performance - including some palpably angry voice-acting - creates a tone that matches Sandford's text perfectly). This is one of those odd occasions where excellent reading actually makes a poor script *worse*. He draws attention to it.
The biggest drawback to Ferrone's narration is awful timing (his reading is best consumed at 1.20X) - it's otherwise great.

For me, the excessively graphic descriptions and action took me out of the illusion.. and I'm not convinced Sandford can get out of the darker corners of his imaginative mind (I won't be reading any more 'Prey' novels).
Still, you aren't crazy to spend a Credit on this well-performed 6.5/10 star audiobook - in the end, it provides a distracting, thought-provoking, action-packed procedural about a frightening Native American Revenge Killer/Zealot.

Borderline Pornographic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A steady pace and an intriguing plot. The word "Indian" is used throughout the novel to reflect the time period in which the story takes place. While it is not appropriate today and the terminology is understandably offensive to the Indigenous community, it accurately depicts the public and government attitudes during the story's timeline.

Shadow Prey conveys the plight of the Indigenous community, their mistreatment at the hands of the government, and the public's blind eye. The actions of the "hunters" on both sides of the law are dubious, ambiguous, and a textbook case of ends justifying means.

The reader/listener is confronted with a moral dilemma and would be wise to maintain their objectivity as the story progresses.

Slow burn? Social Commentary? Good, but not great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews