Book 5), Shock Wave (A Virgil Flowers Novel

Having just completed (with some effort), Sandford's latest work, "Storm Front", my recollection of "Shock Wave" is that it was slightly below par for a Virgil Flowers investigation, but was still far better than his latest offering. Shock Wave is a tale of a bomber running amok against a powerful super-store owner whose new build has divided the community in a rural town. There is a sub-plot of local council corruption, including pay-offs by the rich developer. The plot does stretch credibility at times - especially the ability of the bomber to carry out repeated bombings and avoid detection.

In the end, the laid-back Flowers again solves the case, coupled with some amorous side-tracks and witty dialogue.

Not as lively a story that we've come to expect from a novel about Virgil Flowers. A plot about a sophisticated bomb-maker in rural Minnesota is kind of far-fetched. Don't worry, I'll be clamoring to buy the next John Sanford book.

I am new to John Sandford books and I must say I am enjoying them. It's a little cheap how he injects his liberal leanings into the story and the characters. I'm willing to let it slide however, because the story is always quite enjoyable.

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.

I have to say I absolutely love John Sandford, and Virgil Flowers is my very favorite. However, I found this book to be very dull, boring, and showed not much of that "f----ng Flowers" we've grown to know and love. I really hope for a fast plot next time and more interesting stories than Virgil trying to figure out if his long distance relationship is still on. Sorry, not a good one in my opinion.

Add my name to the list of 5 star opinions. In "Shock Wave," Virgil does what he does best, haulin' his fishing boat behind his truck and solving crimes. This one seems to have more twists and turns than usual for a Virgil Flowers tale, but not so much that it makes the read less interesting. I suppose it would be responsible of me to go back and look at some earlier Sandford work, but, not doing that, I think this is one of Sandford's best.

Somebody doesn't want the new big box Pye Mart to open up in Butternut and starts blowing people up. Davenport sends in the idiosyncratic Virgil Flowers to catch the bomber.

Sandford's the master as this sort of thing. Just sit back and enjoy the thrill ride.

Impossible to put down.

Slow and not very interesting. I've read all of Stanford's books, loved them all, but this one is a sleep inducer. I got half way through expecting that f-ing Flowers to keep me interested to no avail. Z-z-z-z.

Virgil should be more fun. This seemed in slo-mo. The laughs weren't there. Maybe his domestic situation put a damper on the whole thing. But the fact that he's badly conned, and it costs lives, adds a dimension to this character, we haven't seen before. Sandford is still a pro. This just doesn't measure up to his high standards.

I've been a John Sanford fan for a long time and especially like the Virgil Flowers books. But I gotta say this one is poorly written and shockingly boring. What's up? This book is just not up to the high standard of Mr. Sanford's work. Could it be his "friend" who helped him write this one? Fans, you may be disappointed.

I have always been a fan of Sanford. He was one of the few authors who I would buy in hardback without waiting for any reviews. No longer. Sanford mentions in passing that he has collaborated in the writing of this book, although there is no mention of this on the jacket. As far as I can make out the collaborator has provided his expertise on fly fishing while denaturing the book; a Virgil Flowers book where the central character remains chaste throughout the whole book and one where there is little or no humour? I shall certainly sit on the fence with the next book by this duo and will not be buying it until I have had a chance to skim it. I would also add, as others have done, that the Kindle version is grossly overpriced. Yes I know some of the freaks will start howling that the rating is meant to be only on the merits of the book reviewed but you know what? I disagree and I shall continue to alert readers - and hopefully the publishers - when I feel that I am being cheated. In fact, increasingly I am simply waiting until I can buy the overpriced book second hand or borrow it from the local library.

I've been reading the Prey books since the beginning. ABSOLUTELY LOVE this spin-off series with Virgil. Don't usually write any reviews and I'm not starting now. Just want to say I love that f***king Flowers!!

By the time they get to their 25th book in a setting (these are in the same world as his Prey books), most authors are just mailing it in (see Griffin, Clancy). Sandford continues to put out exciting, well-plotted books that make you laugh out loud at times ("I have varied interests. And insomnia."). Definitely worth a read!

Virgil should be more fun. This seemed in slo-mo. The laughs weren't there. Maybe his domestic situation put a damper on the whole thing. But the fact that he's badly conned, and it costs lives, adds a dimension to this character, we haven't seen before. Sandford is still a pro. This just doesn't measure up to his high standards.

I've been a John Sanford fan for a long time and especially like the Virgil Flowers books. But I gotta say this one is poorly written and shockingly boring. What's up? This book is just not up to the high standard of Mr. Sanford's work. Could it be his "friend" who helped him write this one? Fans, you may be disappointed.

I have always been a fan of Sanford. He was one of the few authors who I would buy in hardback without waiting for any reviews. No longer. Sanford mentions in passing that he has collaborated in the writing of this book, although there is no mention of this on the jacket. As far as I can make out the collaborator has provided his expertise on fly fishing while denaturing the book; a Virgil Flowers book where the central character remains chaste throughout the whole book and one where there is little or no humour? I shall certainly sit on the fence with the next book by this duo and will not be buying it until I have had a chance to skim it. I would also add, as others have done, that the Kindle version is grossly overpriced. Yes I know some of the freaks will start howling that the rating is meant to be only on the merits of the book reviewed but you know what? I disagree and I shall continue to alert readers - and hopefully the publishers - when I feel that I am being cheated. In fact, increasingly I am simply waiting until I can buy the overpriced book second hand or borrow it from the local library.

I've been reading the Prey books since the beginning. ABSOLUTELY LOVE this spin-off series with Virgil. Don't usually write any reviews and I'm not starting now. Just want to say I love that f***king Flowers!!

By the time they get to their 25th book in a setting (these are in the same world as his Prey books), most authors are just mailing it in (see Griffin, Clancy). Sandford continues to put out exciting, well-plotted books that make you laugh out loud at times ("I have varied interests. And insomnia."). Definitely worth a read!

A Virgil Flowers Novel
By John Sandford
Putnam 388 pgs
978-0-399-15769-1
Rating: Read This Book!

Virgil Flowers is back, our favorite redneck detective. This is the OK Corral: not only is he after the bad guys but he's cleaning up the town while he's at it.

Our story begins when a bomb explodes in a Michigan high rise housing the corporate headquarters of PyeMart, a builder of some sort of upscale Walmart things. Three weeks later another bomb explodes in Butternut Falls, Minnesota, at a PyeMart construction site. So the ATF shows up and requests assistance from the state of Minnesota and Lucas Davenport (of the Prey series fame) dispatches "that *bleepin*Shock Wave (A Virgil Flowers Novel) Flowers" to investigate. Lest anyone object, this is a term of endearment and a running joke in Mr. Sandford's Prey and Virgil Flowers novels.

Our hero arrives and finds that everyone in town has an opinion on PyeMart, and almost everyone in town has a stake in the new store. The new store would provide jobs for the people of Butternut Falls. The store would put Butternut Falls merchants out of business from price competition. Some people need the new store for it's new utilities and city services west of town. Some people south of town, where the City originally planned to build, are going to lose big real estate money. When PyeMart came up for a vote in the city council, three members voted yay, three voted nay, and the mayor broke the tie with her yay. Now it seems a few of the people's representatives are skulking around town with a little extra money to spend.

Shock Wave is again a great John Sandford book, a pleasure to read. Just when you become complacent, appreciative but complacent, he serves up a different tale. The bad guy here is building bombs, not stabbing anyone to death or something, so there's a more technical investigation this time. Not as much "guns'a'blazin." I thought this book slowed in the middle but that may be because the author's books are usually more of a macho physical effort. Which I like. Very much. Anywho, Virgil breaks new BCA ground with cyber-sleuthing, and rest assured there are plenty of high explosives to go around. Another way Shock Wave diverges from the formula is that there is no romantic claptrap going on. Why do so many authors insist that the male cop has to fall in love with the female criminal who is beautiful but vulnerable, blah blah blah? Thank the Lord we don't have to do that again. The end is well-and deftly crafted, even elegant. So again I can confidently recommend a new John Sandford novel, Shock Wave. Enjoy!

If you're interested in John Sandford's other books this is the place to look: [...]

Fun extra and he's got this about 80% right: [...]

While I've grown a little cold on the John Sandford novels that feature Lucas Davenport, I'm finding I like the Virgil Flowers novels a lot. Shock Wave has Flowers tracking down a serial bomber intent on stopping a large Walmart-like store from setting up shop in a small town. Flowers is a nice mix of irreverence, vulnerability, and persistence, all wrapped together in a mind that never stops running.

Sandford does a good job in capturing the small town atmosphere where the action takes place. It's reasonably clear that someone in the town is doing the bombing, but there's a number of people who would make good suspects. Many people in town will be negatively impacted by the new store, and most would be happy to see the construction stopped. But which person would be motivated enough to kill? On top of the bombing, there's also a question surrounding why the city council approved a zoning change after initially opposing the site. Is the bombing also tied to the possible corruption? These are all questions Flowers has to figure out, and it doesn't help that the bombings are accelerating at a frightening pace.

On top of the characters, Sandford does a perfect job in making sure the killer isn't known until the very end. I was guessing the entire time, and found out it wasn't the person who I thought it was going to be. I was also impressed with the use of "crowd-sourcing" to dig up a list of likely suspects. While I don't think it's something that would be accepted very well in reality, it did present some interesting possibilities of involving others in solving a crime.

I hope Sandford continues with the Flowers character in future books. It would definitely put him back on my "read right away" list.

Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed

Virgil Flowers returns in SHOCK WAVE and the read is a good one. This is the fifth novel of the series and this time he is chasing a bomber. Virgil is based in Mankato, Minnesota and therefore routinely covers the southern part of the state for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He also goes whether his boss, Lucas Davenport, sends him. Virgil has quite the reputation, not just with the ladies, and always gets the job done.

The latest bombing was of a construction trailer located at the site of a planned PyeMart store. PyeMart is a major grocery and more type chain store deal and somebody is trying to stop their latest venture. This just hours after the company's board room in their very secure office tower was blown up killing one and wounding another. Like the office tower bombing, the destruction of the construction trailer has killed one and wounded another. Lucas Davenport sends Virgil to the small town of Butternut to deal with the problem in typical Virgil Flowers fashion.

That means both traditional police work and a reliance on the unorthodox methods when traditional police work does not give Virgil Flowers the answers he needs. Butternut is one of those small towns where everyone pretty much knows everyone else. That means everyone knows who the folks on the edge are and also know that most of those types can't pull these bombing off successfully. Yet, somebody is doing it because it keeps happening.

As expected, Virgil does finally solve the case in a fast paced book that also occasionally provides a laugh out loud moment. No new ground in terms of character development is broken here. Instead, the focus is on the case and chasing a bomber that is striking again and again in the area. In a refreshing change from recent books in this series, discussions and observations about sex and sexual perversions are almost non-existent making for a much better read. The focus is on the case, the suspects, and how to stop the attacks. The read moves very quickly with a minimum of character exploration. That is especially obvious in the way the secondary subplot is handled as it could have easily been expanded some to add some complexity to the book. Despite that minor nit, there are plenty of twists and turns in this nearly 400 page novel to give you a good read.

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

I've been a huge fan of John Sandford for years, beginning with the Prey series and moving on to Virgil Flower's tales. I think Sandford continues to crank out good copy and each of his novels are entertaining and contain all the elements needed for a good mystery -- suspense, red herrings, humor, twists, great character development and scene.

Maybe because I grew up in Minnesota, I really like his settings. (In one Flowers novel, a high-speed chase took place down a road two blocks from my childhood home).

In this novel, Virgil is looking for a bomber who may be blowing up things because he's protesting the new PyeMart moving in. But is it an environmental protest? An economic protest? Sandford keeps the reader guessing throughout the novel.

He also informs readers with neat forensic tidbits, like what happens to peoples' heads when they blow up, for instance.

Sandford's character development continues to shine as well. You'd think after all those books, he'd tire and run out of decent characterizations. In Shock Wave, he still has it. Virgil continues to be a man's man -- after nearly blown up, Virgil heads to a restaurant for breakfast. It's a simple plot line, but it reveals the "coolness" of Virgil and continues to enhance who he is.

Another interesting thing Sandford develops is Virgil's integration with the townsfolk. While in Butternut, he incorporates the residents' help create a list of potential suspects and he quickly makes friends with the locals.

Once again, Sandford pens a great book and furthers the idea that any book of his you pick up will be a great read.

If you were to ask fans of crime series fiction to list their 10 favorite series and authors, it is more likely than not that you would find John Sandford's name listed twice: for Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers. The Davenport books have evolved over the course of two decades into one of the most reliably readable contemporary series in the mystery genre; some 20-odd titles down the road, Sandford continues to publish some of his best writing in his most recent work. The Flowers series is a relatively recent spin-off from the Davenport universe, but is formed from the same elements that make the Davenport books such a joy to read: sharp characterization, witty dialogue and, at heart, a gritty, often puzzling mystery.

Sandford's latest novel, SHOCK WAVE, is the fifth installment in the Flowers series. Flowers is abruptly pulled off of a vacation by Davenport to investigate a bombing in the scenic but obscure Butternut Falls, Minnesota. The explosion occurs at the construction site of a new and controversial PyeMart store. The incident was preceded three weeks prior by a similar bombing at the PyeMart headquarters in Michigan, so that the almost inescapable conclusion is that the two terrorist attacks are linked. A mad bomber creates a wonderfully excruciating ticking clock in Sandford's extremely capable hands, given that there are a plethora of suspects in Butternut Falls, and Flowers needs to begin weeding them out, even as more bombs explode with deadly intent and force.

When the dust settles and the smoke clears, Sandford is a fabulous storyteller above all else, and while I didn't flinch while starting my car in the days following my reading of the book, I might have thought things over for a second or two before I turned the key in the ignition. Or the doorway. Or wherever. Yet the shock isn't the entirety of the novel. In Sandford's hands, Flowers creates a bunch of odd and memorable characters, some of whom wander into and out of the book for chapters at a time, while others appear and disappear but make their presence known.

One of them is an oversexed teenage boy whose appearances are brief but who provides what for me is the line of the book. Then, of course, there is the mystery of who is setting off the bombs. Sandford engages in a touch of tough but fair misdirection that sends Flowers off one way while the bomber goes the other, so that the evildoer almost gets away with it. That's not going to happen, though, with Flowers on the job, vacation time or not.

Flowers and Davenport are somewhat different characters personally; professionally, however, they are cut from the same cloth. They also bring a similar wisecracking attitude to the proceedings that is unsettling for their targets but highly entertaining for the readers. And Flowers, being a worker bee and not the boss, gets to exercise his penchant for smart remarks just a bit more freely in the field. If SHOCK WAVE is any indication, Flowers has a better than even chance of equaling if not surpassing Davenport in the hearts and minds of Sandford's legion of readers.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I began reading the Virgil Flowers series with some suspicion. As a rule, spinoff series aren't very good (witness Connelly's Mickey Haller and Parker's Sunny Randall). By the fourth book, I'm hooked. Sandford has found a solution of sorts to the problem that in continuing series, characters age. While Lucas Davenport moves toward retirement, Virgil Flowers, some ten or twenty years younger, is picking up the torch.

This is a tightly plotted story, with a series of climaxes, each of the penultimates enough of a red herring to keep you wondering. The twist of motive charges up the last 100 pages, and the bomber turns out to be someone more interesting than a talented sociopath.

Virgil is a lot of fun. He is very much Davenport transported forward a couple of decades. He has Davenport's taste in music and affection for alternative pop culture, Davenport's seductive and initially rather off-putting charm, and a sharp mind. He doesn't have Davenport's computer skills, but there's a simple reason for that: Chances are, Sandford has not kept up with technology enough to make that credible. I suspect that's why the Kidd novels tapered off as well. It's hard to write credibly about an industry that pumps out change like a firehose.

If you want bash 'em, smash 'em action, you won't get it from Davenport because he's too old, and you won't get it from Virgil Flowers because it's not his style. What you can count on, what Sandford shares with the irreplaceable Robert Parker, is charming, intelligent writing with enough challenges to keep you reading.
****
Having just finished reading all the Davenports again over a two month period, from Rules of Prey to Silken Prey, and all the Flowers novels up to Mad River again, I want to add a couple of things.

First, the Flowers books are not as good as the Davenports, and never really have been. Flowers is not quite as real as Davenport; he's truly a spinoff character. And the plots in the Flowers books tend off the bizarre into the surreal. Murder at a lesbian woods resort? Christian fundie cult that practices incest, sodomy, and sexual slavery? Mad bomber stalking Sam Walton? I mean, Clara Rinner, Maddog, and Taryn Grant (Scott?) are not your average neighbors, but they are credible in their own milieu.

Second, Sandford is taking a lot of misguided crap about putting his name on somebody else's book. Some reviewers actually claim he identifies his co-author (sometimes "his son," though usually not which one) on his web site, which is managed by his son Roswell. Not so. I went through the entire site looking for this, and if it was ever there, it's gone. My theory is that the seed of the gossip is Sandford's generous acknowledgement of his friends in the forewords of the Flowers novels. What people fail to note is that it's a different friend in each one. Personally, I think Sandford builds the framework of a Flowers novel by shooting the bull with his fishing buddies (golf buddies, etc.), but the writing is one guy, with one style and a pretty consistent grasp of the geography of Flowers' universe. Personally, I don't care if he's got heavy-duty editors, as long as the humor (Shock Wave ends with a joke that's funnier the better you know the series) and the overall readability stay consistent. And so far, they have.

Content to spend his life buying vintage tee shirts featuring classic rock bands and fishing on quiet lakes, Virgil Flowers is a smart crime solver despite his passive demeanor. When a series of bombings threaten to de-rail the construction of a Walmart-style big box store in a small community, Virgil's aw-shucks personality initially appears inadequate to the task of stopping the violence, but the town's residents soon learn better. That's the basic gist of John Sandford's "Shock Wave", the latest in his Virgil Flowers thriller series.

This easygoing yet immersive crime story does a capable, entertaining job juggling, contrasting, and playing off one another its many flavors: the glue of Virgil's placid exterior; the intensity and focus he's more than able to dredge up when called for; the drama generated by the bombings themselves; and the diverse characters with their many concerns and motivations. Along the lines of that last point, Mr. Sandford also makes the most of the several quirky small-town personalities that pepper his story, and the attendant humor they generate.

This was my first Virgil Flowers novel, and I enjoyed it more than enough to want to catch up on the previous entries in the series, as well as to keep an eye out for new installments. After all, I have to see if Virgil indeed gets a new boat (as the Governor helped arrange), after the bomber in "Shock Wave" blew up his old one, much to Virgil's disappointment.

"Shock Wave" is John Sandford's fifth Virgil Flowers detective novel, a spin-off from his entertaining and successful "Prey" series. Flowers is a surfer/hippie roving investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

A bomber is targeting the PyeMart Corporation, a big-box retailer that wipes out small retailers when it moves into an area. The first bomb goes off in the corporate boardroom of the company and the second hits the construction site of a new store being built in Butternut Falls. Flowers draws the case and is soon diving into small town politics, corruption, adultery, and greed, all the things that make small town living so enjoyable. There is no shortage of obvious suspects; the opposition to the store is vocal, particularly those that will lose their livelihoods, and the fishermen who believe the runoff will ruin the local trout stream.

Bombs keep going off, people die, Virgil talks to people, red herrings are dragged across the path and discarded, until Virgil identifies the bad guy twenty pages from the end of the book. Curtain.

The Flowers books are more mystery than thriller and to me, they share a lot with English cozy mysteries. Per Wikipedia, cozy mysteries "avoid ... explicit sex and violence, (have an) emphasis on puzzle-solving over suspense, a small-town setting, and a focus on a hobby or occupation are all frequent elements of cozy mysteries." But there are bombings! People are blown to bits! Yeah, but after brief, grisly descriptions, they move on. Virgil throws one punch, the only violence done by the good guys. Instead of an isolated castle or a steamship going up the Nile, we have a small town in a sea of fields. Characters are introduced and we know one of them will be the murderer. Is it Professor Plum? Miss Scarlett? Colonel Mustard? As their secrets are uncovered, which of their motives is powerful enough to make the character turn to murder? Only our detective, with his eccentric habits and keen insight, can solve the problem.

I find I have little patience for this style of mystery. I can watch an Agatha Christie movie, but the books send me to the end looking for whodunnit before I'm 25 pages in. Edward Gorey wrote "The Awdrey-Gore Legacy", lovingly skewering the genre. I recommend it.

I liked Virgil Flowers when I first encountered him. Sandford seemed to be writing about the flip side of Lucas Davenport of the "Prey" books: city mouse versus country mouse, likes guns versus can't find his (and can't shoot), tense suspense versus relaxed and sedentary. I wonder if Flowers is at a dead end. Davenport grows, changes, and ages, partly through changes in his job and partly through his relationships with continuing characters. With Flowers, the name of the small towns are different, and the characters change, but it's pretty much the same town. Flowers fishes, wears tee-shirts, and romances different women, but there's no growth and little change.

Sandford delivers a pleasant, professional story with delightful touches of humor, including a visit from the BCA's resident thugs, Shrake and Jenkins, but, as I said, it wasn't my favorite flavor. I give it 3 stars - I'll go back and read it again.

I'm a big John Sandford fan: I've read --- and enjoyed thoroughly --- all of the "Prey" novels, as well as the Kidd titles, and also a few of his one-offs. And I think his Virgil Flowers mystery series is also very good. In Virgil, you have an engaging character with a sense of humor (and one that wears cool rock band T-shirts), and the usual Sandford flair for ace storytelling, dropping clues in the plot, and keeping the reader turning the pages. But these Virgil Flowers books are starting to get TOO silly and ridiculous at times. In this one, we have bombs going off, people being blown up and blood flowing, but Virgil and his new buddies are out there cracking jokes, having friendly chats, and acting like life is great, albeit with a few unpleasant details to work out. If nothing else, that slick Virgil has a knack for making new best friends anywhere he wanders, and they are all on a first-name basis. But I can forgive the silliness and the lack of believablility in parts of this story, simply because parts of it really do make me laugh, and I'm so wrapped up in the story that I can't put the book down. Another winner.

Fun, interesting characters support Virgil in his quest to stop a bomber. Good suspense as always. Wish Virgil hadn’t lectured at the end. That felt a little cheap and easy, like Sandford was just ready to wrap it up. Moving on to the next one though. Virgil’s fun and finds himself in all sorts of messes.

This was a good book. A friend told me that he prefers the Davenport series, which i have read a few of, but i really liked the character of Flowers. He's funny, a good detective, well-rounded and just a well-written character. I identify with Flowers because many of his interjections i could see myself saying. This book was very enjoyable i look forward to reading more of the Flowers series. Recommended.

Shock Wave does not disappoint! Virgil Flowers works for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and is sent by his superior, Lucas Davenport to Butternut Falls, Minnesota to investigate a bombing that took place before a board meeting of the Pye-Mart Corporation. The bomb killed a secretary and injured another person.

By the time Virgil arrives, more bombs have been set off. As he begins his investigation he soon learns that the town's residents are in an uproar because Pye-Mart is a huge company and once they come to the small towns most of the Mom and Pop stores are put out of business because they can't compete with their prices. Sound familiar?

Shock Wave has an excellent plot and interesting characters. Virgil is a little lonely and missing his girlfriend, but has the gut feeling that's he about to be dumped by her!

Usually authors who are as prolific as Sandford eventually seem to burn out and their later books are often stinkers. This malady does not seem to afflict Sandford who churns out book after book and never fails to deliver a riveting story to the reader. Shock Wave is no exception. Sandford spins a nice yarn involving Minnesota investigator Virgil Flowers, who is a mellower version of his boss, the fabled Lucas Davenport. In this book, Flowers is called into a small Minnesota city to investigate the bombing of a planned "big box" store site. He pursues the bomber, just as the bomber begins to pursue him. Sandford keeps the action going and also does a good job of keeping the characters realistic. He doesn't rely on a bunch of serendipitous plot turns and, in this day of hyper-violent novels and movies, Sandford manages to tone things down a notch. All in all, a very good thriller.

I've read the PREY series off and on for years, but I'm new to Virgil Flowers and have quickly found myself loving the series. Even though I've read the books out of order, Sandford keeps the stories encapsulated and the characters easy to follow. SHOCK WAVE takes Flowers into a series of bombings designed to disrupt the building of a Pye-Mart in small town Minnesota. Or are they? Flowers unearths local political corruption and follows a twisted trail to catch the bomber, all while dealing with a relationship with his boss that seems to be failing.

Very hard to put down and although the read is satisfying, Sandford opens the door for the next book in the series. Something to do with missing feet...

I love John Sandford, I've read every one of both the Virgil Flowers and the Lucas Davenport series. I have to confess that I prefer the Davenport ones - Davenport is a more intense character, Flowers is more laid back and somehow feels less engaged with his adventures.

However I found this book a quick, entertaining and satisfying read. I liked the small town interactions, which Sandford just does to perfection - how people talk, what they talk about, what they eat, he never hits a wrong note there. And the mystery was strong and interesting, lots of bombs, not too many bodies, so we could stick with the book. I preferred this to the last Flowers novel Bad Blood: a Virgil Flowers novel adventure.

I would take this on a plane, that's how confident I am with Sandford, he's always engaging. Some of his books linger more than others, and this one might not linger as strongly, but while you are in it, you surely enjoy his world.

JOHN SANFORD RARELY FAILS TO PLEASE AND THIS IS ANOTHER IN HIS LINE OF GREAT STORIES. VIRGIL FLOWERS (SECOND IN MY MIND ONLY TO LUCAS DAVENPORT) INVESTIGATES A SERIES OF SOMETIMES FATAL BOMBINGS RELATED TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MEGA-STORE IN A SMALL MINNESOTA TOWN. LIKE ALL SANFORD BOOKS THIS ONE KEPT ME ENTERTAINED PARTIALLY BY THE TALE ITSELF AND PARTIALLY BY THE DELIGHTFUL PERSONALITY OF VIRGIL! SANFORD JUST HAS SUCH A TALENT FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. IF YOU ARE A SANFORD FAN, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

THIS IS A VERY WELL ORGANIZED STORY THAT LEADS YOU FIRST IN ONE DIRECTION WHERE YOU ARE CONVINCED THAT YOU KNOW WHO THE CULPRIT IS ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT YOU WERE TOTALLY OFF BASE. THESE FALSE ROADS ARE, OF COURSE, BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE TRUE CULPRIT WHO IS VERY GOOD AT COVERING HIS TRACKS AND STEERING THE INVESTIGATION IN THE DIRECTION HE WANTS IT TO GO!!

IF YOU LOVE SANFORD YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE!!

The enjoyable read, is disabled by the presumption that the
character designated as the villain, appears smarter than the
insane scheme, because it relies on a mirage an imaginary hopeful
maybe in the future. thats just not a solid enough foundation,
for the quality of the enjoyable read, the technical aspects of the
main character are redundant and predictable and that gets old
especially when the cleverness of the plot is just invisible.
none of the villains actions made sense given how easy it was
to tie him in with it all. On some level it just has to be
believable. I think Sanford hopes we enjoy the character development
and humor enough to forget the plot is rather unchallenging
and redundant.

