This is the second entry in John Sandford's series featuring Virgil Flowers, an investigator with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Virgil is an unconventional detective, who looks more like a surfer than a gifted investigator. He wears his blond hair down to his shoulders, dresses in tee shirts bearing the names of often-obscure rock bands, and rarely carries a gun.Virgil loves to fish, writes articles for outdoor magazines, and often tows his boat behind his pickup as he roams abo...

Here is yet another example of a foot-flavored experience, meaning: after years of scoffing at every Sandford book that I saw on the shelf ("good grief, how many ways can you use the word 'Prey' in a title?"), I got curious. Oh wait, peeps at Mulholland Books think he's entertaining? Maybe he's actually pretty good...The kicker was coming across a nice copy of the second Virgil Flowers book on one of those tables that you see on the sidewalks of New York. Even better, this was the day before a l...

Since I didn’t care for Dark Side of the Moon, it’s no surprise I didn’t like Heat Lightning. Since I like Virgil Flowers character, I will reread and reevaluate.12 years after my first read, this comes in a solid 3 stars. Due to ending, 7 of 10 stars!

Okay so I am officially a fan. Virgil Flowers is one of those characters you just have to love despite all his flaws and the book just revolves around him.This second book in the series Heat Lightning was not quite as exciting as the first book, Dark of the Moon, but it was still very good. The story is fast paced, a little unrealistic, but always entertaining. Virgil is his usual self, wearing his collection of T shirts and his cowboy boots, falling in love with random women and solving the mos...

I've only read two John Sandford novels, but I'm ready to apply an adjective I've formerly reserved for only two writers, both of whom rank among my favorite writers of all time: Joe R. Lansdale and Elmore Leonard. The adjective? Sly. I'm not just talking about Sandford's wonderful leading man Virgil Flowers (affectionately--sometimes--referred to as "that f&%#in' Flowers"), but also Sandford himself. The paragraphs and pages fly by, but when you slow down and study what you're reading, you find...

Of course, four stars in the brain candy category is not the same as four stars in the great literature category, but I really enjoyed the ride while reading this book. This is the second in Sandford's new Virgil Flowers series, and I liked it more than the first one, Dark of the Moon. Good plot with lots of little kinks and curves, and Sandford's trademark guy humor. Also many familiar characters carried over from the Lucas Davenport series, so I felt I was hangin' with my old friends. I especi...

5 Stars. An entertaining romp through northern Minnesota and, just a little, the Rainy River area in Ontario, Canada. As usual that "F'n" Flowers is front-row centre in the commotion. It's a page-turner! A body is found at the Veteran's Memorial in Stillwater with a lemon in its mouth. Both the middle-aged man, and his dog, had been shot in the forehead. Flowers is yanked out of bed where he's been saying hello to a former wife, when Lucas Davenport calls telling him to get up there ASAP. There

Another really good book by John Sandford. He really knows how to make you care and enjoy his characters. I am so enjoying all the Virgil Flowers book. Virgil figures out the "who done it" and doesen't really tell you until the story slowly unravels it. All the characters are so interesting and enjoyable. This one has both of Sandford's characters in Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport. You can't help but enjoy them. Ready to read another. Really recommend if you enjoy a really good mystery.

I enjoyed this a lot, but as a guilty pleasure I can’t quite stretch it to 4 stars. Our hero with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil Flowers, is wonderfully likeable, genuinely happiest when he can fish or write about fishing, is prone to fall in love a lot, loves dancing, and always wears a t-shirts featuring old rock bands. He harnesses his charm and affability to solve his cases by drawing clues out of conversations. Here is case is a growing set of serial murders of elderl...

To begin with, I think it is only appropriate that I admit to being a fairly avid reader of John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport “Prey” series. A pretty big fan to be honest (even with the recent less than stellar outings). However, I have not had the pleasure of reading his second series focusing on the ever-popular, Virgil Flowers. Now, I am turning my attention to reading his series. First, how do I describe our fictional her, Virgil Flowers? He is in his late thirties, tall, lean, and long haired...

It felt good to be back in Virgil’s world.The solution in this story was fairly intuitive for the reader to pick up on but the author kept interested as we experienced Virgil reaching the same conclusions. I also liked a lot of the side characters in the story. The Red Lake police guys, Raines and some of the other supporting characters were good. What I liked the most about the book was that the mystery and story setting was so different from the first one but yet I felt Virgil was still true t...

Eh.. this one was okay. Some weird murder going on that connected to those from Vietnam war.

How does John Sandford crank out so many books (is this his second or third this year?) and stay so consistently good? Lucas "Prey" Davenport is cool, but I'm loving this new Virgil Flowers series, too. A cop with surfer hair, obscure rock t-shirts, and a sideline writing fishing articles? Awesome. This book had a little to much DRIVING AROUND for my taste -- I find chase scenes in books really dull -- but the plot was intriguing and twisty.

Short reviews of wonderful Virgil, sorry.This was excellent, complex, interesting characters. Great action.Note: Do yourself a favour and listen to the songs Virgil mentions throughout the series

I don't like these quite as much as the Prey series, but they're certainly pretty good. I think part of it is that I don't care for Conger's narrating quite as much as Ferrone's, but it's pretty minor. Most of all, the plot was a bit far out. The story was well done within that framework, though.It made some salient points - the bartering between security agencies that can get out of hand, old injuries that can come back to haunt, & corruption in general. Through it all, Flowers is a pretty grea...

Digital audiobook narrated by Eric Conger.From the book jacket Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers is only in his late thirties, but he’s been around the block a few times, and he doesn’t think much can surprise him anymore. He’s wrong. It’s a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, and Flowers is in bed with one of his ex-wives when the phone rings. It’s Lucas Davenport. There’s a body in Stillwater, two shots to the head, found near a veterans’ memorial. And the...

Breaking News: Huge John Sandford Fan Says John Sandford Book Is Good. Seriously though, even though this one was a little bit of a reach in the plausibility department it’s really hard not to like Virgil and any book with Shrake and Jenkins is an automatic win.