Deadline

Starred review from August 11, 2014
In Thriller Award–winner Sandford’s stellar eighth Virgil Flowers novel (after 2013’s Storm Front), the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent, who works for Lucas Davenport, the hero of the author’s other major series, helps friend Johnson Johnson with a little problem that keeps growing in the Mississippi River town of Trippton. Johnson’s neighbors are concerned about a series of dognappings by hillbillies who live up by inaccessible Orly’s Creek. Roy Zorn, a “small-time motorcycle hood,” might also be manufacturing some meth up that way. If Virgil can’t solve the dog problem, dog lovers may shift to open warfare. Meanwhile, the members of the Buchanan County Consolidated School Board, fearing they’ll all go to prison, vote unanimously to kill reporter Clancy Conley, who “inadvertently discovered that the school board was stealing the school system blind.” Virgil doesn’t get much help from Sheriff Jeff Purdy, but 12-year-old McKinley Ruff and high school janitor Will Bacon provide critical assistance as panicky board members escalate the violence. Sandford is an accomplished and amusing storyteller, and he nails both the rural characters and terrain as well as he has skewered urban life in past installments. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

Eric Conger's voice is perfect for Virgil Flowers, the Bureau of Crime Apprehension agent who goes from one crime to another in rural Minnesota. Conger's raspy baritone is evocative of the crimes that are at the heart of this police procedural as Flowers attempts to secure justice for his friends, whose dogs have gone missing. There's a lot of dialogue, and listeners may struggle to keep the various speakers clear as Conger give the male characters little differentiation. Multiple gruff voices make it challenging to keep up with who is saying what in a complicated chain of events. M.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine