≡ Read Gratis Dark of the Moon A Virgil Flowers Novel John Sandford Books

Dark of the Moon A Virgil Flowers Novel John Sandford Books

Download As PDF : Dark of the Moon A Virgil Flowers Novel John Sandford Books

Dark of the Moon A Virgil Flowers Novel John Sandford Books

Virgil Flowers is a horndog who feels compelled to chase every pretty woman under the age of 50. Though his own faith rejects Jesus, he's "the son of a Presbyterian minister and a professor of engineering, who saw in God the Great Engineer and believed as devoutly as her husband." He's been married and divorced three times, but "he didn't want to be a four-time loser, so he stopped getting married." He's also a university graduate with a degree in environmental science, an outdoorsman, a published writer for hunting and fishing magazines, and an aspiring short story writer. And, oh by the way, he's one of the top investigators in the fictional Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) known far and wide in the bureau as "that f***ing Flowers." In Dark of the Moon, John Sandford presents Virgil in a starring role in the first entry in his own series, a spinoff from his wildly popular "Prey" novels featuring Lucas Davenport. To date, there are twenty-seven of the latter and ten in the Virgil Flowers series. There's no end in sight for either series.

As Virgil heads home in his truck, he spots a roaring fire on a hilltop along the way. Rushing to the scene, he encounters fire trucks, several sheriff's deputies, and a crowd of onlookers. An enormous house atop the hill is in the process of being reduced to rubble as the firefighters stand aside, unable to do a thing about it. As Virgil knows—as everyone in the region knows—the house is the property of Bill Judd Sr., an aging multimillionaire hated by virtually everyone within driving distance. More than twenty years earlier, Judd had been the perpetrator of a Ponzi scheme that bankrupted many of his neighbors. Had someone finally gotten even? That was the conventional wisdom in the neighboring town of Bluestem. But this is not Virgil's case.

At first, it appears that the incident at the Judd house was simply a matter of arson. Perhaps the old man torched the place and has run off to Bora-Bora to enjoy the millions he stole. But it soon becomes clear to Virgil and the local investigators that Judd died a horrible death in the fire, a victim of murder. In fact, Sandford had already told us that the old man was viciously killed by someone named Moonie and that there are more murders to come.

Judd's son, Bill Judd Jr., "a greedy, grasping, sociopathic businessman" like his father, is frantic for the case to be closed so he can inherit the estate. However, a young woman named Jesse Laymon steps forward claiming to be a natural daughter of Judd Sr. Clearly, this will slow things down, complicating Jr's desperate grab for his father's money. It now seems to be clear that money lies at the heart of this case. Or does it? Somehow, a drug-dealing right-wing preacher seems to have a connection to the case.

Not long afterward, as we expect, a brutal double murder takes place in Bluestem. The victims are a couple in their eighties, contemporaries of Bill Judd Sr. Sheriff Jim Stryker, a friend of Virgil's, is at a standstill in his investigation in both cases, so he calls in the state's equivalent of the FBI, the BCA in the person of Virgil Flowers, to help him with what appears to be the work of a ritual killer. Bluestem is in Virgil's territory, and he's soon on the scene. Virgil quickly begins to wonder whether the two cases are connected—all three victims were in their eighties. However, if there is a connection, it will take Virgil a lot of work to bring it out into the open.

Meanwhile, Virgil becomes involved romantically with Joanie Stryker, the sheriff's beautiful younger sister. The sheriff himself begins developing a relationship with Jesse Laymon. It doesn't take long for Virgil to realize that practically everyone he meets in Bluestem, including Judd Jr., Joanie, and Jesse, is a suspect in what has become clear to him is a triple homicide. Everyone seems to have a motive. Then two other murders come to light, pressure from the news media and Virgil's boss begins to mount, and Virgil's investigation ranges further afield to include that fanatical right-wing preacher who is suspected of drug-dealing, the local newspaper editor, and the sheriff himself. It will take every ounce of Virgil's considerable intelligence and insight to untangle the mystery. He can only hope that in the process he won't alienate everyone in town.

It's easy to understand how John Sandford parlayed this gem of a mystery novel into his second popular series. The characters are believable, the dialogue sparkles, and the suspense builds to a tragic climax.


Tags : Amazon.com: Dark of the Moon (A Virgil Flowers Novel) (9780399154775): John Sandford: Books,John Sandford,Dark of the Moon (A Virgil Flowers Novel),G.P. Putnam's Sons,0399154779,Thrillers - General,Minnesota;Fiction.,Murder;Investigation;Fiction.,Mystery fiction.,Adventure thriller,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,Crime & mystery,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Fiction Thrillers General,Investigation,Minnesota,Modern fiction,Murder,Mystery fiction,Thrillers

Dark of the Moon A Virgil Flowers Novel John Sandford Books Reviews

I would like to give this introductary novel for Sanford's Virgil Flowers character 4 1/2 star but I will settle for 4. I started reading the series after Flowers character had the opportunity to ripen in Sanford's mind.

While the attractive young woman who will show up in whichever small town Flowers find's himself. That predicability that includes the mandatory brevity of relationship is enjoyable none the less.

I great first effort, not for Stanford obviously but the new kid on the block. I ready to download #2.
Virgil Flowers is featured in his first solo book in this offering from the popular John Sandford. Sandford normally writes about Lucas Davenport but decided to have a break from him to have Flowers in his first solo book (both characters features in each others books occasionally).

Sandford is a very solid writer, you won't get masterpieces from him but what you do get is a guaranteed page turner that is easy and enjoyable to read.

Flowers is an easygoing character, perhaps lacking that edginess that Davenport had in the early books but still very interesting. In this story, he is hunting a murderer who is obsessed with events from his past. The story was ok (not great) but the main thing about Sandford is his sense of humour and ability to have the pages go by quite quickly while telling a story that makes sense.

