Mad River: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford --- 387 pages
Virgil Flowers first appeared as a supporting character in Sandford's
Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport, but soon proved interesting and popular enough in his own right to get his own spin off series of murder mysteries in addition to continuing appearances in the original series.
In this novel, Flowers is sent to assist the sheriff's department in rural Bare County when three bored teenagers with dead end lives and a lot of anger get their hands on some guns and go on a killing spree. The hard part is knowing that sooner or later this is going to end badly, Virgil thinks, and the longer it goes on, the more people will die along the way. He knows the sheriff and his deputies have no intention of taking these kids alive. But Virgil objects to that kind of vigilante justice, so he's made up his mind to bring in the kids himself, make sure they get a trial before they get locked up for the rest of their lives. He manages to get one of them into custody, and that boy tells a very troubling tale that makes Virgil begin to wonder if maybe somebody just saw some advantage for himself in setting these kids up with guns and pointing them in a particular direction. Maybe at least one of these murders wasn't just random, aimless violence. But the only way he can get proof of what he suspects is if he can get at least one if not both of the other two kids into custody and talking to him. Which appears to be less and less likely to happen.
