Bad Blood (Virgil Flowers, #4)

Oct 06, 2010 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, thriller, 5-0, virgil-flowers

There’s not enough ‘W’s in the world to convey the ‘EWWWWWWWWWW!!’ factor of this book.

In Homestead, Minnesota, a young man just out of high school with a bright future brutally murders a farmer and tries to make it look like an accident. However, his crime is discovered, and he’s found dead in his cell before he can explain why he did it. The boy's death looks fishy, and the chief suspect is a deputy that the new female sheriff just defeated in an election for the job so that’s a political shi...more There’s not enough ‘W’s in the world to convey the ‘EWWWWWWWWWW!!’ factor of this book.

In Homestead, Minnesota, a young man just out of high school with a bright future brutally murders a farmer and tries to make it look like an accident. However, his crime is discovered, and he’s found dead in his cell before he can explain why he did it. The boy's death looks fishy, and the chief suspect is a deputy that the new female sheriff just defeated in an election for the job so that’s a political shitstorm just waiting to happen. The sheriff comes to Virgil Flowers (a/k/a ‘that fucking Flowers‘), agent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, for assistance. When Virgil starts digging into the case, he finds some very shocking secrets and more than one person willing to kill to keep them.

John Sandford delivers once again. Virgil is a spin-off character from Sandford’s Prey-series featuring Lucas Davenport, and while I’ve always liked this character, I hadn’t found any of the Virgil-based books quite as entertaining as the Davenport ones until now. There’s an intriguing mystery followed by some twisted revelations and then a series of intense and exciting action scenes. This was one bad-ass crime thriller.

Virgil has always been fun reading as the outdoorsy ladies man who favors vintage rock band t-shirts and sometimes forgets his gun in his truck, but he‘s turning into a more fully formed character instead of just a collection of traits. Now I can’t wait until we see Virgil again instead of just thinking of him as an entertaining placeholder between Davenport novels.

Random Thoughts

* Davenport is starting to be a bad influence on Virgil because he does some highly illegal breaking-and-entering in this one, and he comes up with an elaborate scheme that puts a civilian in danger to flush out some of the bad guys. Those are some classic Davenport moves.

* I continue to love the interactions between Davenport and Virgil, especially the way that Davenport’s more ruthless political side comes out when he’s giving Virgil his marching orders.

* Virgil’s background as a minister’s son comes in handy when he gets to drop some serious Bible-knowledge on folks.

* After 30 books, you’d think that Sandford would start to seem repetitive when it comes to describing brutal Minnesota winters, but he can still make me feel the wind chill.

* Sneaky Virgil pulls a nice small-town trick by talking about the investigation openly in a diner. Before long, he’s drawing crowds who are anxious to hear the gossip, but he gets a lot of information and goodwill in return. Plus, he gets to stir up public opinion in a way that is beneficial to his investigation.

* Again, just let me say, “EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!” (less)

22 likes · like · see review

Nov 14, 2010 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, cops-and-pee-eyes, miss-trees

The further adventures of "that fuckin' Flowers." This one takes awhile to heat up, but once they start going after the bad guys it gets pretty exciting. The big showdown and final outcome is sort of like a combination of the Ruby Ridge fiasco and the raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion compound.
I give Bad Blood 2.5 stars for story, but I rounded up to 3 stars because Sandford writes so well. This one wasn't as much fun as the third installment. The subject matter is very disturbing, all the mor...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 03, 2011 Larry Rogers rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Virgil Flowers works for Lucas Davenport, mostly in rural and small town Minnesota. He is interesting and earns his frequently mentioned nickname in every case, though I like Davenport's smart gunfighter cop better. This case resonates like a couple of Donald Harstad's Iowa cop novels in that the downside of rural America can be pretty low. The contrast between appearance and reality can be jarring, especially in this novel. A religious sect is at the heart of the novel, which opens with four mu...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Robert Slaven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

As usual, I received this book from a GoodReads giveaway. It's also worth noting that this novel belongs to a genre that is normally not among those I pick up for frequent perusal. Because of this I'm reviewing a bit outside my ken.

In a nutshell, Sandford's novel is about as pulpy as it gets: gritty, action packed and completely unapologetic about it. Despite the fact that this is not a genre I tend to pick up, and I'm not likely even now to start, I did find myself dragged along quite against m...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 08, 2013 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, police-thriller

World of Spirit child sex abuse enterprise. Virgil is enlisted by Lee Coakley-Warren County Sheriff-to help investigate the murders of three men that seem intertwined. Virgil is soon pointed to a murder of a teenage girl a year prior that seems related as well. All of the murders seem to involve a shadowy religious cult known as World of Spirit, which due to bottomless boredom engages in wild sharing of all church females young and old. The undoing of the criminal enterprise is facilitated by th...more

like · see review

May 23, 2013 Gary rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read in airports and during down time on a trip to Santa Fe, Bad Blood wasn't a dull read. It's lively, provocative – even intriguing, in a revolting way. Veteran journalist-turned-novelist John Sandford displays an adroit touch with plot and pacing, for which he might merit four stars.

And then there is Virgil Flowers – that *expletive* Flowers (think alliteration here) – and by Page 19 Lee Coakley, the distaff sheriff who's 6 feet tall in her turquoise-studded cowboy boots, is squinting at him...more Read in airports and during down time on a trip to Santa Fe, Bad Blood wasn't a dull read. It's lively, provocative – even intriguing, in a revolting way. Veteran journalist-turned-novelist John Sandford displays an adroit touch with plot and pacing, for which he might merit four stars.

And then there is Virgil Flowers – that *expletive* Flowers (think alliteration here) – and by Page 19 Lee Coakley, the distaff sheriff who's 6 feet tall in her turquoise-studded cowboy boots, is squinting at him through her green eye while scrutinizing him with her blue eye. The red-headed sheriff sizes up Flowers, unruly blond hair and innocent cowboy grin, and coolly utters, "I'm a trained investigator: I sense a certain level of bullshit here."

Indeed. Flowers is the irreverent son of a Lutheran minister and a freelance investigator for a Minnesota state police agency. When we and Lee Coakley meet him, he's winterizing his boat in 15-degree weather. A 19-year-old high school athlete has just delivered a fatal blow with a T-ball bat to the skull of a soybean farmer, setting into motion a jail hanging, an interstate flight from danger, the unearthing of a grisly cold case, and revelations of deep, hideous secrets practiced by the World of Spirit, a cult of farm families that's so protective of its own that Flowers must drop crumbs – unprofessionally – at the local diner to see where they might lead.

Sheriff Coakley is a largely effective foil to Sandford's serial detective in Bad Blood, but the romance between the pair blooms a bit early for the book's own good, and the plot – alternately engrossing and grotesque – flames out in a way that extinguishes the reader's desire to return to the Flowers series anytime soon.

Bad Blood is passable travel entertainment, but you needn't spend time at home with this procedural roam: There is, at most, one slightly interesting side character in the entire novel, the villains are stock-still wooden, and Virgil Flowers, irreverent sage that he is, is no Joe Leaphorn or Jim Chee. John Sandford, alas, is no Tony Hillerman; in hindsight, I should have heeded my first instinct and taken a Hillerman classic with me to New Mexico.(less)

like · see review

Apr 08, 2013 Eric_W rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: police-procedural

An excellent addition to the Virgil Flowers series, a series I prefer to the Lucas Davenport books which often devolve into psychobabble with Weather and Ellen.

The case begins with the baseball bat head-bashing murder of a local farmer delivering soybeans to the local mill. The killer is a well-liked football star and his actions puzzle the community, but not as much as the string of killings that follow. BCA detective Flowers is asked to help with the investigation by the local newly elected sh...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 21, 2013 Colin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a tale of murder and other criminality in a farming state. The first victim is an old farmer whose ‘accidental’ death is soon found to be anything but. The suspect in the murder doesn’t last long, and the death of the police officer suspected of killing farmer’s murderer makes three for the investigator to look into. The cop is Virgil Flowers, and he is assisted by the local Sheriff who is a lady divorcee, as well as the population of the local town who volunteer their theories about wha...more

like · see review

May 25, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, crime

Dropping a star only because I was uncomfortable with the central plot line - child abuse - and the author's portrayal of it. Sometimes I felt he sailed very close to the edge in his descriptions of what was going on in a vice ring for what was a novel as opposed to a factual account. Some of the words he puts in children's mouths, not to mention the situations he imagines them in, made me squirm a bit. Still, he's not the first to do it and I'm sure he'd argue his story needs to ring true if it...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 09, 2012 claudio pagani rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Uno dei vantaggi del mio mestiere sono i posti che ci capita di visitare grazie ai vari meeting e conferenze. Negli ultimi anni sono stato ad esempio a San Vito lo Capo, con la sua bella spiaggia ed il mare pieno di meduse (ne ha fatto le spese un mio collega, auch!), a Pantelleria con i suoi voli cancellati per il vento che costringono ad un prolungamento “forzato” della visita, a Roma, che non vedevo da bambino e che non mi ricordavo cosi’ straordinaria, a Bormio con le sue piste e i fantastic...more Uno dei vantaggi del mio mestiere sono i posti che ci capita di visitare grazie ai vari meeting e conferenze. Negli ultimi anni sono stato ad esempio a San Vito lo Capo, con la sua bella spiaggia ed il mare pieno di meduse (ne ha fatto le spese un mio collega, auch!), a Pantelleria con i suoi voli cancellati per il vento che costringono ad un prolungamento “forzato” della visita, a Roma, che non vedevo da bambino e che non mi ricordavo cosi’ straordinaria, a Bormio con le sue piste e i fantastici pizzoccheri. Negli Stati Uniti dopo il perido Pennsylvano ci sono tornato 2 volte, a Woods Hole, dove siamo rimasti bloccati per diversi giorni causa l’eruzione del vulcano Islandese e dove ho visto in streaming l’Inter battere il Barca 3-1 e a Clemnson, una piccola cittadina universitaria nel north carolina (o forse il sud? si’, probabilmente sud) dove se non fosse stato per la conferenza mai mi sarebbe passato per la mente di andare. Clemnson non e’ certo la destinazione imperdibile di un tour negli US, e non c’e’ niente veramente da visitare, pero’ e’ caratteristica della nuova provincia americana e secondo me puo’ far intuire dell’american way of life piu’ di una vacanza a NY. Per arrivarci si percorrono le highways che tagliano in mezzo al nulla, fiancheggiate per miglia da boschi e prati interrotti solo da qualche capannone e alcuni motel. Poi si attraversano i paesini ai confini della citta’, con piu’ chiese dagli annunci stravaganti che case e con mall dopo mall di supermarket e negozi dove i locali coi loro suv e pickup trucks fanno la spesa.
Clemnson e’ una cittadina cresciuta con l’universita’, in centro c’e’ qualche bar, qualche negozio che vende cappellini e giacche della squadra di football, i ristoranti di tutte le catene americane (da Wendy’s a Ruby Tuesday, da Red Lobster a Taco Bell) riempiti da compagnie di studenti (ecco, le studentesse americane durante il weekend sono effettivamente una molto valida ragione per una visita ad una cittadina universitaria come Clemnson). La conferenza e l’hotel erano in un edificio universitario di fianco al campo da golf (dell’universita’ anche quello), era Ottobre (o Novembre?) ed ancora andave a palla l’aria condizionata, si stava al bar all’aperto con una birra ed il laptop, e il City batteva il Man U 6-1. Al ritorno in aereoporto mi accorgevo di non avere nulla da leggere durante il volo, e al negozietto delle “Hudsons news” sceglievo fra i paperbacks “Bad Blood”, di un autore a me sconosciuto ma lodato dal re dell’horror sul retro della copertina.

Bad Blood e’ una storia di detective nella provincia rurale (quindi davvero provincia, non come Clemnson) del Minnesota, dove una serie di morti sospette indirizza le indagini su una setta cristiana locale. La trama non e’ terribilmente originale ma solida, scritta bene, il puzzle si compone poco alla volta e porta a galla una verita’ traumatizzante. Mi e’ piacituo il detective Virgilio, un tipo interessante, e ho trovato anche verosimili gli altri personaggi di contorno che ben disegnano la realta’ della piccola comunita’. La lettura e’ adatta ad un viaggio in aereo o in treno e per gli appassionati di detective stories.(less)

like · see review

Nov 14, 2011 Jack Rochester rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Virgil Flowers [no, I didn't name the main character, Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers, of my novel, Wild Blue Yonder after him] is an interesting character. Unlike Lucas Davenport, who is shrewd and possesses an innate understanding of the human - nay, criminal - mind, Virgil is all hunches and instinct (and sex and rock-band T-shirts). As the story begins, Flowers really has no clue as to why the initial killings and suicide took place. Something tells him to keep after it - perhaps the cop's pursu...more

like · see review

Oct 13, 2011 James Thane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When Bobby Tripp, a popular high school athlete, brutally kills a farmer late one night at a grain mill in rural Minnesota, there seems to be no logical explanation for the crime. Bobby fails in his attempt to disguise the murder as an accident and is arrested. Shortly thereafter, he is found hanging in his cell, an apparent suicide.

Lee Coakley, an attractive divorcee who is also the local sheriff, appeals for help from Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Coakley wan...more

6 likes · like · see review

May 18, 2011 Judith rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: awful

This book makes me wish for a no stars option.

Normally I enjoy this series both for the pace and the plotting. Not this time. The sexual abuse of women and children is ugly, and perhaps Sandford was trying to make that point. I couldn't help thinking that his depiction of sexual abuse of women and children for the purpose of entertainment (and let's not forget profit) was just as ugly. And it was made worse because I was listening to an audiobook and I couldn't skip over the more graphic sectio...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 24, 2011 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-audio-books, 2011-mysteries

Bad Blood, by John Sandford, b-plus, narrated by Eric Conger, Produced by Penguin Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

This is the fourth in the Virgil Flowers series. A farmer takes his grain to be unloaded at the grain elevator. The kid unloading the grain manages to knock him on the head with a baseball bat, and then pushes him into the elevator. Then he calls the police and tries to say it’s an accident. The coroner quickly figures out that it’s murder. The sheriff talks with the kid and he ba...more

like · see review

Apr 20, 2011 Karen Hall rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Somebody recently asked, “If you could have dinner with any character from fiction, who would it be?” My immediate answer: Virgil Flowers. John Sandford has written a lot of books, and I’ve read most of them. I followed Lucas Davenport religiously through the Prey books, read the standalone novels, and didn’t much care for the Kidd novels. But Virgil Flowers is my guy.

Virgil knows how to get to the bottom of things, and in Bad Blood, the bottom is not only complicated, it’s a long way down. A so...more Somebody recently asked, “If you could have dinner with any character from fiction, who would it be?” My immediate answer: Virgil Flowers. John Sandford has written a lot of books, and I’ve read most of them. I followed Lucas Davenport religiously through the Prey books, read the standalone novels, and didn’t much care for the Kidd novels. But Virgil Flowers is my guy.

Virgil knows how to get to the bottom of things, and in Bad Blood, the bottom is not only complicated, it’s a long way down. A southwest Minnesota farmer is brutally murdered at the elevator as he delivers his soybeans. The murderer, a decent young man from a good local family, confesses to the sheriff, and the next day is found hanging in his cell. When the deputy on duty during the apparent suicide is also found dead, the sheriff realizes she needs help. Though both deaths appear to be suicides, the forensic evidence suggests otherwise. Enter Virgil Flowers.

Flowers loves women. Married and divorced three times, Virgil has realized he falls in love too easily and has sworn off the taking of vows. That doesn’t mean he’s given up the fairer sex, though. In this book, he finds the sheriff herself, recently abandoned by her husband for another woman, to be not only an excellent investigator, but excellent in other ways as well.

Virgil’s investigative technique is as unusual as he is. Raised nearby, the son of a Lutheran minister, Virgil knows how things go in small towns. He takes the sheriff to the local café, speaks clearly enough that the locals can overhear, and garners several important leads through the resulting firestorm of rumor and innuendo. He sets traps, calls in favors, interviews locals, and uncovers a crime so old and so massive that even he has trouble believing its scope.

While I’ve always enjoyed Mr. Sandford’s Lucas Davenport novels, I can understand why he’s working on this series as well. Virgil Flowers is very different from Davenport, and must be tremendously fun to write. He’s both a cerebral and a spiritual guy, a BCA agent who wears his hair long and his cowboy boots scuffed. If you haven’t tried these books, please do. You won’t be disappointed.
(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 18, 2011 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not a regular Sandford reader, but I've read a few of his titles over the years. This was my first Virgil Flowers book.

BAD BLOOD moves at an unremitting pace from start to finish. Dialogue is taut and punchy--it has to be, since the book is heavily dialogue-driven. It reads very much like a screenplay: scenes are sketched in laconic prose, and the plot advances primarily through conversation.

I think the sections from the villains' POV actually diminished the suspense and mystery, rather th...more I'm not a regular Sandford reader, but I've read a few of his titles over the years. This was my first Virgil Flowers book.

BAD BLOOD moves at an unremitting pace from start to finish. Dialogue is taut and punchy--it has to be, since the book is heavily dialogue-driven. It reads very much like a screenplay: scenes are sketched in laconic prose, and the plot advances primarily through conversation.

I think the sections from the villains' POV actually diminished the suspense and mystery, rather than stoked it. We learn of key information and developments before Virgil does, and then it's a matter of watching him plod along, adding things up.

Sandford is a great thumbnail sketcher of characters, particularly when it comes to law enforcement, but the villains in BAD BLOOD are flat. I couldn't fathom the psychology behind their twisted subculture. Thus, a good half of the book's characters seemed one-dimensionally "evil" just because...well, because they've always been that way, I guess. That's the problem with dark secrets kept over generations: those born into them tend to be underdeveloped as characters. I never got a strong sense of what drove Jacob Flood, Emmet Einstadt, and other central characters in the mystery. The half-baked explanation crammed in at the end by Einstadt is morbidly risible (boredom...?).

Virgil's relationship with Sheriff Lee Coakley came off stilted, and I didn't believe in Coakley's attraction to him. The first impression he makes on her is an insinuation that she orally pleasured a certain character she despises--and Coakley found this charming? The attraction was inexplicable. There just wasn't enough substantial interaction between the two that didn't involve the case, yet abruptly they're talking about "landing strips" (yes, it's what you think) and nipples are being "twiddled." How sexy. The way Virgil is hinted at being a rakish rogue just didn't materialize for me here--maybe if I'd read the earlier Flowers books?

Also, this is just a nitpick and is not reflected in my rating of the book, but: way too many people in these tiny Minnesota and Iowa rural towns have Apple computers, which I found a bit jarring. In the US, as of 2009, Apple had something like 7% of the computer market share, and tends to be concentrated in affluent urban and education settings, not in the homes of rural farm folk.

Overall, for a brisk albeit somewhat depthless thriller, I was entertained, if not intellectually or emotionally arrested by BAD BLOOD. Sandford writes crisp, snappy dialogue and economically stages scenes with his spare prose. A solid read for those who enjoy talky, fast-paced thrillers treating very dark subjects.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 05, 2010 Jane Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: police-procedural

Bad Blood is first class Sandford. Beautifully written tight prose that takes off and doesn't let up adding layer after layer. A "good kid" Bobby Tripp, for no apparent reason, takes a t-ball bat and brains farmer Jacob Flood and then makes certain he is dead by burying him in soybeans. The morning after his arrest Tripp is found hanging in his cell. The deputy Jim Crocker says it is suicide but Sheriff Lee Coakley doesn't believe it and neither does the ME. Lee asks Virgil Flowers for help and...more Bad Blood is first class Sandford. Beautifully written tight prose that takes off and doesn't let up adding layer after layer. A "good kid" Bobby Tripp, for no apparent reason, takes a t-ball bat and brains farmer Jacob Flood and then makes certain he is dead by burying him in soybeans. The morning after his arrest Tripp is found hanging in his cell. The deputy Jim Crocker says it is suicide but Sheriff Lee Coakley doesn't believe it and neither does the ME. Lee asks Virgil Flowers for help and they take a ride out to visit Crocker. They find him dead (layer three) apparently shot while having sex (layer four) by a woman (layer five?). Another layer has Iowa law enforcement wondering if the murder of their "sex kitten" might be connected because Kathy Baker came from the same general area and belonged the the same Church as Flood and Crocker.

Virgil and the sheriff start their investigation by interviewing Jacob Flood's family and are met at the door by two hollow eyed preteen girls, the not particularly grieving widow Alma and her father Emmett Einstadt who happens to be patriarch of the World of Spirit Church. Virgil and Lee give the family all they know about the Flood and Crocker murders but get nothing from them. But after they leave Alma says, "Must have been Kathleen" and Einstadt agrees. We just added another layer,folks. As he leaves Alma with her bible Einstadt thinks to himself, "He hadn't had any sex for two days, and he needed it, and the last time he bent Alma over the kitchen table, she'd been dry as a stick. The girls though...." All this in the first 75 pages!

I have also read the other three Virgil Flowers novels and this the best because we finally get to see the well-rounded Virgil Flowers. We don't just see the ladies man, Lee Coakley does, they have frequent "conferences" in the course of the investigation. We still get the laid back Virgil telling every thing he knows to all who'll listen in the cafe but he gets back as much as he gives out. When the action starts we get a chance to see the Virgil that Davenport sees. The shoot-out at a suspect's house will get your blood pressure up and keep it there. I don't know a thing about shotguns but with Sandford's tight writing and clear descriptions I followed the action. Characters from earlier books, both Prey and Flowers, are added to the mix.

This is not a pretty story and one Einstadt says is outside the understanding of the World of Law that Flowers represents. Sandford had a purpose in the subject of this novel as he has had in others, you can tell because he gets on his soap box with this one and not subtle as he has been with others. It is an ugly subject but it is out there.(less)

like · see review

Nov 05, 2010 Brandi ;) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, fbi-cops-pi-slueths, serial-thrillers-killers-and-chille

SPOILERS....SPOILERS.....SPOILERS WILL BE GIVEN SO STOP READING NOW....

I would have given this book a full 5 stars bc in so many ways it was absolutely amazing. John Sandford is an incredible story teller and as always I was sucked in from page 1. However, this book dealt with a topic that was hard to read, regardless of how fabulous the writing. Child abuse. Sexual child abuse. As much as I love reading about the bastards that abuse get what they deserve, I still find it hard to read about them...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 03, 2010 Ilsa Bick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Of all the adult thriller series writers out there, John Sandford's always been one of my favorites. His Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport has been, by and large, very well-written, well-plotted, and entertaining, even though the last few books have been showing signs of a series that may be on its way out (and more's the pity). This particular book is the fourth in a new series featuring Virgil Flowers, a Minnesota BCA agent introduced in Invisible Prey. I'll say right off the bat that Flo...more

like · see review

Oct 03, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another F*ckin' Flowers book. He might be topping Davenport as my favorite character...might.

Spoilers ahead:

We start this one off with a young adult murdering another adult. It's all very vague, there's no background or particular reason why this young man, Tripp, committed the murder. While Tripp is in jail, he is murdered. His death is made to look like a suicide by Crocker, one of the cops in charge of the station that night. Then Crocker is murdered, made to look like a suicide.

This trail of...more

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 27, 2010 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Last summer I was out in Minnesota, and whenever I hear people speaking in that wonderful midwestern lilt, sadly made a joke by Sarah Palin, I think, "Ah, home." Well, this book about a sect in southern Minnesota made me sort through my memories, wondering if all those friendly people with the lilting way of speaking I'd seen through my rose colored glasses were actually perverts and murderers. The three men sitting in the corner when Dick and I had the world's best fries in the tiny restaurant...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 05, 2013 Bigsna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So here's the thing about a typical "Bestseller" crime / thriller fiction. Its like a booster shot.

The momentum picks up from the fourth page and then you're on one breathless roller coaster ride that you're willing to get off only when its all over.
Every free minute is spent engulfed in a frenzy of back and forth eye ball shifting - like you are watching a ping pong match - its amazing how hooked you can get to a book of this kind.

Obviously something really works here - I finished this book e...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 15, 2011 Deana M rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Out of all the Virgil Flowers books, this was by far the best and left you speechless at the end of the book. Virgil is called in to Homestead, MN when a young man by the name of Bobby Tripp is arrested after he killed a man named Jacob Flood. After killing Tripp, he calls the cops and says there was an accident, but he eventually confesses that he killed him. His first night in prison, Tripp is killed, which looks like a suicide but is then ruled as a murder because of evidence found under Bobb...more

like · see review

Nov 29, 2010 Emily rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the first book by John Sandford I have read. I was browsing the new books at the library and was in a hurry (baby getting fussy) so I just grabbed this one. It had a "14 Day Return" sticker on it because it is a high demand book. I figured that would mean it is pretty good – if not well written, at least entertaining. I was wrong.

The book is about a series of murders in a small town in Minnesota. The sheriff (a woman, btw) is brand new and calls in Virgil Flowers a BCA agent to help her....more This is the first book by John Sandford I have read. I was browsing the new books at the library and was in a hurry (baby getting fussy) so I just grabbed this one. It had a "14 Day Return" sticker on it because it is a high demand book. I figured that would mean it is pretty good – if not well written, at least entertaining. I was wrong.

The book is about a series of murders in a small town in Minnesota. The sheriff (a woman, btw) is brand new and calls in Virgil Flowers a BCA agent to help her. At the center of the crimes is an Amish like religious group. As the story progresses, the religious group is revealed to be a cult. Eventually, the sheriff & Flowers discover a large part of the cult's "religion" is sexually abusing women and children.

Overall, I was not too impressed with the book – story or characters. First, the characters were extremely cliché. Flowers is a good looking cop who only works the “hard crimes” (because he’s so darn smart!). He’s been married 3x and is always on the lookout for another woman, but (surprise) he doesn’t want commitment. (The ultimate cheesiness was when Flowers was trying to convince the sheriff to do something and he flashed her his *second* most enduring smile. Because his most enduring smile was something so spectacular that it had to be reserved for when women were already laying down…in bed with him. Blech). Sheriff is divorced with 3 kids. We see where this is going, right? Of course, they end up in bed together but, at the end of the book, Flowers is thinking that this won’t last too much longer because the sheriff wants more than he can give her. It would be nice if the author had mixed things up a bit and had either 1) Woman cop who did NOT have to call in a man to save her; 2) Woman who did not jump into bed with smooth talking attractive cop asap; or 3) Woman who slept with cop but didn’t want a commitment.

Second, I wasn’t all that impressed by the storyline. Maybe I just watched too much Law and Order but creepy cults & sexual deviants just seem to be overused as “shocking” plot twists. There wasn’t much of a mystery involved at all – by page 180 we pretty much knew who did it. It felt like the author just threw in sexual abuse as kind of a cover for a thinly written story.

I probably won’t be reading another Sandford novel.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 27, 2011 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Maybe it is impending fatherhood but this book really rattled me. I'm not gonna stop reading Sandford but The subject matter of sex abuse and young children was tough to read. Having said that I truly love the character of Virgil Flowers and would love to see him come to life on the big screen. I have read John Sandford for close to 20 years and he is one of my favorite authors. I always look forward to his new releases. I eagerly await the next Virgil Flowers novel.

1 like · like · see review

Oct 18, 2010 Jerry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We like Sandford's books, especially the long-running Lucas Davenport “Prey” series, but find the now several entries in the Virgil Flowers set equally entertaining. (The earlier, rather obscure {computer hacker} Kidd series is now pretty dated by changes in technology…) Virgil is a thinker and a lover, and is a character we feel gives more of a moral “analysis” of certain situations than in a typical whodunit.

The storyline in “Blood” rapidly becomes a little tough to take. After the first few c...more

