Saturday, March 25, 2017

Review: Escape Clause: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford

It is late summer in Minnesota and just shortly after the events in Extreme Prey. Virgil well knows what went on with his old boss Lucas Davenport, so he isn’t surprised when those in charge of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are very concerned about the Minnesota State Fair that starts in the next few days. After any major event and the situation in Iowa certainly qualified, there are Law Enforcement worries about copycats. However, Virgil isn’t going to work the fair.

Instead, he will be working the theft of two prized Amur Tigers from the Minnesota zoo. The zoo is located in Apple Valley on the south side of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It is the state zoo and that makes it a BCA problem. So too will the media spectacle once they find out the big cats were tranquilized in their outdoor enclosure and stolen in the night.

Because of the black market that deals in such things, it is most likely the tigers were taken to be turned into medicines. On the endangered species list because they are rare in the wild, medicines from them are highly value in China. Time is of the essence to find the tigers while they are still alive.

At the same time, Virgil has a personal situation. Things have been going well with Frankie and are moving into a serious direction. But, Virgil did not know Frankie has a baby sister. After she and her boyfriend suddenly show up, he can see why. Sparkle is back for a little while as she works on her dissertation on undocumented seasonal migrant workers. Those involved don’t want to be investigated at all.


Then the murders began.

The two storylines take twists and turns as Virgil deals with one crisis after another. Fortunately, he has backup and more than one person is a bad shot or things could be much worse.

The latest in the Virgil Flower series by John Sandford, Escape Clause, is another solidly good read. As has happened before in this series, readers know from the start who the bad guys are though not all of the motivations in their actions. That becomes clear as the point of view shifts from them to Virgil and back again.

While not the best read in the series, the book is a good read well worth your time. 



Escape Clause: A Virgil Flowers Novel
John Sandford
Random House Large Print
http://www.randomhouse/largeprint
October 2016
ISBN# 978-1-5247-0872-6
LARGE PRINT (also available in hardback, eBook, and audio formats)
500 Pages
$29.00


Material supplied the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2017

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