The tenth novel in Sandford's popular spin-off series featuring Virgil Flowers, an investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Virgil returns to the small town of Trippton, Minnesota where, a few years back, he was sent to investigate a dog-napping ring and not only saved the dogs but uncovered a corrupt and homicidal school board (Deadline - 2014).
Now he's back because Gina Hemming, who inherited control of the town bank from her father, disappeared after hosting a meeting of her high school 25th class reunion committee, and her body turned up a few days later frozen and floating in the icy Mississippi River. But it wasn't the cold that killed her; a blunt instrument whacked against her head was the cause of death.
What makes the book a great read however is not Hemmings' murder --- since the murderer is identified early on, although Virgil only determines the guilty party after eliminating all the other suspects. What makes the book interesting is the way Sandford, with absolute deadpan humor, incorporates a subplot in which the governor, as a political favor, orders him to help a private investigator from California who is trying to serve a cease and desist order for trademark infringement on a group of local women who are selling Barbie-Oh and Boner-Ken (modified) dolls over the Internet in order to pay their bills and hold on to their homes. Virgil discovers trying to track down the women is far more dangerous than solving the murder --- and not just because he sympathizes with the women.
Sandford writes thrillers like no one else. Smart and funny. If you haven't given him a try I recommend you go back and read the books in order from the start (Dark of the Moon-2007)
Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.
Click HERE to read the review from the Washington Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment