A so so effort in the series, never really grabbed me like some of the other Virgil Flowers books have.
Entertaining detective/action story
This was another great book about Virgil Flowers written by John Sandford.
If you're a fan of John Sandford, and the Virgil Flowers series in particular, then this is a good read. Virgil has to deal with a kidnapping of rare tigers at the zoo, and meanwhile an issue much closer at home pops up as well. This is a definite page-turner from start to finish.
I struggled to get beyond the halfway point of this novel. Although I adored the first few Virgil Flowers books, this one is tiresome, flat and pretty pointless. Too bad - either Sandford or his ghostwriter has lost the magic.
While reading this I had the feeling I've read it before, but maybe that's just because the formula is so familiar. It's an entry in the Virgil Flowers series, doesn't matter if you've read any of them before. Same plot structure as the Prey series - the sociopathic killer, lots of false leads, smaller crimes popping up, and lots of bodies - but instead of Lucas Davenport shooting everyone in sight, protagonist Virgil Flowers doesn't like using his gun. That sets up plenty of situations where he gets in trouble because of it. In this entry, two rare tigers have been stolen from a small zoo. It's either animal activists or people who want to grind them up for the illegal medicine trade. The subplot is attacks against the sister of Flower's girlfriend, who is writing a thesis on exploitation of undocumented workers. Lots of bodies, good pacing, excellent airplane book.
Shortly after the tigers are stolen in Escape Clause, one of the thieves makes a remark about the female which provided so much anticipation that it lasted throughout the book and helped me ignore my intense dislike of so-called medicine that relies on exterminating the wildlife of this planet.
This was my first foray into Sandford's Virgil Flowers series, and I enjoyed the humor and the character of Virgil. I liked his quick, logical thinking and the way he got the investigation in high gear with very little fuss. It was also a pleasure to see that various law enforcement agencies could actually work together harmoniously for a common aim.
The pace did bog down a bit when Flowers had to wait for the bad guy-in-chief to come unglued and make more mistakes, but then there was Sparkle to worry about. Sparkle had a typical young person's lack of vision, with no concept of what her dissertation was getting her (and others) into.
Yes, indeed. I enjoyed my first visit with Virgil Flowers, and I'm sure that there will be more in the future.
This was my first foray into Sandford's Virgil Flowers series, and I enjoyed the humor and the character of Virgil. I liked his quick, logical thinking and the way he got the investigation in high gear with very little fuss. It was also a pleasure to see that various law enforcement agencies could actually work together harmoniously for a common aim.
The pace did bog down a bit when Flowers had to wait for the bad guy-in-chief to come unglued and make more mistakes, but then there was Sparkle to worry about. Sparkle had a typical young person's lack of vision, with no concept of what her dissertation was getting her (and others) into.
Yes, indeed. I enjoyed my first visit with Virgil Flowers, and I'm sure that there will be more in the future.
great
Can't give any higher than a 2 rating
Sandford is spending too much time on a cop hunting for animal killers, I don't think that is Virgil's main job but the one about the dogs started something, I just hope Sandford doesn't go forward with anymore
This may contain spoilers-----if you are offended about animal cruelty then don't read this, the plot is about finding beautiful tigers that are stolen from a zoo then slaughtered for parts, the second storyline is about Virgil's girlfriends sister yada yada yada and all the trouble she is causing
Why 2 storylines? It got tiresome with everything being drawn out too long, story was not tight enough to cut down on some pages, so for me this was about 100 pages too long
I do like this character (I don't read the Prey books don't like the Davenport character) but Sandford is ruining it if he continues with animal cruelty
Sandford is spending too much time on a cop hunting for animal killers, I don't think that is Virgil's main job but the one about the dogs started something, I just hope Sandford doesn't go forward with anymore
This may contain spoilers-----if you are offended about animal cruelty then don't read this, the plot is about finding beautiful tigers that are stolen from a zoo then slaughtered for parts, the second storyline is about Virgil's girlfriends sister yada yada yada and all the trouble she is causing
Why 2 storylines? It got tiresome with everything being drawn out too long, story was not tight enough to cut down on some pages, so for me this was about 100 pages too long
I do like this character (I don't read the Prey books don't like the Davenport character) but Sandford is ruining it if he continues with animal cruelty