I'm a little bit surprised by how much everyone loved this story. It is indeed clever. But a large portion of it runs tepid, lukewarm. Some of it almost seems a bit dull. It didn't grab me like previous Virgil Flowers stories.
One of Sandford's strengths is creating vivid characters that are easy to imagine, allowing the reader to create a picture in their heads while reading the story. His stories are also easy to read with small paragraphs. His books almost are like a reliable car, you know it'll get you where you want to go.
But this one lacks a spark and it isn't one of my favorites. Rating one through ten I'd give it a 6.

Or at least wears album cover t-shirts from bands with the coolest sounding names even if I've never heard any of them. And he's a genuinely nice guy for the most part, if a little hard bitten but them he's a cop after all, of some sort. And smart and persistent. Quick, enjoyably chaotic noir fiction set in Minnesota donja know.

The Virgil Flowers series, set in the upper Midwest, rarely disappoints, and Shock Wave is no exception. This time Virgil, the surfer-dude Federal agent, finds himself in the small town of Butternut Falls trying to figure out who is setting off bombs in order to stop a huge discount store chain from moving into the area. As always, Virgil's unassuming manner and low-key humor are an enjoyable part of the story - not to mention the usual presence of an attractive woman (several of them, this time around). A few chapters are told from the bomber's point of view, which adds interest. My only mild criticism would be that there are so many suspects it's hard for the mystery fan to get a handle on who the villain might be. But never mind, this is still a great book - may there be many more in this series.

Two coprorate bombings in Minnesota cause bringing in top investigator, Virgil Flowers, to investigate and find the bomber.

There is animosity toward Pye Mart, a Wallmart type of corporation. Many people in Butternut Falls, Minnesota, are bitter about the corporation. They fear that if Pye Mart moves in, it will cause town residents their jobs and replace them with low paid employees. Others dislike the corporation because they believe that it will add pollutants to the water.

As the story unfolds, we have access to the mind of the mind of the bomber. We don't know who he is but are told of his desire to beat the cops and local governemt. We also see his bitter attitude toward life.

Virgil is a somewhat nonchalant investigator. He's humorous and brings his own love of fishing and nature while talking to town residents and possible suspects. His easy going attitude makes some people reveal things that they might not have and him a pleasure to read about and to like.

The list of suspects is established and grows as Virgil, in his down home manner, attempts to find people who may have animosity toward Pye Mart or its billionaire owner.

It is interesting to read about the reasons why residents dislike the corporation moving into their town but we also learn of those who would benefit from the action. This includes members of the town council who voted for an ordinance to permit the corporation to build.

"Shock Wave" is an enjoyable read, packed with colorful characters, and sure to entertain.

A Virgil Flowers Novel
By John Sandford
Putnam 388 pgs
978-0-399-15769-1
Rating: Read This Book!

Virgil Flowers is back, our favorite redneck detective. This is the OK Corral: not only is he after the bad guys but he's cleaning up the town while he's at it.

Our story begins when a bomb explodes in a Michigan high rise housing the corporate headquarters of PyeMart, a builder of some sort of upscale Walmart things. Three weeks later another bomb explodes in Butternut Falls, Minnesota, at a PyeMart construction site. So the ATF shows up and requests assistance from the state of Minnesota and Lucas Davenport (of the Prey series fame) dispatches "that *bleepin*Shock Wave (A Virgil Flowers Novel) Flowers" to investigate. Lest anyone object, this is a term of endearment and a running joke in Mr. Sandford's Prey and Virgil Flowers novels.

Our hero arrives and finds that everyone in town has an opinion on PyeMart, and almost everyone in town has a stake in the new store. The new store would provide jobs for the people of Butternut Falls. The store would put Butternut Falls merchants out of business from price competition. Some people need the new store for it's new utilities and city services west of town. Some people south of town, where the City originally planned to build, are going to lose big real estate money. When PyeMart came up for a vote in the city council, three members voted yay, three voted nay, and the mayor broke the tie with her yay. Now it seems a few of the people's representatives are skulking around town with a little extra money to spend.