like · see review

Sep 27, 2010 Giovanni Gelati rated it 5 of 5 stars

Right off the bat I want to say that I am a huge fan of John Sandford. I have devoured all 20 of his Prey novels and each of the Virgil Flowers spinoffs. There are three other Virgil Flower novels: Dark of the Moon, Heat Lightening, Rough Country and now Bad Blood. Do you have to read them in order? No. Do you need to read them, yes. They rock. I find it incredibly hard to put any of his novels down once I get on a roll. The book just doesn’t want to leave my hand or my mind. Okay, I guess you h...more
Right off the bat I want to say that I am a huge fan of John Sandford. I have devoured all 20 of his Prey novels and each of the Virgil Flowers spinoffs. There are three other Virgil Flower novels: Dark of the Moon, Heat Lightening, Rough Country and now Bad Blood. Do you have to read them in order? No. Do you need to read them, yes. They rock. I find it incredibly hard to put any of his novels down once I get on a roll. The book just doesn’t want to leave my hand or my mind. Okay, I guess you have to understand that I like the guy’s style and substance.
Bad Blood in my estimation is his best work to date with that %$#@Flowers. The dialogue in between the characters is incredible, the repartee fun and at times intense, and the action swift. I offer no spoilers as usual but here is a sample of the dialogue. ”Yeah, but….not like that. Not like some giant conspiracy. “Clinton said.” Then there was that whole thing about morals and good behavior. I’m not sure exactly… I’d like to know what their definition of ‘moral’ is. I mean ,you smell that place?”
“You mean the soup? It smelled pretty good.”
“I mean the smoke. The dope. The spliff, the ganj. As these good Germans would say, the dank.”
Virgil put a hand to his forehead and rubbed. “That’s what it was. I was thinking it was some kind of herb in the soup.”
“It is some kind of herb, but I don’t think it was in the soup, ”Clinton said,” I think it was in the curtains and the couch and the rugs. I think she was cooking up that soup to cover the odor. Those people are Christian fundamentalist stoners. I was sitting there grinning the whole time, listening to them. They were totally full of $%^&….depending on how you define moral.”
‘What is it with these guys?” Virgil asked. “These church people…I talked to one today who was carrying a gun in her pocket. I think some of them know more about Kelly Baker than they are saying, I think…”
“I’ll tell you what it is,” Bill Clinton said,” What it is, is, something is seriously*&^%%$, I wish you luck in detecting what it is.”
That came from page 125. The novel totally rocks the whole way through. The plotline is excellent and Sandford as his usual self just crafts another intense narrative with Flowers leading the way, turning over stones and pushing things to a conclusion. I really enjoy novels by the heavyhitters in the genre that continue to push themselves and not just mail it in. This is in my opinion the best Virgil flowers stand-alone of the bunch. If you are a fan of this character in any way shape or form then this is going to be a fun ride for you. If you are a first timer, then you are going to be getting an introduction to Virgil Flowers at his best. I would suggest then that you backtrack and pick up the rest after that.
There are some very big novels coming out between now and Christmas, and John Sandford has set the bar very high. Tomorrow I am going to run a post with a preview of novels to come this fall and winter. I can guarantee that this novel will appear in the top 10 if not the top 5 for the quarter when we do our little top 20 list before Christmas. If you are a fan of excellent writing, enjoy a well-crafted plotline, humor, action, and great character driven fiction like I do , then this novel needs to be read. What is your favorite John Sanford novel? Is Lucas Davenport still numero uno or is Virgil working his way there?
What are you reading today? Check us out and become our friend on Facebook & Linkedin. Go to Goodreads and become our friend there and suggest books for us to read and post on. You can also follow us on Twitter, and the Gelati’s Scoop Facebook Fan Page. Did you know you can shop directly on Amazon by clicking the Gelati’s Store Tab on our blog? Thanks for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com

(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 15, 2011 Sean Cronin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Dec 30, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action-thriller, mystery, police-procedural, read-in-2010, series, thriller, reviewed

Investigator Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is called in to investigate any possilbe connections between four murders happening to a small community in a short time.

Robert Tripp, an employee at a grain company, killed a local farmer, Jacob Flood. When the sheriff broke Tripp's story and arrested him, he was found murdered in his cell. Then when Virgil went to one of the police officer's homes to question him, the officer, Jim Crocker, was murdered, and made to lo...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 19, 2012 Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just wrapped up "Bad Blood", John Sandford's fourth Virgil Flowers novel. This edition of the series has Flowers, investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, recruited by Warren County Sheriff, Lee Coakley, to look into a suspicious suicide in her small town jail. Given the nod by his boss, Lucas Davenport, Virgil heads to southern Minnesota to work his detecting magic. When the suicide is ruled a murder by the medical examiner, and the likely killer, one of Coakley's deputie...more

like · see review

title link	preview: Bad Blood
avg rating	preview: Bad Blood Goodreads rating: 4.14 (8106 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8988267-bad-blood?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355039366l/8988267.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8988267-bad-blood?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Bad Blood by John Sandford[/url]

Bad Blood (Virgil Flowers #4)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (15)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About John Sandford

Books by John Sandford

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Bad Blood

Quotes from Bad Blood