But the free-wheeling, often irreverent Virgil beats the more reserved Lucas hands down in my book - except maybe in the TV movie "Certain Prey" starring hunky Mark Harmon as Davenport. The point is this: opening this book, like all that preceded it, is like opening the door to welcome an old friend - and I'm always sorry when our visits come to an end.
Here, Virgil finds himself entwined in two concurrent plots, starting with the apparent theft of two rare Amur tigers from the Minnesota zoo.
Tiger parts, it seems, are in great demand in traditional Chinese medicine, and the race is on to find them before they're chopped, ground and funneled into high-priced vials. Meantime, Virgil's girlfriend Frankie's sister Sparkle, visiting for the summer, has put herself in the crosshairs of some very nasty people as she tries to get the dirt on mistreatment of migrant workers to finish her doctoral dissertation.
Because of his relationship with Frankie, Virgil can't be directly involved with the latter issue, although as usual , the issue has a way of involving him. There's no shortage of action that includes plenty of blood, guts, gore and bawdy language. And also as usual, Lucas makes the occasional appearance, if only by phone he was Virgil's boss at the BCI before getting fed up with the bureaucracy and leaving, but the two remain in touch.
In the interests of full disclosure, I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. So lest I be accused of being overenthusiastic in my opinion because of my prior relationship with Virgil I wish , I'll nitpick a bit - starting with the man himself. He seems to have mellowed a bit here, almost to the point of threatening his good ol' bad boy reputation.
But after all, he is getting older, and he appears to be happily settled down with girlfriend Frankie, so maybe that's an inevitable progression. The ending, too, kind of gnawed at me; it was tasty, but a bit hard to swallow. The verdict? It's another solid entry in the Virgil Flowers series and for those who may be concerned, it stands alone well. Highly recommended! View all 10 comments. Another entertaining and enjoyable book in the Virgil Flowers series!
View 1 comment. Oct 30, Liz rated it really liked it. Ok, all of John Sandford books are good, but the Virgil Flowers series are always the most fun. This one is no exception. How many times could I go between chuckling and ewwww? Not for the squeamish. Nov 05, Skip rated it liked it Shelves: crime-detective. Virgil is cavorting nude with Frankie in a swimming hole when he is called to help solve the case of a stolen pair of rare Amur tigers from the Minneapolis zoo.
The possible culprits are animal rights activists or those seeking rare animal parts for cult medicines. The mastermind is eating Xanax like Halloween candy, while bumping off his partners, drawing the attention of their crazy brothers, who come seeking vengeance. The sideshow, involving Frankie's sister Sparkle, was a detraction, but wa Virgil is cavorting nude with Frankie in a swimming hole when he is called to help solve the case of a stolen pair of rare Amur tigers from the Minneapolis zoo.
The sideshow, involving Frankie's sister Sparkle, was a detraction, but was offset by bringing ex-victim, now BCA agent, Catrin Mattson, into the story. Virgil meticulously follows all of the leads, but misses the perpetrator initially. Like all Virgil Flowers novels, it's about the hunt and sidestories.
Like Kemper, I took away a star because of the kidnap of an endangered species. Dec 29, Cindy Newton rated it really liked it Shelves: owned-books , crime , thriller-mystery , part-of-a-series , john-sandford.
I decided to kick off my reading with my old friend John Sandford. I figured that would allow me to start the year with a positive review, and I was right. Sandford never lets me down. Virgil is a very different character from Davenport, not as hard-edged or ruthless, but his adventures are tense nail-biters, all the same. In this case, the fate of two rare tigers is hanging in the balance, so the ticking clock is a priority in solving the mystery and foiling the bad guys.
I saw that some p I decided to kick off my reading with my old friend John Sandford. I saw that some people were turned off by this book because it contained this threat to animals, and while I was desperately rooting for the tigers, I am not MORE bothered by cruelty to animals than I am by cruelty to humans.
Since Sandford novels are rife with cruelty to humans, this didn't really faze me. No less than three times did the antagonist avoid capture by Virgil by the simple expedient of arriving at a location and seeing Virgil before Virgil saw him. With luck like that, Peck should have been playing the lottery instead of stealing tigers!
I foresaw Peck's fate about halfway through the book, so that was rather predictable. I found the storyline with Sparkle and her part-time priest funny, and I admired her zeal for exposing the corruption of the plant-owners, but I was starting to get annoyed by the fact that everyone but her was paying the price for her goal. I was actually kinda glad when she got punched--finally, she takes the heat for her own actions! I mean, no one should be beat up for trying to expose lawbreaking and abuse, but Frankie wasn't involved in it at all and ends up in the hospital, then Ramona.
