Book Review - Heat Lightning by John Sandford
Category Book Review John Sandford Heat Lightning
I've mentioned on prior John Sandford novel reviews that I was getting somewhat burned out on the whole Davenport character. It seemed like the character wasn't going anywhere, and the plots were somewhat slow. When Heat Lightning showed up at the library, I picked it up more out of habit than anticipation. I was moderately surprised to find that this novel featured Virgil Flowers instead of Davenport, while still having bits of Davenport show up in the story. Surprised turned to happiness as I got immersed into the storyline. This is the reason I keep Sandford on my "Authors to Read" list...
Flowers is tagged on a murder that has some rather bizarre features. The body is left at a war memorial, and along with the trauma associated with murder, the victim has a wedge of lemon stuffed in his mouth. Of course, that's a real problem when *other* bodies have turned up with the same MO. All the victims appear to have known each other, possibly as part of the military, but Flowers doesn't immediately know what common thread ties them all together. And until that thread is discovered, there's no telling whether the killings have stopped or will continue. And with all high-profile and gruesome killings, the public is outraged, and politicians want answers yesterday. Davenport is pinning his hopes on Flowers to solve the crime quickly before the feds take over, but sometimes the answers just aren't out there...
The Flowers character is what makes this story click. Virgil lives for fishing and women, not necessarily in that order. He's pretty unorthodox in his investigative methods, but he's not afraid to go head-to-head with authority to get things done. The story starts by flipping back and forth between Flowers trying to solve the crime, and the killers going after their intended targets. It's not until late in the read that you find out who the killers actually are, so you're kept guessing throughout the book as to who might be the killers. Fortunately the thread between the killings appears relatively quickly, so you know the "why" behind the deaths. The combination of characters, plot, and pacing made this a hard book to put down, and restored my faith that Sandford can still tell an entertaining story...
I've mentioned on prior John Sandford novel reviews that I was getting somewhat burned out on the whole Davenport character. It seemed like the character wasn't going anywhere, and the plots were somewhat slow. When Heat Lightning showed up at the library, I picked it up more out of habit than anticipation. I was moderately surprised to find that this novel featured Virgil Flowers instead of Davenport, while still having bits of Davenport show up in the story. Surprised turned to happiness as I got immersed into the storyline. This is the reason I keep Sandford on my "Authors to Read" list...
Flowers is tagged on a murder that has some rather bizarre features. The body is left at a war memorial, and along with the trauma associated with murder, the victim has a wedge of lemon stuffed in his mouth. Of course, that's a real problem when *other* bodies have turned up with the same MO. All the victims appear to have known each other, possibly as part of the military, but Flowers doesn't immediately know what common thread ties them all together. And until that thread is discovered, there's no telling whether the killings have stopped or will continue. And with all high-profile and gruesome killings, the public is outraged, and politicians want answers yesterday. Davenport is pinning his hopes on Flowers to solve the crime quickly before the feds take over, but sometimes the answers just aren't out there...
The Flowers character is what makes this story click. Virgil lives for fishing and women, not necessarily in that order. He's pretty unorthodox in his investigative methods, but he's not afraid to go head-to-head with authority to get things done. The story starts by flipping back and forth between Flowers trying to solve the crime, and the killers going after their intended targets. It's not until late in the read that you find out who the killers actually are, so you're kept guessing throughout the book as to who might be the killers. Fortunately the thread between the killings appears relatively quickly, so you know the "why" behind the deaths. The combination of characters, plot, and pacing made this a hard book to put down, and restored my faith that Sandford can still tell an entertaining story...
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Comments
Posted by Rob McDonagh At 11:25:56 On 10/01/2009 | - Website - |
And the married theory might well work. I just know the stories lacked any tension to keep me turning pages when I couldn't keep my eyes open. Unless they somehow improve, I don't think I'll be reading them as soon as they come out. More like new Patterson novels... I'm sure I'll read them eventually, but I'm not motivated to wait on a hold list through 300 other people...
Posted by Duffbert At 16:29:06 On 10/01/2009 | - Website - |