Book 4), Bad Blood (A Virgil Flowers Novel

I love Sandford. But in this instance I feel as if I had read the book previously...too many similarities to previous Sandford books.
Sex crimes, sex crimes involving children...I like the Flowers series, but if we are going to have a new detective, what about some new crimes types for him to solve! Stop recycling and create a story line as powerful as that of Davenport.

I don't like plot recaps in reviews so I'll just say this is another very good Sandford effort with a fun character in Virgil Flowers and very solid supporting characters both new and recurring. If you've liked previous Sandford books and the Virgil Flowers characters you'll enjoy this one.

If you like John Sandford's books you won't be disappointed. I will spare you the plot details, but please do not bother reading or writing reviews of a book which instead just gripe about the Kindle. I saw that promise of lower prices as the sales pitch it was.

First and Last "Virgil Flowers" book I will ever read. Probably got through about 25% of book. So far almost everyone in it is deviant or disgusting in some sort of way. Wish I knew before I purchased!

I guess I am too old for this kind of subject . If I had known what the book was about I would not have bought it. I don't like the bad language either. So I will just stay away from John Sanford books. I know many many people love them and I wanted to read them in sequence. However now I know these stories are not for me. No one to blame but myself.

I love Sandford. But in this instance I feel as if I had read the book previously...too many similarities to previous Sandford books.
Sex crimes, sex crimes involving children...I like the Flowers series, but if we are going to have a new detective, what about some new crimes types for him to solve! Stop recycling and create a story line as powerful as that of Davenport.

I don't like plot recaps in reviews so I'll just say this is another very good Sandford effort with a fun character in Virgil Flowers and very solid supporting characters both new and recurring. If you've liked previous Sandford books and the Virgil Flowers characters you'll enjoy this one.

If you like John Sandford's books you won't be disappointed. I will spare you the plot details, but please do not bother reading or writing reviews of a book which instead just gripe about the Kindle. I saw that promise of lower prices as the sales pitch it was.

First and Last "Virgil Flowers" book I will ever read. Probably got through about 25% of book. So far almost everyone in it is deviant or disgusting in some sort of way. Wish I knew before I purchased!

I guess I am too old for this kind of subject . If I had known what the book was about I would not have bought it. I don't like the bad language either. So I will just stay away from John Sanford books. I know many many people love them and I wanted to read them in sequence. However now I know these stories are not for me. No one to blame but myself.

Please remove from pending list. I order too many books to review each. Additionally, individual's tastes differ and my opinion of a book should have no bearing on anyone elses. If enough people like it, it will make the best seller list.

John Sandford's novels all contain a certain amount of realistic gritty material. When you read one of his novels you simply have to accept this and if it is not your cup of tea then these novels should be avoided. Now that being said, I have to tell you that I have yet to read any of this author's work that I did not enjoy on one level or anther.

I note that this particular work has been trashed by a number of readers. Reading between the lines of these extremely negative reviews it quickly becomes apparent that the overriding factor guiding these reviews is the subject matter. The subject matter in this case is pedophilia,rape, incest, child abuse and religious cult behavior. Now these are disgusting subjects and to be quite frank I would be uncomfortable around anyone who was not upset and outraged about these subjects...they are indeed absolutely disgusting! This is dangerous ground for any author to tread but I have to say that most of what is documented here has been ripped from our daily headlines. Sanford has done a very good job of navigating this touchy and gross subject...better than most authors I have read.

A young girl's nude body is found in a cemetery. She has obviously been sexually abused to the extreme and obviously these acts were done by more than one person. Virgil Flowers is called into the case and what he and the local sheriff find is a wide spread religious cult that is several hundred years old and came with the European immigrants from at least 100 years ago. Many families are involved with the wretched and horrific situation and as Virgil and associates investigate it becomes worse and worse.

The novel is well written and to be frank Virgil Flowers is Vergil Flowers and continues with his light humor an snarky remarks throughout. You actually need this literary ploy to lighten up the disgusting subject matter. I would have not enjoyed the book at all without it.

This is a fast and easy read as are all books by this author. The story line moves along quite well and you get to really know the characters as they appear in the story...some old friends from past novels appear along with many new. The story is quite realistic and the reader merely has to listen to the evening news on a regular basis to comprehend the reality of the situation(s) encountered in this work...sad but true.

I enjoyed this book, such as it was, and particularly enjoyed the ending.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Bad Blood completes all the back novels in the Virgil Flowers set except the current one which is in hardback. I must say that I’ve found every one of them top-notch stories and this one was no exception. With a particularly disturbing premise, it might be the most disturbing of the bunch.
The writing is tight as usual except this time, I noticed a bit more head-hopping, which became annoying in spots. Though the author tends to do it here and there in his other novels, he went a bit crazy with it in this one to the point I noticed. It didn’t so much detract from the story but it came close a few times, at least for me.
I am very fond of Virgil and his humorous ways and when I get into one of these novels, I become totally immersed. These stories mosey along with only one or maybe a couple of intense scenes. These are certainly not thrillers, but I like the more relaxed pace because they’re written so well.
My hat’s off to the author. He has gold in this series and I’m very tempted to get the hardback of the current Flowers novel. We’ll see. I’m sure it would be well worth it.
Highly recommended.

A small Minnesota town is shocked when local high school football star, Bobby Tripp, is arrested for the brutal murder of farmer Jacob Flood. Immediately, this opening scene, in which we read the details of Tripp killing Flood, strays from John Sandford's usual practice of hiding the identity of the killer. Knowing Tripp's identity, I was certain that this would be a story that was much different from any of the previous installments in this series. Sure enough, Tripp is found the next day, dead in his jail cell from an apparent suicide. Upon further investigation, it is revealed that Tripp's death was involuntary which could mean only one thing. . . murder.

Enter Virgil Flowers. He probably better resembles an aging cowboy/rocker, but there is no denying his skill. Despite his unconventional appearance and behavior, he has become one of the best investigators working for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension(BCA). He is called by the town's sheriff, Lee Coakely. Coakley is an attractive, recent divorcee with two sons. From their first encounter, there is palpable chemistry between her and Virgil. But there is no time for romantic excursions. It is soon revealed that the officer who was guarding Tripp's cell has also, apparently, committed suicide. As you can probably predict, his death is quickly determined to be a murder, as well.

As Virgil investigates, he comes across two possible directions at which to follow the case. The first involves the young Bobby Tripp. As a high school sports star, he was sure to get a large scholarship to continue playing ball at the college level. But an injury left him in his small town. Virgil's snooping reveals that Tripp may have been gay. Stuck in his small town and hiding the secret to his sexuality, it is possible that Jacob Flood threatened to reveal Tripp's secret, leading Tripp to kill him.

The other thread involves the dead officer's secretive church. Perhaps more reminiscent of a cult, the church is rumored to condone strange sex acts, including pairing underage children with older members. This thread reveals actions dating over 100 years into the towns history and possible connections to previous murders. With all of these issues comming to light, Virgil is thrust into some of the darkest crimes he has ever experienced.

This is kind of a change of pace for John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series. Yes, he continues to make Virgil one of the most entertaining and relatable characters in crime fiction, but he forces his lovable character into some of the darkest situations he's ever written about. Rape is never an easy topic, especially when it involves children, but Sandford's skills as a writer allow him to touch upon the subject with a delicate hand, while still advancing his fast paced mystery. This is the best Virgil Flowers novel to date, with a strong web of mystery that will keep you engrossed until the very last page.

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 pursuit of the Whys of life. So it goes, and so goes Virgil, maybe in pursuit of Why because at the unconscious id level he's really in pursuit of the tailfeathers of Sheriff Lee Coakley.

I was struck by the similarity in plot between Bad Blood and Lee Child's newest, "The Affair." Jack Reacher gets involved with a beautiful female sheriff, Elizabeth Deveraux, and together they try to figure out why several beautiful young women were murdered. Sandford writes about a religious "cult" wherein the men have their way with very young girls. And while I'm at it, the same topic arises in Jim Harrison's "The Great Leader." I mention this only because it seems to point to a heightened interest in this kind of social injustice.

I was also curious when I read Sandford "wrote this novel in cooperation with Mike Sweeney." What does that mean? Did Sweeney write it, or co-author it, or just lean over John's shoulder and give him ideas? I appreciate Sandford's acknowledgement, but would have wished to understand the collaboration better. I don't know - maybe it's just because I'm a writer and nobody else really cares that much. I suspect it's hard for Sandford to keep up the pace of publication demanded of him.

In "Bad Blood" Virgil Flowers is brought in to investigate a strange murder at a rural Minnesota grain elevator. A farmer had pulled in with his truck of grain. The young man working at the elevator retrieves his baseball bat and sneaks up behind the farmer. He clobbers the unsuspecting man then tries to make his death look like an accident, but this killing was clearly premeditated. Flowers is called in to this area where murders rarely occur by the new sheriff, an attractive woman named Lee Coakley. There's clearly a spark struck between them from the start.

But no time for romance yet. Crimes must be investigated. Within the first 40 pages there are 4 deaths, the farmer, then the young man who supposedly killed the farmer, then the cop who was guarding the young man in jail. Flowers is puzzling over these sudden deaths when he hears about a 4th death; an unsolved murder of a young woman that took place down south of the town, just across the Iowa state line, a year ago. That killing looked like a sex crime. Virgil is intrigued.

He discovers a key link between these 4 deaths: every one of the dead belonged to a mysterious religious cult. Flowers digs deeper and begins to suspect that this "religion" conceals a vast and enduring front for widespread child abuse. No spoilers here; I'll leave the joys of Virgil's sleuthing and his budding relationship with the sheriff for readers to savor for themselves.

Sandford performs a bit of literary derring-do here. He has his wise cracking, fun loving Virgil trying to solve a case that might involve a most horrific network of pedophiles. Child abuse is not funny. Virgil is. The combo actually works. Virgil lightens it up just enough to make all the dark parts not quite as sickening. Sandford does a splendid job on this one.

This reviewer's favorite moments occur when Virgil is always prepared to argue scripture with any cult member who tries to fling the words of the Bible Virgil's way. Virgil is the son of a Lutheran minister. He knows his scripture inside and out. He has realized that these sicko religious nuts have taken selected passages from scripture to try to justify and validate their perverted faith. "T is a thing of beauty indeed.

An adult book with adult situations. Strong sexual content and violence.

Virgil Flowers was putting his boat up for the season when he gets a call for assistance from a rural county sheriff. A local farmer was killed under suspicious circumstances, the killer is apprehended and wants to talk to a local newspaper reporter - before that can happen, he is found hanged in his cell, also under suspicious circumstances. Then, before the investigation can get underway, the deputy shefiff in charge of the jail dies from a gunshot wound - self inflicted? Maybe, or maybe not.

The investigation reopens the case of a young woman found about a year before, apparently raped and murdered. The investigation is like poking a stick into a hornets nest, stirring things up and not knowing who will get stung. Questions lead to a fundamentalist church, and rumors of strange practices within the church. The church members are very insular, home schooling their children and having minimum contact with non-members. Some people have left the church and can't be found - particularly one woman who ran away from her husband. There are questions about relationships between adults and children, and one man in the church has apparently been taking pictures.

As the case develops, crimes become clear, but Virgil and the sheriff are in a quandary about how to obtain evidence with tainting it. They cannot get search warrants without probable cause, but Virgil has an idea. Everything leads to a blazing climax, with casualties on both sides, multiple arrests and a media circus, with some people on the run. Not quite another Waco, but people with guns willing to go down shooting.

There are some side issues, and Virgil has a new love life for the moment - the sheriff is an attractive woman, and they find multiple reasons to meet "to discuss the case."

Sandford's witty, awesome detective Virgil Flowers is back in BAD BLOOD. Flowers has quickly become a favorite of mine, and Sandford once again proves he's one of the best. I'll admit its hard to judge of book by Sandford since I've read so many and enjoyed them all. This is a book fans will enjoy, and others agree. All bad reviews on the store are from people angry over the Kindle price.

In Bad Blood, a kid named Bobby Tripp bashes a man's head in with a baseball bat at a grain elevator. While in jail, Tripp is murdered by the cop on duty. Later, that cop is murdered in his own home. Something's going on and newly elected female sheriff Lee Coakley needs help, so she calls Flowers.

Flowers quickly realizes something isn't quite right, but its hard for him to figure out what it is. The victims' families don't want to talk. They're hiding something. But, Virgil is persistent, and of course he figures it out and discovers one of the darkest, most evil set of criminals ever found in a Sandford novel.

While not really more explicit than other Sandford novels, the nature of the crime may make some uncomfortable. What's scary is that it's probably based a lot more in reality than we realize. The novel really has two climaxes, and one of them is a great shootout, one of the best he's written.

Bad Blood is once again full of witty dialogue and a fast moving plot. It kept me entertained and turning the pages and smiling on occasion. Sandford doesn't do a great job in differentiating characters with names. Hearing Flood, Tripp, Coakley, Crocker, Baker, etc after so many pages and they kind of blur together. But, not that big a deal. I'm growing to enjoy Flowers just as much if not more than Davenport . What's great is the small moments when the two interact. Sandford has two great characters going for him and is a must read for his fans.

Fourth in the Virgil Flower series, "Bad Blood" returns to a theme familiar to readers of this series ---sex. Usually it is some form of perversion and the issue comes to light while Virgil is having an intimate relationship with the local lead investigator. Such is the case here though it takes a bit to come to light with readers knowing far more than the investigators involved.

According to Bob Tripp, Jacob Flood died in a freak accident at the grain elevator while he was unloading his late fall harvest. Jacob, like all residents in the area, has been working way too many hours on way too little sleep trying to get the harvest in before winter sets with a vengeance. So, he could have slipped, banged his noggin and died under a pouring stream of soy beans. Of course, that would not explain why none of the soy beans found their way into his lungs. Or why his skull shows two blows to the head. One made slightly before the other and it was made by a cylindrical object that readers already know was a t-ball bat.

It also does not explain what happened to Bob Tripp within hours of his arrest. Lee Coakley, sheriff of Warren County, has a huge problem and not just because she has two murder victims. Supposedly Tripp committed suicide in his jail cell. But there are indications that he might not have committed suicide which means her deputy, Jimmy Crocker, who also happens to be the guy she defeated in the last election, is a suspect. This, as well as other issues, creates political connotations no matter what she does. What the good sheriff needs is an outside impartial investigator to look into what happened. Tripp confessed to what he did but didn't say much before his death. Sheriff Coakley needs to know the whys behind both cases as well as prove what happened to Tripp in the jail cell.

Once he gets permission from his boss, Lucas Davenport (the Prey Series) at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil Flowers and his very well-earned reputation is sent in to figure out what is going on. In addition to figuring out how to relieve the good sheriff's loneliness, Virgil investigates what will ultimately be part of some of the worst crimes in Minnesota's history.

Filled with an amazing and often disturbing amount of references toward sex with adults and minors, this mystery moves fast. Like the weather in the book, character descriptions are bleak. The focus, when it isn't on the relationship between Virgil and Coakley, is on the case and getting those involved in a twisted religious cult to talk. Along the way there will be more death and violence as this read skims along. While it could be read as a stand-alone, it would be better to have read these in order so that you have a greater feel for the Virgil Flowers character. Unfortunately, while breaking the case and trying to break his motel room bed, he breaks no new ground in terms of character development. The quest of the latest available woman is a sad cliché at his age and one that seems to provide hours of amusement for all involved in the book.

A novel that moves quickly with some pretty horrible and somewhat graphic moments, this is typical Sandford in this series. Average for him still makes him better than most out there. It is unfortunate that he not only continues to feel the need to make cases revolve around some sexual prevision, he also feels the need to tell readers the identities of killers from page one. Author John Sandford is way too talented to need to rely on either one and creates a much better book for the reader when he does not write down for the lowest common denominator.

Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2011

Reading the reviews here, I see many comments of graphic details. I listened to the audio book and wonder if they cleaned it up some by editing out anything really graphic in regards to the child sexual abuse. (OR, I've read and watched way too many detective stories.) Because while the subject is disturbing to say the least, I didn't encounter anything really graphic, just sparse descriptions and wording that alluded to more than it actually described. I've read detective stories that went into much greater detail that really did go over the top in my opinion. I felt Sandford did a great job instilling a good amount of horror without overdoing it with explicitly graphic details.

I will agree with some of the reviews though that Sandford in some ways ruined the suspense of his own novel by revealing most of the mystery by putting us in the heads of his bad guys. We know what is going on from pretty much the get go, without any further surprises or plot twists. I still found the book entertaining, but it wasn't nearly the addictive page turner that some of his other books are because I already had it figured out thanks to the author himself.

The narrator did an excellent job. There are many different characters and voices, and he deliniated them all really well. He also reads women well, not making the female characters sound like nasal vally girls. I pretty much forgot the narrator was there, which is a good thing. He did a great job with the dialogue, just the right amouth of inflections and tones. Really a great listen.

I listened to this as an audio book and similar to the other Flowers novels I've read, I found it entertaining enough. Flowers is a likeable lead and the story moved along at a steady clip, with a big `Showdown at the OK Coral' style shootout near the end. The plot itself strains credibility a little and there were a few fairly obvious holes in logic. The one that irritated me most was when Flowers and his team are unable to prove whether or not a death was suicide or murder. It shouldn't even have to occur to anyone to test for gun powder residue on the victim and the witness/possible killer - it should just be routine procedure - but because the plot requires it, no one even suggests it and no tests are done. Flowers is remarkably free in sharing information and speculating about the investigation with just about anyone he meets which seems inadvisable for anyone in law enforcement but I guess that's part of his charm, however unlikely it might be.

There is no mystery as to who the bad guys are in this novel, which isn't something that bothers me, but if you like a little who-dun-it in your crime fiction, you may be disappointed by the lack of mystery. The novel centers around a religious cult that engages in sexual abuse of women and children so readers who are uncomfortable with that sort of content may want to avoid this novel.

All in all, this was a reasonable diversion for me while driving. I know not to expect too much from these novels but for what it is, it kept me moderately entertained. 3 unremarkable stars.

In southern Minnesota, Robert Tripp, an employee at a grain company, kills Jacob Flood, a local farmer. When Tripp is questioned by the police, Sheriff Lee Coakley breaks his story and jails him. That night, Tripp is murdered in his cell.

When Sheriff Coakley learns this, she suspects that one of her men, Jim Crocker, is involved. Because of the internal politics, she calls in investigator Virgil Flowers, from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

When Virgil goes to Crocker's home to question him, he finds Crocker murdered and made to look like he committed suicide. This area of Minnesota has very few murders and Virgil thinks that they must be connected.

Virgil looks at the three murders and is informed that a forth victim, a young teenage girl, Kelly Baker, was found in a cemetery.

In attempting to tie the murders together, Virgil finds that Tripp was gay and that Baker had some extreme sexual activity and abuse prior to her death.

One of the first people he speaks to is Flood's wife, Alma. She informs him that Crocker and her husband were childhood friends and that may have given him a reason for killing Tripp. Alma also admits that Kelly Baker was a member of their church.

Since the church affiliation was coming up more often, Virgil told Alma that his father was a minister and quoted verses from the bible but Alma didn't catch the biblical connection. Sensing a fraud, Virgil begins looking closer at just what is going on with the church.

He beings to get facts that astound him and the facts are hard for him to believe. There appear to be over a hundred families in this church and they are involved in a multigenerational sexual activity including rape, incest, and child abuse. He wonders how he will be able to stop this perversion.

The church members won't talk about it but he must find a weak link. Where to look?

This is an extremely well plotted and suspenseful novel that the reader will find captivating. Virgil is a wise cracking, bible quoting cop who is dedicated to finding wrongs and correcting them, however, he doesn't mind some extra curricular activity with Sheriff Lee Coakley.

Highly recommended.

In the latest Virgil Flowers investigation, we follow the detective as he investigates the bludgeoning death of a soybean farmer by a local teen. When the teenager is then found hanging in his cell, a victim himself of a murderous prison guard who in turn is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Flowers has his hands full proving these where all murders not accidents or suicides.
The ensuing investigation brings to the fore a religious organization, World of Spirit, Teutonic in its nature and calling, that has been ongoing since its conception over a hundred years ago when German immigrants settled in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. At the core of its beliefs are home-schooling, segregation from the outside world and inter-family marriages. In modern times, this has led to incest, wife swapping, and with the introduction of pornography on the Internet, sexual perversion. Flowers is able to tie in the death of a teenage girl, a sect member, who was suspected of being a prostitute, into the other three murders and all hell breaks loose.
As more and more perversions are discovered as cult members scramble to cover their tracks, Flowers and the local sheriff, Lee Coakley, are carrying on their own tumble-in-the-bed affair behind the scenes, trying to keep that out of the view of the small town gossips.
A rough and tumble sexy page-turner of a thriller that will keep you involved and engaged with each turn of the page.

I've read all of John Sandford's books. Every one. Usually I like them very much. This one not so much. Here's why;
Bad Blood is about a religious cult with parents who allow sex to be introduced to their children at a very young age by adult members within the cult. The children are abused by members of the same and opposite sex. When a member of the sect dies Virgil tries to find out what happened to her and is trying to crack the cult but he can't find anyone willing to talk to him and give him information. No one.
Seems odd he can't find ONE male teenager to come forward and give him the info he needs. A male teenager forced into sex by other men while parents watch would be full of rage and would be willing to bring these people down. But Virgil can't find that one.
The sex scenes are vividly described. It almost felt like I was reading one of those cheap, throwaway books with a shallow story but graphic sex descriptions designed to titallate some teenage kid.
A lot of the characters are sleazy, unsavory Minnesota white Trash who don't always bathe. Seems Sandford knows this type well. The most likable character is killed off very early in the story. The rest of the people you don't care about. Not even Virgil Flowers in this sleaze-fest.
Oddly enough, the book does contain some intense scenes about investigation and the final showdown. Something else Sandford knows well.

John Sandford is back. His latest, Bad Blood, is scary good on almost every level. While I would agree that some of the more recent Lucas Davenport books have not been quite as good as some of his earlier work, saying that one Sandford book is not as good as another Sandford book is a long way from saying that it is not a good book at all. However, Bad Blood is not a good book; on the contrary, it is a great thriller, a great book. This is clear from the first page to the last. Unlike some writers, Sandford knows how to write a viscerally grabbing opening, to follow that with a fascinating, believable story, and to finish with a rush that has to be experienced to be understood. This is his best ending ever.

Add to this mix, his trademark humor, his dead on observations about issues, people and particularly the never-ending war between the sexes and you have a seriously talented author. I think the best thing about his books is that he takes the time to understand his characters, and they are individual characters, with individual responses that mean something to the story and other than an honest story Sandford has no axe to grind.

When I read history, I read it with a pen in my hand because I make notes to myself and annotate it all over. Usually when I read fiction I do not annotate--but I found myself doing exactly that several times because the observations were just, so astute, so true. Just one will have to suffice: that f----- Flowers is running away from a house he has just burglarized in order to get evidence because he is warned that the owners are returning in a car and as he ran away he: "Tried not to think of the car: he believed that if you thought of somebody, they could pick up the vibration, and they would see you. The idea was nuts, of course, but he had seen its effects on any number of surveillances."(203) I used to go to the old RFK stadium in Washington DC quite often for Redskins games, and the Redskins games were boring quite often, so instead of the game I would use my binoculars to look at the people across the field to see if I knew anybody. Well more than half the time, the person I chose to look at out of 50,000 people would look back. Crazy, yes. But it happened to me, repeatedly.

This is a great book, a great galloping read. If you like Sandford, if you like thrillers, if you like the really cold winters in Minnesota, or if you just want to read the best writing around today--buy this book. You will be glad you did.

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 my will once having started. Sandford's style is marvelous and it's obvious that he's been doing writing in this vein for quite some time. Easily the best I've read in the crime-action genre.

My only real complaint is that he does tend to go over the top. His dramatic conclusion reads more like a scene from a war movie than a police action. If this sort of thing regularly occurs then I'm rather surprised there are any cops left to keep the peace.

That aside, Sandford's writing is solid and his topic engaging. For those who enjoy work in the CSI realm this is a grand example of the genre.

An 18-year-old jock kills a farmer in rural Minnesota, spends a night in jail and is discovered dead - hanged - the next morning. When the coroner rules it a murder, the local sheriff, tall, good-looking Lee Coakley, knows she needs some outside help, since the chief suspect is the man she beat in the sheriff's election.

Affable, womanizing (in a good way) Virgil Flowers (protégé of Sandford's Prey series character, Lucas Davenport) is happy to help, but arrives to find the suspect dead, an apparent suicide. A quick scan of the scene shows Flowers it's another murder and the suspect is female.

Murder is not so common in this sleepy area of southern Minnesota and Flowers soon ties this current rash to the ugly sex murder of a 17-year-old girl a year earlier. The girl and two of the men belonged to a clannish, secretive church; the 18-year-old was a close friend of the girl's.

Sandford unfolds the story mostly from Flowers' point of view, but switches to outside views to deliver key information, usually only pages before Flowers figures it out for himself. It doesn't lessen the suspense since we're never too far ahead, but since most of the fun is in being along for the ride, I would just as soon have stayed with Flowers all the way through.

Flowers is his usual easy-going, sharp-eyed self, spreading information in a very un-cop-like way in order to stir things up and get people to talk to him. It's a strategy that works and soon nearly everyone in town has something to share.

The subject matter is dark and grows darker, but Sandford's mix of truly grisly creepy, horrid deviance and comic wit works. Flowers knows how to take himself seriously even at his loosest. There is a romance too (as usual in this series), which is sharp and funny, the good sex a wry and welcome antidote to the ugly sex, and the finish is no-holds barred, edge of your seat action. Fans will be well satisfied and newcomers will look for previous books.

Virgil Flowers is apparently going to be a second character for John Sandford now. I guess Lucas Davenport was getting a bit old to be the main detective and do all the heavy lifting. Anyway, Virgil's an interesting character, long hair, obscure rock group t-shirts, and he forgets his gun every once in a while. All of this aside, he's a good detective, and in this story he has a series of killings that don't at first look related, but of course they have to be, so they are.

The setting is a rural area in southern Minnesota, near the border with Iowa. A young man, just out of high school, good kid with a football scholarship, seemingly goes nuts and beats a middle-aged farmer to death with a baseball bat. When the cops come to arrest him, he just breaks down and cries, but won't say anything. Next morning, when the cops go to check on him, he's hung himself...but on further investigation it looks like maybe it was murder, and then things begin to spin out of control. There's another killing, and then Virgil and the locals begin to dig into the case of a girl who vanished a year earlier, only to turn up dead in a cemetary down in Iowa. Then the conspiracy, and the coverup, start, and people desperately try and keep their secrets hidden from the outside world.

I pretty much enjoyed this book. It does drag in the middle a bit (most detective novels do, these days, in my opinion, in that they're too long) but the story and the characters are interesting. Sandford added a love interest for Flowers, a local sheriff who's the sort who can handle almost anything, and some of the secondary characters are quite fun. The ending is a bit unexpected also, or at least it was for me. Recommended...

Sandford has written a book that in some ways is good and some ways not so much.

He does an excellent job of telling a story and breaking down the way a case such as this would be solved in real life. The descriptions of a rural town are spot on and Flowers as a detective is likeable and has good instincts. Also the character isn't portrayed as always being the only one in the room who can help solve a case. He's willing to let others help and use their ideas. You can almost believe there could be a real life Virgil Flowers. The story is somewhat original which is saying something in this genre. I like how we see a bit of what happens after the case is cracked.

The reader doesn't get a mystery just a story. The affair between Flowers and the sheriff is so boring, bland and stereotypical (we would have never guessed she falls for him and they have the best sex ever!) In this type of book the affair angle is just so overused and worn out. The book does drag a bit in the middle third. No real surprise or suspens in the book.

Overall an average book with a good detective character who deserves a better story to surround him.

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 pursuit of the Whys of life. So it goes, and so goes Virgil, maybe in pursuit of Why because at the unconscious id level he's really in pursuit of the tailfeathers of Sheriff Lee Coakley.

I was struck by the similarity in plot between Bad Blood and Lee Child's newest, "The Affair." Jack Reacher gets involved with a beautiful female sheriff, Elizabeth Deveraux, and together they try to figure out why several beautiful young women were murdered. Sandford writes about a religious "cult" wherein the men have their way with very young girls. And while I'm at it, the same topic arises in Jim Harrison's "The Great Leader." I mention this only because it seems to point to a heightened interest in this kind of social injustice.

I was also curious when I read Sandford "wrote this novel in cooperation with Mike Sweeney." What does that mean? Did Sweeney write it, or co-author it, or just lean over John's shoulder and give him ideas? I appreciate Sandford's acknowledgement, but would have wished to understand the collaboration better. I don't know - maybe it's just because I'm a writer and nobody else really cares that much. I suspect it's hard for Sandford to keep up the pace of publication demanded of him.

In "Bad Blood" Virgil Flowers is brought in to investigate a strange murder at a rural Minnesota grain elevator. A farmer had pulled in with his truck of grain. The young man working at the elevator retrieves his baseball bat and sneaks up behind the farmer. He clobbers the unsuspecting man then tries to make his death look like an accident, but this killing was clearly premeditated. Flowers is called in to this area where murders rarely occur by the new sheriff, an attractive woman named Lee Coakley. There's clearly a spark struck between them from the start.

But no time for romance yet. Crimes must be investigated. Within the first 40 pages there are 4 deaths, the farmer, then the young man who supposedly killed the farmer, then the cop who was guarding the young man in jail. Flowers is puzzling over these sudden deaths when he hears about a 4th death; an unsolved murder of a young woman that took place down south of the town, just across the Iowa state line, a year ago. That killing looked like a sex crime. Virgil is intrigued.

He discovers a key link between these 4 deaths: every one of the dead belonged to a mysterious religious cult. Flowers digs deeper and begins to suspect that this "religion" conceals a vast and enduring front for widespread child abuse. No spoilers here; I'll leave the joys of Virgil's sleuthing and his budding relationship with the sheriff for readers to savor for themselves.

Sandford performs a bit of literary derring-do here. He has his wise cracking, fun loving Virgil trying to solve a case that might involve a most horrific network of pedophiles. Child abuse is not funny. Virgil is. The combo actually works. Virgil lightens it up just enough to make all the dark parts not quite as sickening. Sandford does a splendid job on this one.

This reviewer's favorite moments occur when Virgil is always prepared to argue scripture with any cult member who tries to fling the words of the Bible Virgil's way. Virgil is the son of a Lutheran minister. He knows his scripture inside and out. He has realized that these sicko religious nuts have taken selected passages from scripture to try to justify and validate their perverted faith. "T is a thing of beauty indeed.

An adult book with adult situations. Strong sexual content and violence.

Virgil Flowers was putting his boat up for the season when he gets a call for assistance from a rural county sheriff. A local farmer was killed under suspicious circumstances, the killer is apprehended and wants to talk to a local newspaper reporter - before that can happen, he is found hanged in his cell, also under suspicious circumstances. Then, before the investigation can get underway, the deputy shefiff in charge of the jail dies from a gunshot wound - self inflicted? Maybe, or maybe not.

The investigation reopens the case of a young woman found about a year before, apparently raped and murdered. The investigation is like poking a stick into a hornets nest, stirring things up and not knowing who will get stung. Questions lead to a fundamentalist church, and rumors of strange practices within the church. The church members are very insular, home schooling their children and having minimum contact with non-members. Some people have left the church and can't be found - particularly one woman who ran away from her husband. There are questions about relationships between adults and children, and one man in the church has apparently been taking pictures.

As the case develops, crimes become clear, but Virgil and the sheriff are in a quandary about how to obtain evidence with tainting it. They cannot get search warrants without probable cause, but Virgil has an idea. Everything leads to a blazing climax, with casualties on both sides, multiple arrests and a media circus, with some people on the run. Not quite another Waco, but people with guns willing to go down shooting.

There are some side issues, and Virgil has a new love life for the moment - the sheriff is an attractive woman, and they find multiple reasons to meet "to discuss the case."

Sandford's witty, awesome detective Virgil Flowers is back in BAD BLOOD. Flowers has quickly become a favorite of mine, and Sandford once again proves he's one of the best. I'll admit its hard to judge of book by Sandford since I've read so many and enjoyed them all. This is a book fans will enjoy, and others agree. All bad reviews on the store are from people angry over the Kindle price.

In Bad Blood, a kid named Bobby Tripp bashes a man's head in with a baseball bat at a grain elevator. While in jail, Tripp is murdered by the cop on duty. Later, that cop is murdered in his own home. Something's going on and newly elected female sheriff Lee Coakley needs help, so she calls Flowers.

Flowers quickly realizes something isn't quite right, but its hard for him to figure out what it is. The victims' families don't want to talk. They're hiding something. But, Virgil is persistent, and of course he figures it out and discovers one of the darkest, most evil set of criminals ever found in a Sandford novel.

While not really more explicit than other Sandford novels, the nature of the crime may make some uncomfortable. What's scary is that it's probably based a lot more in reality than we realize. The novel really has two climaxes, and one of them is a great shootout, one of the best he's written.

Bad Blood is once again full of witty dialogue and a fast moving plot. It kept me entertained and turning the pages and smiling on occasion. Sandford doesn't do a great job in differentiating characters with names. Hearing Flood, Tripp, Coakley, Crocker, Baker, etc after so many pages and they kind of blur together. But, not that big a deal. I'm growing to enjoy Flowers just as much if not more than Davenport . What's great is the small moments when the two interact. Sandford has two great characters going for him and is a must read for his fans.

Fourth in the Virgil Flower series, "Bad Blood" returns to a theme familiar to readers of this series ---sex. Usually it is some form of perversion and the issue comes to light while Virgil is having an intimate relationship with the local lead investigator. Such is the case here though it takes a bit to come to light with readers knowing far more than the investigators involved.

According to Bob Tripp, Jacob Flood died in a freak accident at the grain elevator while he was unloading his late fall harvest. Jacob, like all residents in the area, has been working way too many hours on way too little sleep trying to get the harvest in before winter sets with a vengeance. So, he could have slipped, banged his noggin and died under a pouring stream of soy beans. Of course, that would not explain why none of the soy beans found their way into his lungs. Or why his skull shows two blows to the head. One made slightly before the other and it was made by a cylindrical object that readers already know was a t-ball bat.

It also does not explain what happened to Bob Tripp within hours of his arrest. Lee Coakley, sheriff of Warren County, has a huge problem and not just because she has two murder victims. Supposedly Tripp committed suicide in his jail cell. But there are indications that he might not have committed suicide which means her deputy, Jimmy Crocker, who also happens to be the guy she defeated in the last election, is a suspect. This, as well as other issues, creates political connotations no matter what she does. What the good sheriff needs is an outside impartial investigator to look into what happened. Tripp confessed to what he did but didn't say much before his death. Sheriff Coakley needs to know the whys behind both cases as well as prove what happened to Tripp in the jail cell.

Once he gets permission from his boss, Lucas Davenport (the Prey Series) at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil Flowers and his very well-earned reputation is sent in to figure out what is going on. In addition to figuring out how to relieve the good sheriff's loneliness, Virgil investigates what will ultimately be part of some of the worst crimes in Minnesota's history.

Filled with an amazing and often disturbing amount of references toward sex with adults and minors, this mystery moves fast. Like the weather in the book, character descriptions are bleak. The focus, when it isn't on the relationship between Virgil and Coakley, is on the case and getting those involved in a twisted religious cult to talk. Along the way there will be more death and violence as this read skims along. While it could be read as a stand-alone, it would be better to have read these in order so that you have a greater feel for the Virgil Flowers character. Unfortunately, while breaking the case and trying to break his motel room bed, he breaks no new ground in terms of character development. The quest of the latest available woman is a sad cliché at his age and one that seems to provide hours of amusement for all involved in the book.

A novel that moves quickly with some pretty horrible and somewhat graphic moments, this is typical Sandford in this series. Average for him still makes him better than most out there. It is unfortunate that he not only continues to feel the need to make cases revolve around some sexual prevision, he also feels the need to tell readers the identities of killers from page one. Author John Sandford is way too talented to need to rely on either one and creates a much better book for the reader when he does not write down for the lowest common denominator.

Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2011

Reading the reviews here, I see many comments of graphic details. I listened to the audio book and wonder if they cleaned it up some by editing out anything really graphic in regards to the child sexual abuse. (OR, I've read and watched way too many detective stories.) Because while the subject is disturbing to say the least, I didn't encounter anything really graphic, just sparse descriptions and wording that alluded to more than it actually described. I've read detective stories that went into much greater detail that really did go over the top in my opinion. I felt Sandford did a great job instilling a good amount of horror without overdoing it with explicitly graphic details.

I will agree with some of the reviews though that Sandford in some ways ruined the suspense of his own novel by revealing most of the mystery by putting us in the heads of his bad guys. We know what is going on from pretty much the get go, without any further surprises or plot twists. I still found the book entertaining, but it wasn't nearly the addictive page turner that some of his other books are because I already had it figured out thanks to the author himself.

The narrator did an excellent job. There are many different characters and voices, and he deliniated them all really well. He also reads women well, not making the female characters sound like nasal vally girls. I pretty much forgot the narrator was there, which is a good thing. He did a great job with the dialogue, just the right amouth of inflections and tones. Really a great listen.

I listened to this as an audio book and similar to the other Flowers novels I've read, I found it entertaining enough. Flowers is a likeable lead and the story moved along at a steady clip, with a big `Showdown at the OK Coral' style shootout near the end. The plot itself strains credibility a little and there were a few fairly obvious holes in logic. The one that irritated me most was when Flowers and his team are unable to prove whether or not a death was suicide or murder. It shouldn't even have to occur to anyone to test for gun powder residue on the victim and the witness/possible killer - it should just be routine procedure - but because the plot requires it, no one even suggests it and no tests are done. Flowers is remarkably free in sharing information and speculating about the investigation with just about anyone he meets which seems inadvisable for anyone in law enforcement but I guess that's part of his charm, however unlikely it might be.

There is no mystery as to who the bad guys are in this novel, which isn't something that bothers me, but if you like a little who-dun-it in your crime fiction, you may be disappointed by the lack of mystery. The novel centers around a religious cult that engages in sexual abuse of women and children so readers who are uncomfortable with that sort of content may want to avoid this novel.

All in all, this was a reasonable diversion for me while driving. I know not to expect too much from these novels but for what it is, it kept me moderately entertained. 3 unremarkable stars.

In southern Minnesota, Robert Tripp, an employee at a grain company, kills Jacob Flood, a local farmer. When Tripp is questioned by the police, Sheriff Lee Coakley breaks his story and jails him. That night, Tripp is murdered in his cell.

When Sheriff Coakley learns this, she suspects that one of her men, Jim Crocker, is involved. Because of the internal politics, she calls in investigator Virgil Flowers, from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

When Virgil goes to Crocker's home to question him, he finds Crocker murdered and made to look like he committed suicide. This area of Minnesota has very few murders and Virgil thinks that they must be connected.

Virgil looks at the three murders and is informed that a forth victim, a young teenage girl, Kelly Baker, was found in a cemetery.

In attempting to tie the murders together, Virgil finds that Tripp was gay and that Baker had some extreme sexual activity and abuse prior to her death.

One of the first people he speaks to is Flood's wife, Alma. She informs him that Crocker and her husband were childhood friends and that may have given him a reason for killing Tripp. Alma also admits that Kelly Baker was a member of their church.

Since the church affiliation was coming up more often, Virgil told Alma that his father was a minister and quoted verses from the bible but Alma didn't catch the biblical connection. Sensing a fraud, Virgil begins looking closer at just what is going on with the church.

He beings to get facts that astound him and the facts are hard for him to believe. There appear to be over a hundred families in this church and they are involved in a multigenerational sexual activity including rape, incest, and child abuse. He wonders how he will be able to stop this perversion.

The church members won't talk about it but he must find a weak link. Where to look?

This is an extremely well plotted and suspenseful novel that the reader will find captivating. Virgil is a wise cracking, bible quoting cop who is dedicated to finding wrongs and correcting them, however, he doesn't mind some extra curricular activity with Sheriff Lee Coakley.

Highly recommended.

In the latest Virgil Flowers investigation, we follow the detective as he investigates the bludgeoning death of a soybean farmer by a local teen. When the teenager is then found hanging in his cell, a victim himself of a murderous prison guard who in turn is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Flowers has his hands full proving these where all murders not accidents or suicides.
The ensuing investigation brings to the fore a religious organization, World of Spirit, Teutonic in its nature and calling, that has been ongoing since its conception over a hundred years ago when German immigrants settled in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. At the core of its beliefs are home-schooling, segregation from the outside world and inter-family marriages. In modern times, this has led to incest, wife swapping, and with the introduction of pornography on the Internet, sexual perversion. Flowers is able to tie in the death of a teenage girl, a sect member, who was suspected of being a prostitute, into the other three murders and all hell breaks loose.
As more and more perversions are discovered as cult members scramble to cover their tracks, Flowers and the local sheriff, Lee Coakley, are carrying on their own tumble-in-the-bed affair behind the scenes, trying to keep that out of the view of the small town gossips.
A rough and tumble sexy page-turner of a thriller that will keep you involved and engaged with each turn of the page.

I've read all of John Sandford's books. Every one. Usually I like them very much. This one not so much. Here's why;
Bad Blood is about a religious cult with parents who allow sex to be introduced to their children at a very young age by adult members within the cult. The children are abused by members of the same and opposite sex. When a member of the sect dies Virgil tries to find out what happened to her and is trying to crack the cult but he can't find anyone willing to talk to him and give him information. No one.
Seems odd he can't find ONE male teenager to come forward and give him the info he needs. A male teenager forced into sex by other men while parents watch would be full of rage and would be willing to bring these people down. But Virgil can't find that one.
The sex scenes are vividly described. It almost felt like I was reading one of those cheap, throwaway books with a shallow story but graphic sex descriptions designed to titallate some teenage kid.
A lot of the characters are sleazy, unsavory Minnesota white Trash who don't always bathe. Seems Sandford knows this type well. The most likable character is killed off very early in the story. The rest of the people you don't care about. Not even Virgil Flowers in this sleaze-fest.
Oddly enough, the book does contain some intense scenes about investigation and the final showdown. Something else Sandford knows well.

John Sandford is back. His latest, Bad Blood, is scary good on almost every level. While I would agree that some of the more recent Lucas Davenport books have not been quite as good as some of his earlier work, saying that one Sandford book is not as good as another Sandford book is a long way from saying that it is not a good book at all. However, Bad Blood is not a good book; on the contrary, it is a great thriller, a great book. This is clear from the first page to the last. Unlike some writers, Sandford knows how to write a viscerally grabbing opening, to follow that with a fascinating, believable story, and to finish with a rush that has to be experienced to be understood. This is his best ending ever.

Add to this mix, his trademark humor, his dead on observations about issues, people and particularly the never-ending war between the sexes and you have a seriously talented author. I think the best thing about his books is that he takes the time to understand his characters, and they are individual characters, with individual responses that mean something to the story and other than an honest story Sandford has no axe to grind.

When I read history, I read it with a pen in my hand because I make notes to myself and annotate it all over. Usually when I read fiction I do not annotate--but I found myself doing exactly that several times because the observations were just, so astute, so true. Just one will have to suffice: that f----- Flowers is running away from a house he has just burglarized in order to get evidence because he is warned that the owners are returning in a car and as he ran away he: "Tried not to think of the car: he believed that if you thought of somebody, they could pick up the vibration, and they would see you. The idea was nuts, of course, but he had seen its effects on any number of surveillances."(203) I used to go to the old RFK stadium in Washington DC quite often for Redskins games, and the Redskins games were boring quite often, so instead of the game I would use my binoculars to look at the people across the field to see if I knew anybody. Well more than half the time, the person I chose to look at out of 50,000 people would look back. Crazy, yes. But it happened to me, repeatedly.

This is a great book, a great galloping read. If you like Sandford, if you like thrillers, if you like the really cold winters in Minnesota, or if you just want to read the best writing around today--buy this book. You will be glad you did.

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 my will once having started. Sandford's style is marvelous and it's obvious that he's been doing writing in this vein for quite some time. Easily the best I've read in the crime-action genre.

My only real complaint is that he does tend to go over the top. His dramatic conclusion reads more like a scene from a war movie than a police action. If this sort of thing regularly occurs then I'm rather surprised there are any cops left to keep the peace.

That aside, Sandford's writing is solid and his topic engaging. For those who enjoy work in the CSI realm this is a grand example of the genre.

An 18-year-old jock kills a farmer in rural Minnesota, spends a night in jail and is discovered dead - hanged - the next morning. When the coroner rules it a murder, the local sheriff, tall, good-looking Lee Coakley, knows she needs some outside help, since the chief suspect is the man she beat in the sheriff's election.

Affable, womanizing (in a good way) Virgil Flowers (protégé of Sandford's Prey series character, Lucas Davenport) is happy to help, but arrives to find the suspect dead, an apparent suicide. A quick scan of the scene shows Flowers it's another murder and the suspect is female.

Murder is not so common in this sleepy area of southern Minnesota and Flowers soon ties this current rash to the ugly sex murder of a 17-year-old girl a year earlier. The girl and two of the men belonged to a clannish, secretive church; the 18-year-old was a close friend of the girl's.

Sandford unfolds the story mostly from Flowers' point of view, but switches to outside views to deliver key information, usually only pages before Flowers figures it out for himself. It doesn't lessen the suspense since we're never too far ahead, but since most of the fun is in being along for the ride, I would just as soon have stayed with Flowers all the way through.

Flowers is his usual easy-going, sharp-eyed self, spreading information in a very un-cop-like way in order to stir things up and get people to talk to him. It's a strategy that works and soon nearly everyone in town has something to share.

The subject matter is dark and grows darker, but Sandford's mix of truly grisly creepy, horrid deviance and comic wit works. Flowers knows how to take himself seriously even at his loosest. There is a romance too (as usual in this series), which is sharp and funny, the good sex a wry and welcome antidote to the ugly sex, and the finish is no-holds barred, edge of your seat action. Fans will be well satisfied and newcomers will look for previous books.

Virgil Flowers is apparently going to be a second character for John Sandford now. I guess Lucas Davenport was getting a bit old to be the main detective and do all the heavy lifting. Anyway, Virgil's an interesting character, long hair, obscure rock group t-shirts, and he forgets his gun every once in a while. All of this aside, he's a good detective, and in this story he has a series of killings that don't at first look related, but of course they have to be, so they are.

The setting is a rural area in southern Minnesota, near the border with Iowa. A young man, just out of high school, good kid with a football scholarship, seemingly goes nuts and beats a middle-aged farmer to death with a baseball bat. When the cops come to arrest him, he just breaks down and cries, but won't say anything. Next morning, when the cops go to check on him, he's hung himself...but on further investigation it looks like maybe it was murder, and then things begin to spin out of control. There's another killing, and then Virgil and the locals begin to dig into the case of a girl who vanished a year earlier, only to turn up dead in a cemetary down in Iowa. Then the conspiracy, and the coverup, start, and people desperately try and keep their secrets hidden from the outside world.

I pretty much enjoyed this book. It does drag in the middle a bit (most detective novels do, these days, in my opinion, in that they're too long) but the story and the characters are interesting. Sandford added a love interest for Flowers, a local sheriff who's the sort who can handle almost anything, and some of the secondary characters are quite fun. The ending is a bit unexpected also, or at least it was for me. Recommended...

Sandford has written a book that in some ways is good and some ways not so much.

He does an excellent job of telling a story and breaking down the way a case such as this would be solved in real life. The descriptions of a rural town are spot on and Flowers as a detective is likeable and has good instincts. Also the character isn't portrayed as always being the only one in the room who can help solve a case. He's willing to let others help and use their ideas. You can almost believe there could be a real life Virgil Flowers. The story is somewhat original which is saying something in this genre. I like how we see a bit of what happens after the case is cracked.

The reader doesn't get a mystery just a story. The affair between Flowers and the sheriff is so boring, bland and stereotypical (we would have never guessed she falls for him and they have the best sex ever!) In this type of book the affair angle is just so overused and worn out. The book does drag a bit in the middle third. No real surprise or suspens in the book.

Overall an average book with a good detective character who deserves a better story to surround him.

I read the latest Lucas Davenport novel by sandford, which also came out this year. Although I enjoyed it, it had a problem with being a bit all over the map with plots, subplots and too many characters. Thus, I thought Sandford was winding down in his writing career. This, the best of the Virgil Flowers' novels, shows I couldn't have been more wrong. This book is very tightly focused, has just the right amount of characters and has a terrific plot to boot.

As usual, this is set in a section of Minnesota which is small town, rural and in which people are leading out of the mainstream lives. Last novel it was a town full of vacationing lesbians. This time it is a religious cult which has been home grown since the 1800s, which involves extreme sexual deviance. Suddenly, the town goes from one murder to four murders. All murder victims had some contact with the cult. This brings the state Criminal Bureau into town along with its lead roving detective, Virgil Flowers, who walks around town more like the roadie for some touring rock group than an investigator hunting down a cult. That he forgets to wear his gun most of the time is part of the problem and why he always has to drag out identification.

Many of the Virgil Flowers' books have a terrific shootout, like the OK Corral, occur at some point. This book has an absolute doozy of one, an all time high. Also one of the best vengeance scenes I've ever read.

This is Sandford at his best. I read it in 24 hours.

Visit my blog with link given on my profile page here or use this phonetically given URL (livingasseniors dot blogspot dot com). Friday's entry will always be weekend entertainment recs from my 5 star the store reviews in film, tv, books and music. These are very heavy on buried treasures and hidden gems. My blogspot is published on Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

A righteous kill? It's clear when BJ Tripp kills Jack Flood in a grain elevator and tries to pass the murder off as an accident that the young athlete has given serious consideration to the consequences of his actions. Tripp's reasons are more important than his own future, so when BJ is found hanging in his cell and the officer on duty kills himself the next day, there is more to these three deaths than an easy explanation. Indeed, in this rural Minnesota landscape, family history runs deep, generations born on the land and deeply invested in their communities. When Sheriff Lee Coakley of Warren County personally approaches Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation to request his assistance, neither has any idea of the nightmare they will uncover or the difficulty of breaking through a wall of silence in a group of families who remain obdurate, even in the face of prison.

The body of a young farm girl found in the cemetery weeks earlier provides the critical link between the deaths, but little else, the majority of Coakley and Flowers' time building a viable case with literally no cooperation from the families of interest. Independence runs strong in this part of the country, hard work honing tough farmers in patriarchal families whose forbears brought their religious values from Germany many years ago. Flowers employs unusual techniques, folksy chats with the patrons of a local coffee shop, his "son of a minister" repartee with the stoic folks he interviews, even the distraction of his dalliance with the newly-divorced Lee Coakley. Their polite inquiries are met with stubborn refusal and American Gothic stares. Unfortunately, the secret behind the silence is as corrupt as the land is beautiful, too abhorrent for law enforcement to ignore. Ever consistent, Sandford doesn't disappoint, revealing yet another corner of evil that lurks behind the façade of normalcy. Luan Gaines/2010.

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 chapters reveal four probably inter-connected murders in a small town guarded by Sheriff (Ms.) Lee Coakley, Virgil is summoned to help solve the crimes - and in the process, discovers a horrible sexual religious cult of some one hundred families, dating back nearly a century from their emigration from Germany. Frankly, as much of the tale revolves around ending the sex crimes related to the cult as to solving the rather obvious murder scenarios per se. Nonetheless, with little more than a budding sexual liaison between our principal crime solvers to relieve the tension, the author sustains action and suspense until the big cleanup at the end.

While the abuse of women and children herein lends a dark tone to the novel, we zipped through the book quite rapidly, usually a good sign that we were reasonably entertained by a good story.

I love Virgil books and Virgil. I'm surprised by some of the non-price-related negative reviews. Just because the book touches on a vile topic doesn't make it a bad book. Murder if awful too, but does that mean every book about murder is bad? Of course not. I thought it was a great book and kept me on the edge of my seat right up until the end. Even though we know there is child abuse and incest going on in the backwoods of Minnesota, the book doesn't describe the details of what's happening or paint a vivid picture that you can't get out of your mind. It just mentions it enough that you are aware its going on and Virgil is trying to stop it. There is also no insinuation that the World of Spirit cult has anything to do with Christianity. The cult members reading select passages of the Bible does not make them Christians any more than it makes other Bible-readers Christians. Virgil is just a really cool guy and an even smarter cop. I wish he were real so I could hang out with him!

Jamei and Cersie Lannister killed to keep their secret.
Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia kissed.
It's not the first time i read about freaky stuff going on behind closed doors but
it's disturbing reading about children being abused.
A good read but i did cringe a few times at the dialogue.

Bad Blood is a murder mystery with religious undertones where Minnesota investigator tries to find the common link between three murders where there doesn't seem to be. As he searches for clues, he learns of a group of farmers with their own church that may be the connection. I don't believe I have read any previous Virgil Flowers stories before but this one certain grabbed hold of me. This is book is sexually explicit and may be disturbing to some. There are some twists and false leads. I found the book to be so intense and the plot so fascinating that I will have to read the previous Flowers stories.

Virgil's on another case that involves a domino effect series of murders. All the murders seem to be linked to a rather unusual church. While investigating the murders, he stumbles on a very disturbing fact about this church, which leads to a block buster of an investigation into over a hundred families. Cracking this one could put Virgil's own life at risk, along with the sheriffs dept that called for his assistance. It's the usual Virgil Flowers story with massive crime, sex, and lots of Flowers humor.

I've enjoyed a couple of Sandford's Lucas Davenport novels, and this was my introduction to Virgil Flowers. As a character, he's rather similar to Davenport, a little more country, upstate rather than downstate Minnesota, but just as dedicated and just as willing to engage in an illegal search for evidence. But this is a very different, very dark plot. Religion as the last - or first - refuge of scoundrels. Very well paced, Sanford takes the reader through painstaking police procedural to a shattering multi-part climax. There was one surprising editing error, when on consecutive pages Sanford described a female sheriff as having blonde hair, with a touch of gray; and on the next page as having red hair. Otherwise, highly recommended.

The plot twists are piled up pretty deep, and a reasonable amount of suspension of disbelief is, as is often the case in this type of mystery, required. But the pacing is brisk and there is a witty overlay to the narrative, so I ain't a-complainin'.

Bad Blood by John Sanford. This book starts with a farmer being murdered when he brings his harvest in from the field. A 19 year old is arrested but then is found hung in his cell. The bizarre case then goes on to cause several more deaths which brings Virgil Flowers, an agent with Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in to investigate. Working with the local police and brand new Warren County Sheriff Lee Coakley, Virgil is determined to get to the bottom of a case that ultimately reveals a church that preaches activities which include rape, child abuse, murder and incest. Personally, I did not enjoy this book and had I known it was filled with graphic extreme sexual violence I never would have picked it up. John Sandford writes well but I prefer mysteries with less violence and depravity.

I will start this out by saying that I am NOT a very good reviewer. I know what I like and I have a pretty good idea as to how many stars a book deserves. I was stuck on 4 1/2 stars for "Bad Blood" until the ending brought it UP to 5 stars.
Why am I writing this review? I'm writing to attack all the ignoramuses who gave the Book one *. Some people didn't like the idea of bringing a religous group into the sex scandals. Well, what about the Mormons? I think anyone that gives this book one star because of the religous angle would not have liked 1967's the Graduate because of "Benjamin's" Blocking of the church door with a cross (in the climactic scene.) The point is that the sex descriptions were handled about as well as incest could be handled. The idiotic one star reviews pulled down the overall rating to less than 4 Stars when this is AT LEAST a 4 1/2 star book. Finally, at least in my opinion, there are very few graphic sexual descriptions. Virgil may have been better, but in "Bad Blood" He is still VERY, VERY GOOD!

Standford presents a story line that makes one think about and try to understand these cults that hit the news every so often. While not too deep into the minds of the cult members, it does help understand some of the mind sets found in a cult.

While being a Virgil Flowers story, the work of the Minnesota BCA is basically only referenced but that is OK. Our Minnesota BCA is the best in North America but nothing is presented in the story that reinforces that fact.

The novel is not in the category of a Steinbeck, Hemmingway or Follett, but it kept my interest and kept me reading.

Book 4 in the Virgil Flowers series is a will written mystery with the usual interesting well developed characters. I has a fast moving story line with lots of twist and turn leading to a successful conclusion by the good guys. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Enjoy reading

I have read several of Sandford's works. This one is without a doubt a real thriller. I am familiar with the geographic area he chose for this book. He is accurate describing towns and counties. This familiarity made the book a great read because I could identify with the Southern Minnesota references. I'm hoping it is real fiction or I'd be worried about it.For those not familiar it is still a good book if murder mysteries are to your liking. It is a relief to read something not based in Chicago,New York or LA.I recommend it to others.

... about this book. Of course the subject matter is heinous, especially in light of the recent news out of Penn State. But for those who are looking for a good solid thriller/police procedural, John Sandford never fails to deliver, and one of the things that I like best about him is that when he lifts the edge of a very dark underbelly, he has the grace to lighten it with just the right amount of humor. (Hey Andrew Vachss, you listening to this whisper-stream?)

It is jaw-dropping to me how an author could take a character as awesome as Lucas Davenport and suddenly, completely plausibly, make him out to be one step shy of the proverbial PHB. That effin* Flowers is a great creation, and when, in a book not too far away from the here and now, Mr. Sandford manages also to hook him up with Kidd, which I'm sure (i.e., I hope) he will, I promise to shout at the top of my lungs once again, "John Sandford must be destroyed!"

Yeah, my comments were insidery. I plead: by design, intended for fellow fans. This book? Buy it, read it, love it. 'Nuff said.

==========
* Exact wording not approved by the the store bot proofreader, I am sorry to say.

The plot relied too much on titillation--rather than strong story and character development. The author took the easy way out by writing about kinky sex and violence rather than life issues and character arcs.

Bad Blood is the best Virgil Flowers book yet. Sandford has created a unique, totally likeable character in Flowers. I love that he has a Bible-based background but is sexy and cool. That Bible knowledge works to his advantage in solving the murders committed in this book. I think that the juxtaposition of Flowers lapsed but honest faith against the warped zealotry of the religious cult in this novel works so well. The action is non-stop but is interspersed with Flowers sexual conquests and the inner workings of his mind as he solves the killings. Sandford has hit a winner with Bad Blood. I'm only sorry that reviewers disgruntled by the Kindle issues are bringing the ratings of this well-done novel down. Kindle issues are not the writer's or publisher's fault, but rather the store's (who has the whole publishing world in a head-lock, slowly forcing many of them out of business). Blame the store, not Sandford.

I have read every one of John Sandford's novels, and I've read most of the Prey novels twice. Up until now I had felt so-so about Virgil, but this one made me a believer. Virgil really came alive in this book, catapulting him almost up to Lucas Davenport. He's not quite there yet, but...getting close. This was a solid read from start to finish. There were a few spots in the middle that dragged very slightly, but not enough to make me skim, and I never thought of putting it down. When I was done I found myself wishing I had another Sandford book to pick up. Always a good sign.

If you haven't read any of the Virgil Flowers books, there is no problem starting with this one. Sandford always does a good job of bringing just enough of background into each book to catch up any new readers.

The character of Virgil Flowers is an interesting one and the subject matter was amazing. John Sanford took on a difficult topic and did a good job of it. But, I think the sexual relationship between the main characters was a bit much. In light of the action going on all around them, it seems unlikely that the action in bed would be so prevalent. It appears that sex was just thrown in because male authors think it adds something to the story. It's sex for sex's sake and it doesn't work. Lately many well known male authors seem to be going through their midlife (or later) crisis and intermingling their thoughts with the actions of their characters. Cut it out! If it makes sense go for it, but it's taking away from the story and the writing. I was disappointed that Sanford is resorting to this. Otherwise, the book was pretty good, but not something I couldn't put down.

Not sure what the folks rating this book at a 1 & 2 level read but it wasn't Bad Blood. This was a really good book; interesting, exciting with lots of action and suspense. Virgil Flowers books are always so much fun..maybe some folks just take it all too seriously. The story is certainly thought provoking and credible..the dialogue is catchy, easy going and fun..just like Virgil. The "good guy" characters are warm, friendly and likeable and the "bad guy" characters are gruesome...just like good/bad guys are supposed to be. I love the folks in the dinner and the neighborhood group in the safe house. I have to say that I listened to this on CD--read by Eric Conder who is awesome. For me, listening to a book, when read by an exeption reader like Mr. Conder, makes the story more alive and the characters more vibrant and interesting then when I read. Don't know if that makes a difference but thought I'd mention it. So my suggestion is to read the book and make up your own mind..but you can NEVER go wrong with Virgil or John Sandford!

This was my first time reading one of the Virgil Flowers books from John Sandford. I love John Sandford and the way he brings Minneosta and surrounding areas into his stories. I live in Iowa and come to Minnesota quite a bit. The places mentioned and the details really brings the story to life for me. Great read. If this is your first time checking out the Author or any of his books, this is a great start.

Sandford's Prey series had some dark installments. They seemed to get away from that for awhile after Lucas matured and had a family....but this book brings us back. It has some horrific crimes that are committed and described in pretty good detail. I enjoyed the book but beware. At the start I was sure this was a ghost written book following a formula by an author content to crank a couple a year out (between Flowers and Davenport)and was a bit disappointed. But by midway thru it picked up steam and by the end I couldn't put it down. It was a fast read from one of my favorite authors. Did not disappoint.

He had survived for ages until 1915 when Baron Rudolfo Vladimir Zginski was staked through the heart. In 1975 pathologist Patricia Johnson withdraws the cross from the mummified corpse, which revives the dormant dead Continental vampire. In Memphis, when he meets some moronic young hippie vamps, he reluctantly takes the kids under his wings (see Blood Groove).

Mentoring vamps is not easy for a vowed misogynist; especially the push for gender and racial equality when he knows he is the superior breed due to his aristocratic heritage, sex and race, yet his sidekick is black Leonardo Jones. However, he has a new passion with the modern age and buys a 1973 Mustang from Zeb Crabtree while Jones wants to bite Zeb's daughter, Clora. At the Ringside Club Rudolfo owns, his waitress Fauvette meets undead singer Patience Bolade who like her estranged sister Prudence thrives without drinking blood. Zeb wants to bring the battling sisters past their civil war fight to the modern age as he wants to taste both Bolade babes; unaware how nasty a baseball bat can be when it strikes the head of even a vampire when the hitter swings for the fences.

Not for everyone as the Baron may be sophisticate and suave, but he also is a malicious racist, nasty sexist and arrogant elitist. Starting with the opening profound one word profanity at the bar the story line is filled with gore, action, and gore as the Baron goes after sisters of the blood in an entertaining but over the top of the Smokey Mountains historical vampire tale.

Harriet Klausner

The plot twists are piled up pretty deep, and a reasonable amount of suspension of disbelief is, as is often the case in this type of mystery, required. But the pacing is brisk and there is a witty overlay to the narrative, so I ain't a-complainin'.

Bad Blood by John Sanford. This book starts with a farmer being murdered when he brings his harvest in from the field. A 19 year old is arrested but then is found hung in his cell. The bizarre case then goes on to cause several more deaths which brings Virgil Flowers, an agent with Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in to investigate. Working with the local police and brand new Warren County Sheriff Lee Coakley, Virgil is determined to get to the bottom of a case that ultimately reveals a church that preaches activities which include rape, child abuse, murder and incest. Personally, I did not enjoy this book and had I known it was filled with graphic extreme sexual violence I never would have picked it up. John Sandford writes well but I prefer mysteries with less violence and depravity.

I will start this out by saying that I am NOT a very good reviewer. I know what I like and I have a pretty good idea as to how many stars a book deserves. I was stuck on 4 1/2 stars for "Bad Blood" until the ending brought it UP to 5 stars.
Why am I writing this review? I'm writing to attack all the ignoramuses who gave the Book one *. Some people didn't like the idea of bringing a religous group into the sex scandals. Well, what about the Mormons? I think anyone that gives this book one star because of the religous angle would not have liked 1967's the Graduate because of "Benjamin's" Blocking of the church door with a cross (in the climactic scene.) The point is that the sex descriptions were handled about as well as incest could be handled. The idiotic one star reviews pulled down the overall rating to less than 4 Stars when this is AT LEAST a 4 1/2 star book. Finally, at least in my opinion, there are very few graphic sexual descriptions. Virgil may have been better, but in "Bad Blood" He is still VERY, VERY GOOD!

Standford presents a story line that makes one think about and try to understand these cults that hit the news every so often. While not too deep into the minds of the cult members, it does help understand some of the mind sets found in a cult.

While being a Virgil Flowers story, the work of the Minnesota BCA is basically only referenced but that is OK. Our Minnesota BCA is the best in North America but nothing is presented in the story that reinforces that fact.

The novel is not in the category of a Steinbeck, Hemmingway or Follett, but it kept my interest and kept me reading.

Book 4 in the Virgil Flowers series is a will written mystery with the usual interesting well developed characters. I has a fast moving story line with lots of twist and turn leading to a successful conclusion by the good guys. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Enjoy reading

I have read several of Sandford's works. This one is without a doubt a real thriller. I am familiar with the geographic area he chose for this book. He is accurate describing towns and counties. This familiarity made the book a great read because I could identify with the Southern Minnesota references. I'm hoping it is real fiction or I'd be worried about it.For those not familiar it is still a good book if murder mysteries are to your liking. It is a relief to read something not based in Chicago,New York or LA.I recommend it to others.

... about this book. Of course the subject matter is heinous, especially in light of the recent news out of Penn State. But for those who are looking for a good solid thriller/police procedural, John Sandford never fails to deliver, and one of the things that I like best about him is that when he lifts the edge of a very dark underbelly, he has the grace to lighten it with just the right amount of humor. (Hey Andrew Vachss, you listening to this whisper-stream?)

It is jaw-dropping to me how an author could take a character as awesome as Lucas Davenport and suddenly, completely plausibly, make him out to be one step shy of the proverbial PHB. That effin* Flowers is a great creation, and when, in a book not too far away from the here and now, Mr. Sandford manages also to hook him up with Kidd, which I'm sure (i.e., I hope) he will, I promise to shout at the top of my lungs once again, "John Sandford must be destroyed!"

Yeah, my comments were insidery. I plead: by design, intended for fellow fans. This book? Buy it, read it, love it. 'Nuff said.

==========
* Exact wording not approved by the the store bot proofreader, I am sorry to say.

The plot relied too much on titillation--rather than strong story and character development. The author took the easy way out by writing about kinky sex and violence rather than life issues and character arcs.

Bad Blood is the best Virgil Flowers book yet. Sandford has created a unique, totally likeable character in Flowers. I love that he has a Bible-based background but is sexy and cool. That Bible knowledge works to his advantage in solving the murders committed in this book. I think that the juxtaposition of Flowers lapsed but honest faith against the warped zealotry of the religious cult in this novel works so well. The action is non-stop but is interspersed with Flowers sexual conquests and the inner workings of his mind as he solves the killings. Sandford has hit a winner with Bad Blood. I'm only sorry that reviewers disgruntled by the Kindle issues are bringing the ratings of this well-done novel down. Kindle issues are not the writer's or publisher's fault, but rather the store's (who has the whole publishing world in a head-lock, slowly forcing many of them out of business). Blame the store, not Sandford.

I have read every one of John Sandford's novels, and I've read most of the Prey novels twice. Up until now I had felt so-so about Virgil, but this one made me a believer. Virgil really came alive in this book, catapulting him almost up to Lucas Davenport. He's not quite there yet, but...getting close. This was a solid read from start to finish. There were a few spots in the middle that dragged very slightly, but not enough to make me skim, and I never thought of putting it down. When I was done I found myself wishing I had another Sandford book to pick up. Always a good sign.

If you haven't read any of the Virgil Flowers books, there is no problem starting with this one. Sandford always does a good job of bringing just enough of background into each book to catch up any new readers.

The character of Virgil Flowers is an interesting one and the subject matter was amazing. John Sanford took on a difficult topic and did a good job of it. But, I think the sexual relationship between the main characters was a bit much. In light of the action going on all around them, it seems unlikely that the action in bed would be so prevalent. It appears that sex was just thrown in because male authors think it adds something to the story. It's sex for sex's sake and it doesn't work. Lately many well known male authors seem to be going through their midlife (or later) crisis and intermingling their thoughts with the actions of their characters. Cut it out! If it makes sense go for it, but it's taking away from the story and the writing. I was disappointed that Sanford is resorting to this. Otherwise, the book was pretty good, but not something I couldn't put down.

Not sure what the folks rating this book at a 1 & 2 level read but it wasn't Bad Blood. This was a really good book; interesting, exciting with lots of action and suspense. Virgil Flowers books are always so much fun..maybe some folks just take it all too seriously. The story is certainly thought provoking and credible..the dialogue is catchy, easy going and fun..just like Virgil. The "good guy" characters are warm, friendly and likeable and the "bad guy" characters are gruesome...just like good/bad guys are supposed to be. I love the folks in the dinner and the neighborhood group in the safe house. I have to say that I listened to this on CD--read by Eric Conder who is awesome. For me, listening to a book, when read by an exeption reader like Mr. Conder, makes the story more alive and the characters more vibrant and interesting then when I read. Don't know if that makes a difference but thought I'd mention it. So my suggestion is to read the book and make up your own mind..but you can NEVER go wrong with Virgil or John Sandford!

This was my first time reading one of the Virgil Flowers books from John Sandford. I love John Sandford and the way he brings Minneosta and surrounding areas into his stories. I live in Iowa and come to Minnesota quite a bit. The places mentioned and the details really brings the story to life for me. Great read. If this is your first time checking out the Author or any of his books, this is a great start.

Sandford's Prey series had some dark installments. They seemed to get away from that for awhile after Lucas matured and had a family....but this book brings us back. It has some horrific crimes that are committed and described in pretty good detail. I enjoyed the book but beware. At the start I was sure this was a ghost written book following a formula by an author content to crank a couple a year out (between Flowers and Davenport)and was a bit disappointed. But by midway thru it picked up steam and by the end I couldn't put it down. It was a fast read from one of my favorite authors. Did not disappoint.

He had survived for ages until 1915 when Baron Rudolfo Vladimir Zginski was staked through the heart. In 1975 pathologist Patricia Johnson withdraws the cross from the mummified corpse, which revives the dormant dead Continental vampire. In Memphis, when he meets some moronic young hippie vamps, he reluctantly takes the kids under his wings (see Blood Groove).

Mentoring vamps is not easy for a vowed misogynist; especially the push for gender and racial equality when he knows he is the superior breed due to his aristocratic heritage, sex and race, yet his sidekick is black Leonardo Jones. However, he has a new passion with the modern age and buys a 1973 Mustang from Zeb Crabtree while Jones wants to bite Zeb's daughter, Clora. At the Ringside Club Rudolfo owns, his waitress Fauvette meets undead singer Patience Bolade who like her estranged sister Prudence thrives without drinking blood. Zeb wants to bring the battling sisters past their civil war fight to the modern age as he wants to taste both Bolade babes; unaware how nasty a baseball bat can be when it strikes the head of even a vampire when the hitter swings for the fences.

Not for everyone as the Baron may be sophisticate and suave, but he also is a malicious racist, nasty sexist and arrogant elitist. Starting with the opening profound one word profanity at the bar the story line is filled with gore, action, and gore as the Baron goes after sisters of the blood in an entertaining but over the top of the Smokey Mountains historical vampire tale.

Harriet Klausner

This is a Virgil Flowers novel and to me, Virgil is not as dynamic or exciting a character as his boss Lucas Davenport -- hero of many a Sandford novel. The book takes place in the frigid wilds of southern Minnesota and involves a religious cult that may be practicing sexual child abuse, plus other crimes. The novel moves on rapidly and raptly and key characters are well-developed. But the plot is predictable and the ending kinda wild and woolly. I felt the book bordered on being out of control at the end, but Sandford is a professional and although "Bad Blood" isn't be best Sandford can do, it's a worthy Sandford book. Be warned that there is a lot of graphic description and language herein, and the subject is really not pleasant.

I read this book not having read any works by Sandford before. The story kept me interested but the writing was hard to read sometimes. I don't know of it's a certain print of the book I got or what, but there were many many typos.

I liked the story enough that I might try to read others in the series though.

I just started reading John Sanford books after reading all of the Stuart woods, Lee Childs, Patterson, Connelly, etc. and find this author very good in relation to the afore mentioned authors. His books are a good read.

I found this series quite by accident and fell in love! The character is likable, mostly believable and quick thinking. I am off to read book 5 but if you like fast paced and an easy read you should try this series out!

This was a much darker entry in the Virgil Flowers series than the previous two volumes. Dealing with cults and ritualized sexual abuse, it enters into delicate territory. Virgil does better than I could have done. If I'd have found out what was happening to the children in this "private religion", I could not have kept myself from taking the law into my own hands. I quite liked this book and can't wait until I find the next one.

I thought I already did a review on this one. Hope I didn't mess it up with a different book!!

So anyway, I only gave three stars to this book due to the story line. It is about child sex abuse, including incest, through a strange bunch of so called religious people, who's ancestors came over to this country from Germany. This abuse has been going on for generations. How it managed to be kept secret for so long is a mystery unto itself.

I would definitely NOT recommend this to anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse!

Virgil Flowers is back to uncover the horrors of a cult that has adopted a twisted interpretation of the Bible. The humor Sandford brings to his main character is just enough to keep reading this murder mystery. The author's style keeps me coming back for more of his work.

Sandford went out on a limb on this one and pulled it off. It is very hard to talk about the details of child sexual abuse but Sandford doesn't back off. What could have easily been extremely offensive and done in bad taste ends up being "this is what it's actually like folks, and it's beyond upalling". I applaud Sandford for not only being a great writer and a master of dialogue and wit, but also for daring to go where few writers would date to venture and shed the light of truth on this hard to confront but real issue.

This book is shocking. I truly hope and pray these kind of things don't go on anywhere in the world. Reading through the twist and turns of what needed to be done to bring these people to justice, seemed slow at times...but I could not put it down. :

While a big fan of Sandford, especially the Prey series, I had to skip over many sections of the book. The subject matter was just too sickening. I could not stomach the attempts of humor nor Virgil's sexual exploits in the midst of such horror. I doubt if Davenport, being a parent, would exhibit the utter lack of maturity and sensitivity. No more Flowers books for me.

Yes disturbing but really tight. Sometime Flowers seems to fall into a solution. This story was different. This was all about deductive reasoning and a deep understanding of how depraved and twisted people can become. It was dark and disturbing and twisted. It was really good. I can't wait till I can follow Virgil down the next rabbit hole.

This is bbok four in John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series. I am a big fan but this one wasn't my favorite. BIG story full of twists and turns, murder, sex, rape and more. Virgil out to clean up a little town and the sad church members in it. This is a fine series by Sandford and I love the cross over characters...even the governor. Lots of fun and a good mystery. RECOMMNDED

As Lucas Davenport gets a little stale, I'm pleased that John Sanford is staying fresh with a new protagonist. Virgil is appealing and funny and offbeat and everything you'd want from the hero of a page-turning thriller.

But this book seems emblematic of something I've been noticing a lot lately--lack of attention to copy-editing. There are numerous typos and errors of continuity that should be caught before publication. For example, a place in the book as described as being south of I-94. Well, half of Minnesota is south of I-94--I'm sure from the context I-90 is meant. A couple is described as childless and then refers to their children within a couple of pages.

It's not just this book, though. Is there a crisis of copy-editing loose in the land?

I love the Virgil Flowers series. The only reason this didn't get 5 stars from me is the type of crime it was about; a huge ring of regular sexual abuse of children. Even though, thankfully, it was not graphic, it is not for the squeemish like myself.

Like all John Sanford books, this one was excellent. It mixes together a very interesting story line along with just enough sex and some educational material and humor to keep the pages turning. All of John Sandford's books are really good. I recommend them highly.

I love John Sandford and the characters he creates; however, this Virgil Flowers novel wasn't my favorite. It took me a while to get into the plot and once I did, I found I didn't care as much for the characters as I normally do. It was still a very good book - just not up to the standards I've set for Standford's books.

Fast read. My first John Sanford book. I was hooked at the beginning, but didn't feel the need for the love interest part. Pretty creepy people out there. This could be a real thing. I am looking forward to reading his other books.

"Bad Blood" is John Sandford's fourth book of the Virgil Flowers series, which is a spinoff of his popular Lucas Davenport "Prey" series. Set in rural Minnesota, a teenager kills a man with a T-ball bat at a grain silo and covers it up as an accident. When the medical examiner calls the case murder, the teenager is arrested and found hanged in his cell the next morning. Sheriff Lee Coakley thinks the young man was murdered by her deputy and, to forestall rumors that she's acting for political reasons, she calls on the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for help. They assign Flowers to the case.

SPOILERS AHEAD! Warning!
Flowers goes to see the deputy and find him dead, another murder disguised as suicide. The case expands to include a case of murder and sexual assault in Iowa. Flowers' and Coakley's investigation eventually leads them to a church-based ring of child sexual abusers that may date back more than a century. The book culminates in an apocalyptic shootout at an isolated farmhouse.

Sandford is a consummate professional storyteller and leads the reader through the plot at a quick pace. His description of rural landscapes, attitudes, and life are telling and vivid and his knowledge of politics and police work gives depth to the book.

I'm not as fond of the Flowers books as I am the Davenports. The two characters are almost polar opposites: Davenport is a fashion-plate, sharpshooter, and urbane, while Flowers wears tee shirts, forgets his gun, isn't much of a shot, and works mostly in small towns. Davenport changes and Sandford moves the character around, aging him, putting him in different jobs, gives him relationships that extend through multiple books, and has friends and co-workers who add richness to the stories and help define Davenport by his interaction with them.

Flowers has some quirks: his religious background, that others refer to him as 'that f***ing Flowers' - that seemed to invite oddball behavior. It hasn't turned into anything other than a handy tag and Flowers explains in the book that cops just like alliteration. In the first book, Sandford mentions three quick marriages and divorces, which explains Flowers' serial relationships with women.

Shrake and Jenkins, two BCA thugs, make an appearance late in the book and liven things up. Flowers benefits from the interaction with them. I think he needs a regular Watson to define his character. I don't see the growth and change I see in Davenport.

Davenport also has an emotional investment in solving each case that I don't find in Flowers. I feel more detached from the crimes and solutions.

The plot in this is a recycling of the plot in "Winter Prey". Personally, I was put off by it - child sexual abuse leaves me with a strong "ick" reaction. Sandford doesn't wallow in the details of the abuse for prurient value (the way James Patterson has done), but it still puts me off. Yes, I know, bad crimes make good conflict. Still.

I'll give this two and a half stars, rounded up to three because Sandford writes so well. And I look forward to his next book.

I'm beginning to like Virgil Flowers more than Lucas Davenport although the characters are very similar. This story deals with secret societies that deal with a topic that's rather taboo(I don't want to give anything away from the story). Its another well written, riveting and extremely good book by John Sandford. The two characters that's he's created are super. I look forward to the next chapter of "Prey" novels....

Tough reading, truly distorted values. Scary if true. I think this could add to misunderstanding of rural America. My experience is totally far from this book. I found rural values to be superb, if generally conservative. Virgil kept his cool.

I've loved the prey series. Of course some you love more than others, but Lucas Davenport is a consistently exhilarating character. I just don't feel the same passion for Virgil Flowers. He always seems like a side character for me, not the leading man... I wish I liked him better because Sandford is clearly not wanting to write more Davenport stories, but Virgil doesn't do it for me and then the entire book falls a bit flat.

Sandford is an experienced and competent writer...I would take him on a plane, I trust him to fill the time easily. And this book has his breezy style, where the dialogue is fast and sharp and funny. But the crime, though awful, was oddly predicable. Nothing happened that surprised me in this book, even the climax wasn't surprising to me. So I read it very quickly, but I'm worried that none of it will linger in my mind. I used to find his books more provocative, now I find them proficient.

Four stars was given because Bad Blood by Sandford was so much better than the last book I read--Private by James Patterson.

Upon finishing, I knew Virgil was a cop, the son of a Lutheran minister, liked women, and had a sense of humor. Not much else is known about him. Perhaps if I had read earlier books starring Virgil, I would have known him better as a policeman and a person.

The book is easy reading and just interesting to keep me turning the pages. Some of the sexual content was a bit over the top. Also, I'd like to read a book about what happened next-the trial, etc. But I guess that's a John Grisham book.

Typically a trained operative would not approach an objective from the bank when people are shooting in that direction. Typically one would approach from a flank. There were some other errors that made me laugh, but, this was a good read and I enjoy this author.

To summarize: mystery, none; suspense, little; action, one long burst late in the novel; humor, forced. An unsatisfying read. Nearly abandoned the novel two hundred pages in. This was my introduction to Sandford, and I wish I had chosen one of the Prey novels instead.

John Sandford's latest entry in his Virgil Flowers series suffers from a lot of flaws but is ultimately still an acceptable read. Sandford is a very competent writer, so even when he's not writing at his best the resulting work is usually better than much of what lesser writers are putting out there. Still, Sandford has done and can do much better, and I think in the Flowers series he sometimes really lets himself go and indulges some of his sloppier failings.

Like its predecessor Flowers novels, Bad Blood doesn't supply too much in the way of suspense or mystery since as has been his habit of late, Sandford in many scenes throughout the book places the reader inside the heads of the very dysfunctional and unlikable perps. This doesn't really enhance the enjoyablity of the story, and it makes much of the weight of keeping the reader's interest fall on the dialog (entertaining in general) and the usual apocalyptically violent shootout ending which has become an expected inside joke both among Flowers' fictional colleagues and Sandford's readers.

Sandford has mined the child sex crime scene before for plots and no doubt will again. This is clearly an issue close to his heart and on the one hand he's to be commended for not shrinking from the unpleasant details. But, there's also such as thing as needlessly describing in too graphically detailed a manner exactly who placed which implement or body part into which juvenile character, how many times, when, and at which locales. I don't object out of prudery - if he'd written a book with graphic sex scenes between adult characters, that would be completely different - but out of squeamishness. After a while I was flinching as I turned the pages. Other writers, using both fiction and nonfiction, have managed to raise awareness of child (sex) abuse without skirting so close to the line dividing reportage from child pornography.

There were times when I wondered if perhaps the general plot had been left over from an idea that Sandford had in the late 1980s and never developed then. Fifteen to 30 years ago there was a spate of first real, and then hysterical and false allegations of vast child sex rings in day care centers, churches, schools, etc. The ones that almost always turned out to be false simply because they were too big to be true were of the type encountered in this book: very extensive, long-lasting, relatively out in the open, but nevertheless largely unsuspected by the community's other residents. It just doesn't ring true that something this big could have gone on for so many decades unsuspected.

I did like the rural setting of southwestern Minnesota near the Iowa border. Sandford's major character, Lucas Davenport, is chained to the Twin Cities. Sandford uses the free-ranging Flowers to place other parts of the state on display. Most of the banter and flirtation between Flowers and the local lady sheriff is entertaining. I liked how the rural cops were out of their league in terms of lacking the experience to deal with a spate of murders rooted in a child abuse ring, yet not necessarily hopelessly incompetent or stupid.