The part that pissed me off was that Sparkle told Ramona that nothing would happen and she wouldn't be in any danger for helping her sneak in. Clearly, she knew that these people were dangerous and that Ramona was taking a risk--Sparkle should have been upfront with her about that, and let her then decide if she wanted to help her.
Those are minor issues--the book overall, as usual, is a solid good thriller. I recommend Sandford to anyone who enjoys excellently written crime thrillers with interesting, well-developed characters and taut, suspenseful plots. What more could you ask for? Nov 18, Truman32 rated it really liked it. There are two things you can pretty much count on author John Sandford to do: 1.
And once again with Escape Clause , his newest entry in the Virgil Flowers detective series, Sandford has delivered on both counts. As everyone knows, an escape clause is a clause in a contract that specifies the conditions under which one party can be freed from an obligation. That does not happen here. In fact, that woul There are two things you can pretty much count on author John Sandford to do: 1. In fact, that would be horrible if it did. Who would want to go through three hundred pages of Flowers working with his attorney perusing some lengthy legal document?
Escape Clause seems like something that hotshot newbie Brad in marketing decided to suggest to move a little more units. A nefarious crew hired by Chinese mobster, Zhang Min has taken these stripy cats to harvest their organs, bones, and various body parts for natural medicines.
These miscreants include the violent but slow-witted Hamlet brothers and the disgraced for groping an unconscious patient Dr. Winston Peck VI. Virgil Flowers and the Case of the Filched Felines is classic Sandford—the story is riveting, the pressure building up as Peck starts to tie up any loose ends with murderous efficiency. We get the humorous workplace banter between cops—always awesome I really hope this is how it works in real life , the small town interactions that make a simple rural existence appealing, and of course, more of Virgil Flowers being Virgil Flowers.
What a great character to spend time with again. Everything about this subplot seemed pasted on to make the book fill out some sort of contractual page allotment. Almost as if the publisher had some sort of Hmm, maybe that title is beginning to make more sense! Well, mark Virgil Flowers and the Case of the Filched Felines as another strong entry into this series and a delight to read. I enjoyed this so much that I did not remember that I had already finished this months before.
View all 4 comments. Oct 27, Tim rated it really liked it. VFF is an awesome character created by John Sanford. This fictional guy should be the envy of law enforcement in that he goes hard after bad guys by all means with guile and despite being poor with a gun. His bravery and doggedness endeared him the support of people of Minnesota. Jul 15, CL rated it it was amazing. Another hit for John Sanford and Virgil Flowers. In this 9th story Virgil has been tasked with finding 2 rare Amur tigers that have gone missing from the Minnesota zoo.
It is feared they have been stolen for their use in traditional Chinese Another hit for John Sanford and Virgil Flowers. It is feared they have been stolen for their use in traditional Chinese medicine and their medicinal properties is very prized in the Chinese culture. It appears to be an inside job but as Virgil gets closer and closer bodies start turning up. In typical Virgil Flowers style he pokes the bear or in this case the tiger so to speak and gets himself into more trouble than be bargained for.
Great read!! Mar 28, Michael rated it really liked it Shelves: mystery , police-procedural , fiction , animals , minnesota. This is just what the doctor ordered for an entertaining read to clear the mental palate from too much ostensibly gourmet fare of serious literature. Minnesota detective Virgil Flowers gets assigned to the case of theft of a couple of rare tigers from the Minneapolis Zoo. This is not his typical case, but all the regular police are busy with security of presidential aspirants campaigning at the Minnesota State Fair, as justified by the recent assassination attempt on the liberal candidate at the This is just what the doctor ordered for an entertaining read to clear the mental palate from too much ostensibly gourmet fare of serious literature.
This is not his typical case, but all the regular police are busy with security of presidential aspirants campaigning at the Minnesota State Fair, as justified by the recent assassination attempt on the liberal candidate at the Iowa State Fair.
The pressure is high to solve it fast because it appears likely the culprits will kill the beasts to processing their organs for the lucrative Chinese medicine market. Soon the chopped up body of a zoo worker is identified in a case thrown into a river, obviously a cover-up for the theft. Cut off his arms? What about the one with the dognapping that turned into a triple murder or something and you arrested the school board?
He always forgets to carry or load his gun, and always has to regret that. Unlike most crime fighting heroes, he has no dark past to compensate for, he does not suffer from alcohol and substance abuse, and has a healthy relationship with women. Here his serious relationship with Frankie gets a bit complicated when his beautiful sister Sparkle moves in for the summer and has no reservations about joining them nude in their hot-tub. But his protectiveness for Frankie gets extended to Sparkle in a topical side story of this tale when her political advocacy for migrant workers brings out some serious threats from America-first types.
Here the kingpin, a Dr. Peck, makes for quite a colorful adversary, a man oppressed with the ignominy of bankruptcy and who has to boost his courage with Xanax. Beyond managing the complex operation of this money making scheme, he can be a man of action.
At a point of self-reflection, our twisted doctor tries to diagnose himself and his genetic line of physicians: Were the Pecks psychopaths?
He even had a hard time figuring out what it would be like feeling something for his fellow humans. Ironically, at one point Virgil has to protect Peck, whose notoriety in marketing medicines made from animal organs raises the ire of a rabid animal rights activist. A great one in the series for me. I see no great benefit from reading them in order, so feel free to pick this one if the subject incites your interest.
Oct 29, debra rated it liked it. I love Virgil and this narrator-don't know why this one was a little boring for me. Covers the research areas that are critical for understanding how the world of commercial policy has changed, especially over the last 20 years Presents the way in which research on the topic has evolved Scrutinizes the economic modeling of bargaining and legal issues Useful for examining the theory and empirics of commercial policy.
Scott Calvin aka Santa Clause is back and everything seems perfect for him and his family. Lucy Miller is a very lucky girl. But sneaky Jack Frost wants to destory Santa's workshop. Can Lucy find a way to save her uncle's work shop? Skip to content. Escape Clause. Escape Clause Book Review:. The big guy was addicted to Akhtamar Black Flames, and almost always had one stuck to his lower lip; but not now. I saw it, man. Both of them.
But who knows if it was enough? Two bodies lay in the short grass, unmoving. The fence was twenty feet high and stouter than a normal chain link; a prison fence. The soapy touch of Xanax was slipping into his brain. Hamlet was cutting a wide oval in the fence, leaving it hinged on one side. Twenty seconds later, a man in a gray uniform ambled along the road, looking at nothing in particular, talking to himself.
He lost the thread of what the man was saying as he disappeared around the curve of the frontage road. Crawl through there. Hold the fence. No reaction.
That was a good thing. The other body was ten feet further on. He poked that one, too, got no response. Get the dollies in here. The dollies were the kind used by garden shops, with a flat bed and wide soft wheels. The contrast made it hard to discern shapes and movement. Despite the Xanax, he was sweating heavily, not from the hot summer night, but from fear. He could smell the stink of it on himself.
They loaded the second body on the second dolly and pushed them one at a time through the fence. Then Peck and Hayk dragged the dollies through the brush to the edge of the perimeter road, while Hamlet pulled the fence back into its original configuration and taped some of the cut ends together with strips of the black duct tape.
Five quick repairs and the fence looked like new, in the night, anyway. When you see the laser, bring them. Peck had planned the whole operation and he knew there were only a couple of night guards. From that point-of-view, having a guard pass by only minutes before was a good thing, if a little unnerving.
A minute later, in the ambient light from the parking lot, he saw them move out onto the road, pulling the dollies with their motionless loads. They moved slowly at first, and then more urgently, and finally began to trot. The tires were almost, but not quite, silent; there was no one but Peck to hear them. They rolled the dollies through the fence, down a mild slope to the edge of a grassy yard, with a darkened house eighty feet away. They waited there while Hamlet repaired the second fence, this time with silver duct tape.
A scummy pond lay off to their left, home to any number of green-and-black frogs. Earlier in the summer, when they were making scouting trips, the frogs had been croaking their froggy asses off. Now that Peck could use the covering noise, they were resolutely silent. Hamlet finished with the fence, and they eased the dollies across the yard to the back door of the garage, pushed the door open and pulled the dollies inside and closed the door.
Hayk took a flashlight out of a cargo pocket and turned it on. The van was ready, cargo doors open. All books are in clear copy here, and all files are secure so don t worry about it. This site is like a library, you could find million book here by using search box in the widget. Click Download or Read Online button to get pdf book now. This site is like a library.
Whenever you hear the sky rumble, that usually means a storm. You also can read online and write the review about the book.
0コメント