Must admit that I do prefer the Davenport series but that might be due to being used to reading about Lucas.

Flowers is worth your time to read.
I son't know how I remained ignorant of John Sanfdord for all this time. Catching up is going to be a good use of time. In Dark of the Moon, Stanford produces the first Novel with Virgil FLowers as the central character. Flowers works for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension - sort of the Minnesota version of the FBI. He is laid back, likes to fish and chase any skirt that is attractive and available. He is also very smart and always gets his man (woman). Sanford is a very intelligent writer who never underestimates hos reader. Well, he is bad with grammar, like almost all writers today, except Michael Connelly. There is a lot of dry humor and a lot of detailed digging into Minnesota geography. I have spent quite a lot of time in Minnesota so that is interesting to me. Sandford is so good that I am going to go back and read all 27 of the Prey series in sequence.
I accidently stumbled upon John Sanford's 'Prey' series last year and proceeded to devour the 25 books one after the other and this spin-off series does not disappoint. They are somewhat similar to James Patterson's Alex Cross books but I kind of fell out of those as I was getting tired of the same old formula- Sanford's books however are just more well thought out and intricate and the characters so well developed you can't help but to care about them- and though you needn't have read the 'Prey' series to enjoy this spin-off series, I would suggest doing so just because of that character development. Though Virgil Flowers is a somewhat minor character in the 'Prey' series, you'll have a much better understanding of where he came from and what kind of person and detective he is. I won't give anything away, but overall 'Dark of the Moon' is a great read- well thought out and written with many well fleshed out characters and story lines that keep you thinking and interested, and if we're lucky enough to get another 20+ books from this series then I will certainly read them all. I hope you've found this review helpful! Happy reading!
Virgil Flowers is a horndog who feels compelled to chase every pretty woman under the age of 50. Though his own faith rejects Jesus, he's "the son of a Presbyterian minister and a professor of engineering, who saw in God the Great Engineer and believed as devoutly as her husband." He's been married and divorced three times, but "he didn't want to be a four-time loser, so he stopped getting married." He's also a university graduate with a degree in environmental science, an outdoorsman, a published writer for hunting and fishing magazines, and an aspiring short story writer. And, oh by the way, he's one of the top investigators in the fictional Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) known far and wide in the bureau as "that f***ing Flowers." In Dark of the Moon, John Sandford presents Virgil in a starring role in the first entry in his own series, a spinoff from his wildly popular "Prey" novels featuring Lucas Davenport. To date, there are twenty-seven of the latter and ten in the Virgil Flowers series. There's no end in sight for either series.

As Virgil heads home in his truck, he spots a roaring fire on a hilltop along the way. Rushing to the scene, he encounters fire trucks, several sheriff's deputies, and a crowd of onlookers. An enormous house atop the hill is in the process of being reduced to rubble as the firefighters stand aside, unable to do a thing about it. As Virgil knows—as everyone in the region knows—the house is the property of Bill Judd Sr., an aging multimillionaire hated by virtually everyone within driving distance. More than twenty years earlier, Judd had been the perpetrator of a Ponzi scheme that bankrupted many of his neighbors. Had someone finally gotten even? That was the conventional wisdom in the neighboring town of Bluestem. But this is not Virgil's case.

At first, it appears that the incident at the Judd house was simply a matter of arson. Perhaps the old man torched the place and has run off to Bora-Bora to enjoy the millions he stole. But it soon becomes clear to Virgil and the local investigators that Judd died a horrible death in the fire, a victim of murder. In fact, Sandford had already told us that the old man was viciously killed by someone named Moonie and that there are more murders to come.

Judd's son, Bill Judd Jr., "a greedy, grasping, sociopathic businessman" like his father, is frantic for the case to be closed so he can inherit the estate. However, a young woman named Jesse Laymon steps forward claiming to be a natural daughter of Judd Sr. Clearly, this will slow things down, complicating Jr's desperate grab for his father's money. It now seems to be clear that money lies at the heart of this case. Or does it? Somehow, a drug-dealing right-wing preacher seems to have a connection to the case.

Not long afterward, as we expect, a brutal double murder takes place in Bluestem. The victims are a couple in their eighties, contemporaries of Bill Judd Sr. Sheriff Jim Stryker, a friend of Virgil's, is at a standstill in his investigation in both cases, so he calls in the state's equivalent of the FBI, the BCA in the person of Virgil Flowers, to help him with what appears to be the work of a ritual killer. Bluestem is in Virgil's territory, and he's soon on the scene. Virgil quickly begins to wonder whether the two cases are connected—all three victims were in their eighties. However, if there is a connection, it will take Virgil a lot of work to bring it out into the open.

Meanwhile, Virgil becomes involved romantically with Joanie Stryker, the sheriff's beautiful younger sister. The sheriff himself begins developing a relationship with Jesse Laymon. It doesn't take long for Virgil to realize that practically everyone he meets in Bluestem, including Judd Jr., Joanie, and Jesse, is a suspect in what has become clear to him is a triple homicide. Everyone seems to have a motive. Then two other murders come to light, pressure from the news media and Virgil's boss begins to mount, and Virgil's investigation ranges further afield to include that fanatical right-wing preacher who is suspected of drug-dealing, the local newspaper editor, and the sheriff himself. It will take every ounce of Virgil's considerable intelligence and insight to untangle the mystery. He can only hope that in the process he won't alienate everyone in town.

It's easy to understand how John Sandford parlayed this gem of a mystery novel into his second popular series. The characters are believable, the dialogue sparkles, and the suspense builds to a tragic climax.