All in all Bad Blood is an easy to devour airplane-type read. To digress, I don't quite understand why the store reviews have become dominated by the 5-star or else mentality. It makes it really hard for those for whom a certain author is not a must-read to distinguish between all the books that average 4½ stars, since that's almost everything of late. (Bad Blood's relatively low 3.8 ranking is mostly driven by some 1-star reviewers unhappy with the Kindle price). This isn't a jab aimed at those who gave this novel five stars. I just wonder if perhaps too many readers are only reviewing books they found worthy of five stars, and then perhaps at the other end books they hated enough to get energized about and warn other against.

So I don't know if it's grade inflation or a self-selection bias or both that creates a largely unhelpful inverted bell curve to the review set of so many books, but I think the only cure is for more readers to go out of their way to review books they found to be 2-, 3-, and 4-star reads, and not just waste all your ammo on the few books we find to be truly superb or dreadful. Just my suggestion / plea.

Terrific yet disturbing story, we'll told through Virgil Flowers somewhat devious but internally honest mind. Fun and exciting and unsettling. Hard, but not impossible to believe that people could live like the World of Spirit deviants do in this story. Great character portraits, even the snapshot ones.

John Sandford certainly has a good time giving life to Virgil Flowers. I can't get enough of this hippie looking, smart, problem solving ,woman loving dude. He's funny and yet serious when he needs to be. This is a great read or audio to listen to.

I love this series. This is probably my least favorite of the bunch so far. The subject matter is grisly and there isn't that typical Sandford mystery as to who did what. Regardless, if you are a Virgil Flowers fan, add it to the list.

This book by John Sanford is one of the best Virgil Flowers novels I have read. Virgil is a character all his own and is believable as well as the rest of the cast of characters. The story is challenging and irresistable, compelling you to finish to find out what happens. A good read.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

Minnesota's Virgil Flowers is an investigative savant, kind of like Lee Child's Jack Reacher. He's smart and cagey and always has the solution to the crime just at the edge of his mind. I've read all of the Virgil Flowers novels and they're very entertaining.

John Sandford has spoiled me in terms of "detective" stories. Flowers is such a great character and like all the other characters Sanford creates, they are believable. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying what he produces.

Bob Tripp, in charge of the Battenberg Farmer's Co-op grain elevator patiently waits for Jacob Flood to arrive to deposit his crop; Bob plans to kill Jacob. His scheme works perfectly as the police arrive at the scene and conclude he was murdered by Tripp rather than the accident the young man claimed happened. They arrest Tripp who is placed in a jail cell with overnight deputy Jim Crocker remaining in the office. While in the jail Tripp dies in what looks like a suicide, but is a homicide while at his home Crocker is also dead with the evidence pointing towards a female.

Because of a conflict of interest, Warren County Sheriff Lee Coakley asks BIA Agent Virgil Flowers for assistance. They drive separately to Homestead where the killings occurred. The pair learns that two of the victims belonged to the cult World of Spirit where rumors of rape, incest, and young teen brides are acceptable practices. Virgil and the sheriff also know they have no legal admissible evidence as the cult members stick closely together circling the wagons. Knowing the innocent are being harmed, the two law enforcement officials continual their diligence, but remain clueless.

With his fourth Flowers (and the zillion Prey tales) thriller, John Sandford once again affirms he is amongst the top echelon in the police procedural sub-genre. Virgil has a wicked sense of humor that distinguishes him, but when it comes to a case he is serious and meticulous. With plenty of murder, mayhem, and more, fans will enjoy the investigation by "F" Flowers and the female sheriff.

Harriet Klausner

I received this book free from First Reads.
I was already a big fan of John Sandford. He is one of those authors, whose books play like a movie in my mind.
This was my first Virgil Flowers novel, and I was not disappointed. I love it when I find a new series to read.

Best mystery I've read in a long time. Sanford spins a great tale with well developed characters and a focused plot. Many of the 1 to 3 star reviews are because of the subject matter, but the book really is very well written, totally believable, and peppered with just enough comic relief to make it bearable.

Virgil is so addictive, that he makes me forget about Lucas Davenport while I read. The characters are so real, the story is so interesting. Love Sandford's books, all of them: about Lucas, about Kid, and about "... that f...ing Virgil"!

Good old Virgil. Somehow, he always gets to have sex with the leading lady - and it's not only really satisfactory, but more importantly, by mutual agreement, a temporary relaxation - like going to a spa. The story about religious extremists is a mere backdrop.

The book started great. Boom from the beginning. I really wanted to know where it's all going. But then something started to slid down. I didn't like the relationships between the main characters at all. It was interesting to read about different "religion" since I've heard a lot about one similar to it. People think religion can justify their rottenest. It can not. I think I'll read more books by this author anyway. I like the way he builds the plot.

I thought this was an excellent book. I am a huge fan of Prey series and am now also falling for that effing Flowers. I am disappointed that some reviewers are only giving this book 1 star because they had to pay an xtra $5. It is well worth the money.
The book covers a difficult topic with child sex abuse but does a great job of covering a relevant topic that was in the news not long ago. I am already looking forward to the next one.

B+ Virgil Flowers takes on a female sheriff (Coakley) and a Cult (World of Spirit) in small town Minnesota. A young man (Tripp) at a grain elevator kills a customer (Flood), then screams Accident. Tripp hangs himself in the jail where he was kept overnight. Then the deputy ( Crocker) who was in charge of watching Tripp in jail is found dead at home on his couch with lipstick on his penis and the gun on the floor next to the couch. There is so much more trauma and suspense to follow. Very quick and exciting read.

The worst Sandford book I've ever read. In what part of Sandford's brain did this weird and insulting (to the ethnic and rural people written about) story come from? I've taken him off my future reading list.

I love vergil - he is a great character- the book is pretty well written but the subject matter is dark and disturbing. to be honest, i would rather not think that the subject portrayed actually exists in the world. the entertainment value is way outwayed by the disturbing subject.

This was one of the most enjoyable books I have read for quite some time. Sandford's pacing and character development is I think unparalleled. Virgil Flowers is a likeable yet realistic character. The dialog is especially well done.

The plot of this book, and the extent of the conspiracy is maybe a bit far fetched (but not as bad as the Prey novel about the Soviet agents). Still, it makes for a great story and a fun read.

This was one of the most enjoyable books I have read for quite some time. Sandford's pacing and character development is I think unparalleled. Virgil Flowers is a likeable yet realistic character. The dialog is especially well done.

The plot of this book, and the extent of the conspiracy is maybe a bit far fetched (but not as bad as the Prey novel about the Soviet agents). Still, it makes for a great story and a fun read.

I have reviewed 15 or 16 books, and this is the lowest score I have given any book. I believe the book is not well written, the plot convoluted, the characters weak and not well developed, and an unsatisfying ending. The book jacket states, "...a series of crimes of such monstrosity that, even through he's seen an awful lot in his life, Virgil has difficulty in comprehending it..." I agree - I had difficulty in comprehending it. This is the first book I have read by this author. There has been a series of books involving Virgil Flowers from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. I would not recommend this book or any in the series if they are like this one.

I wouldn't give this book even one star and always wonder why the store has 4 or 5 stars on every book. Maybe it increases sales. This is a poor excuse for a story. My book group is going to read it but I have a shelf full of good books that I'll be reading instead.

Normally I like Sandford's novels and also enjoyed Rough Country, the other Virgil Flowers novel I read. However, Bad Blood has a really creepy storyline. The "religious" cult is a little hard to take and the idea that it has existed for years, even generations, without the other townspeople figuring it out, is hard to believe.

I have read all of Sandford's Prey novels and I've become a big fan of the Virgil Flowers's books and I've never been disappointed. This one, however was terrible. Slow to start. When the story began to finally come together, it was practically pornographic. There were a few of the humorous spots I've come to look forward to in the Flower's books, but overall it was embarrassingly bad. I usually pass my books on to friends, but not this one. It went straight to the recycle bin.

Let me say from the start I LOVE John Sandford's writing. I have read everything he has written. This bood is of course well written and I enjoy his Virgil Flowers character. That said, the subject matter/crime left a regrettable series of pictures in my mind. I have a friend who likes John Sandford as well and will let him read it but after that I will probably trash the book since I wouldn't want to be responsible for passing this along.

I am glad to see the store has responded to the negative reviews of the 14.99 Kindle price by upping it to 19.99. Not in this lifetime for an ebook - this is nuts. And I dont buy this "price set by the publisher" nonsense - the store made a business decision to lose all constraint on ebook prices, and it as really cut into my purchases.

I have been waiting for the price of the Kindle Version of this book to drop for some months. 19.99? Really? I gave up waiting and recently purchased a paperback copy for 7.49 at Walmart. What's up? I love my Kindle, but I will be giving serious consideration to future purchases.

I don't personally know penny kaufman but she says what I feel perfectly so "This review is from: Bad Blood: a Virgil Flowers novel (Kindle Edition)
This book came out almost a year ago and is still 14.99 on Kindle. While Sandford is one writer I usually read, and Virgil Flowers is a character I like immensely, I refuse to spend 14.99 on an ebook."

I am desperate to read this book, but absolutely refuse to pay $14.99. I think this book would have been on the bestseller list a lot longer if it had a fair price. All of a sudden the $9.99 book is becoming rarer, and $12.99 the new norm. Buying this book at $14.99 is what is allowing this price hike. Kindle hooks us, and now crooks us? I'll buy it used in hardcover or wait for paperback. How terribly sad and greedy. (and yes, I am totally aware that the price was set by the publisher....BUT, I somehow think the store is powerful enough to fight this, but let it go to test the market...and it was a test we failed miserably when we purchased it at $14.99) Slippery slope, folks, slippery slope!

I'm a big fan of John Sandford and have bought and read all his previous books. Normally I would buy this title for my Kindle, however, I am not buying this one because of the pricing policies of of the Kindle version by the publisher, Penguin. Instead I have ordered it from the library.

Penguin, you are being very short-sighted. E-books are part of the future of publishing. A fair profit for you and your writers is fine, but your current pricing policies are greedy. Do you really want to alienate Kindle owners - we buy a lot of books.

Absolutely refuse to pay higher price for Kindle version than paperback and only $.54 cheaper than hardback. There is no rationale, legitimate justification for these exorbitant prices, particularly when you consider environmental impact of dead tree books. Where are all you tree huggers?

I was ready to download John Sandford's latest Virgil Flower book, Bad Blood, until I checked the price. I will NOT pay such a high prices and will go back to buying paper backs which I can share with friends. WAKE UP the store AND KEEP YOUR PROMISE AS TO PRICES WHEN WE BOUGHT OUR KINDLES! ! ! ! ! Besides, reading several comments, this book must really be bad.......

I just read the jacket copy to see if I still would have bought the book if I'd read it first. The jacket copy refers to is "crimes of such monstrosity." It's really awful, very graphic and probably a lot more of it after I stopped reading. I usually mail these books off to a friend but this one is going in the dumpster, recycling of course. This is the first time I've commented on a book but I am really disgusted with John Sandford.

This title is available at Half Price Books for $8 only days after release. I too have declined to buy either this one or Storm Prey because of the pricing. I think the publishers are trying to stick it to the store. Why on earth would you intentionally harm the emerging ebook market and alienate your highest volume buyers? Yet another brilliant business move - my public library thanks them. I will return to my previous buying volume when they return to the $9.99 price.

Refuse to buy until the price comes down to $9.99. If it doesn,t come down I'll buy the hard cover which can be shared with friends; friends (with Kindles) who have already agreed to share the hard cover and its price.

I refuse to buy this book because of the exorbitant kindle price even though Sandford (Camp) is one of my favorite authors. Camp should do something about his publisher's pricing policies before they antagonize the kindle market. I went to the library for the most recent Sandford books because of the kindle pricing and they received nothing more! I would have bought both this and the most recent Prey series (Storm) if the price was $9.99 as we were lead to believe for the best sellers when we purchased our kindles.