Heat Lightning (Virgil Flowers)

An enjoyable read. I miss Davenport stories, but Virgil stories are a good substitute.

This is another usual fantastic effort from John Sandford. Now that Kidd and Davenport are old w/kids and family, Virgil Flowers steps in to carry the torch. I think the author is more comfortable with the character in this book and it comes through in the writing. I know these are formula books, but this formula works well for me.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop. If you are any kind of Kidd or Davenport fan you won't be disappointed by this book.

I bought this book because of Brian Baker's review featured here. I have followed his choices before and he and I seem to look for similar things in a book and I have come to trust his judgement. I had read one of the Prey series and for whatever reason, it didn't do it for me. So I was not inclined to read more of this author until Brian made his recommendation.

Flowers is a true character. One I would like to see more of.

However, it is Sandford's use of dialogue, the development of several of the characters in the book and that he keeps the reader guessing at about the same level those in the book are operating at, as to what people are going to be killed and why.

You know, there are some times you come across a passage that you just say: "Dang! I wish I was smart enough to write that."

Mine occurred at page 199, when Virgil had crawled into bed "...and thought about God and the people who were dead on this case...and wondered what all that was about, and how somebody like the dumb-ass preachers on TV could think this could all be part of God's plan. God didn't have a plan, Virgil believed. God had his limits, and one of them was, He didn't always know what would happen; or if He did know, He didn't care, or if He cared, He was constrained by His own logic and couldn't do anything about death and destruction. Virgil believed that God was actually a part of a rolling wave front, hurtling into an unknown future; and that humans, animals and, possibly trees and chinch bugs had souls that would rejoin God at death. Which brought him to Camus' big question, and he didn't like to think about Camus, so he went to sleep."

Now that is good. And so is the rest of it. So saddle up. A really good book is waiting for you.

John Sandford wrote it--Virgil Flowers & Lucas Davenport are in it. What more can you say. Buy it, read it; you'll like it a lot.

Amazon is the best. I always get what I order, on time, and in excellent condition.