Shock Wave is again a great John Sandford book, a pleasure to read. Just when you become complacent, appreciative but complacent, he serves up a different tale. The bad guy here is building bombs, not stabbing anyone to death or something, so there's a more technical investigation this time. Not as much "guns'a'blazin." I thought this book slowed in the middle but that may be because the author's books are usually more of a macho physical effort. Which I like. Very much. Anywho, Virgil breaks new BCA ground with cyber-sleuthing, and rest assured there are plenty of high explosives to go around. Another way Shock Wave diverges from the formula is that there is no romantic claptrap going on. Why do so many authors insist that the male cop has to fall in love with the female criminal who is beautiful but vulnerable, blah blah blah? Thank the Lord we don't have to do that again. The end is well-and deftly crafted, even elegant. So again I can confidently recommend a new John Sandford novel, Shock Wave. Enjoy!

If you're interested in John Sandford's other books this is the place to look: [...]

Fun extra and he's got this about 80% right: [...]

While I've grown a little cold on the John Sandford novels that feature Lucas Davenport, I'm finding I like the Virgil Flowers novels a lot. Shock Wave has Flowers tracking down a serial bomber intent on stopping a large Walmart-like store from setting up shop in a small town. Flowers is a nice mix of irreverence, vulnerability, and persistence, all wrapped together in a mind that never stops running.

Sandford does a good job in capturing the small town atmosphere where the action takes place. It's reasonably clear that someone in the town is doing the bombing, but there's a number of people who would make good suspects. Many people in town will be negatively impacted by the new store, and most would be happy to see the construction stopped. But which person would be motivated enough to kill? On top of the bombing, there's also a question surrounding why the city council approved a zoning change after initially opposing the site. Is the bombing also tied to the possible corruption? These are all questions Flowers has to figure out, and it doesn't help that the bombings are accelerating at a frightening pace.

On top of the characters, Sandford does a perfect job in making sure the killer isn't known until the very end. I was guessing the entire time, and found out it wasn't the person who I thought it was going to be. I was also impressed with the use of "crowd-sourcing" to dig up a list of likely suspects. While I don't think it's something that would be accepted very well in reality, it did present some interesting possibilities of involving others in solving a crime.

I hope Sandford continues with the Flowers character in future books. It would definitely put him back on my "read right away" list.

Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed

Virgil Flowers returns in SHOCK WAVE and the read is a good one. This is the fifth novel of the series and this time he is chasing a bomber. Virgil is based in Mankato, Minnesota and therefore routinely covers the southern part of the state for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He also goes whether his boss, Lucas Davenport, sends him. Virgil has quite the reputation, not just with the ladies, and always gets the job done.

The latest bombing was of a construction trailer located at the site of a planned PyeMart store. PyeMart is a major grocery and more type chain store deal and somebody is trying to stop their latest venture. This just hours after the company's board room in their very secure office tower was blown up killing one and wounding another. Like the office tower bombing, the destruction of the construction trailer has killed one and wounded another. Lucas Davenport sends Virgil to the small town of Butternut to deal with the problem in typical Virgil Flowers fashion.

That means both traditional police work and a reliance on the unorthodox methods when traditional police work does not give Virgil Flowers the answers he needs. Butternut is one of those small towns where everyone pretty much knows everyone else. That means everyone knows who the folks on the edge are and also know that most of those types can't pull these bombing off successfully. Yet, somebody is doing it because it keeps happening.

As expected, Virgil does finally solve the case in a fast paced book that also occasionally provides a laugh out loud moment. No new ground in terms of character development is broken here. Instead, the focus is on the case and chasing a bomber that is striking again and again in the area. In a refreshing change from recent books in this series, discussions and observations about sex and sexual perversions are almost non-existent making for a much better read. The focus is on the case, the suspects, and how to stop the attacks. The read moves very quickly with a minimum of character exploration. That is especially obvious in the way the secondary subplot is handled as it could have easily been expanded some to add some complexity to the book. Despite that minor nit, there are plenty of twists and turns in this nearly 400 page novel to give you a good read.

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

I've been a huge fan of John Sandford for years, beginning with the Prey series and moving on to Virgil Flower's tales. I think Sandford continues to crank out good copy and each of his novels are entertaining and contain all the elements needed for a good mystery -- suspense, red herrings, humor, twists, great character development and scene.

Maybe because I grew up in Minnesota, I really like his settings. (In one Flowers novel, a high-speed chase took place down a road two blocks from my childhood home).

In this novel, Virgil is looking for a bomber who may be blowing up things because he's protesting the new PyeMart moving in. But is it an environmental protest? An economic protest? Sandford keeps the reader guessing throughout the novel.

He also informs readers with neat forensic tidbits, like what happens to peoples' heads when they blow up, for instance.

Sandford's character development continues to shine as well. You'd think after all those books, he'd tire and run out of decent characterizations. In Shock Wave, he still has it. Virgil continues to be a man's man -- after nearly blown up, Virgil heads to a restaurant for breakfast. It's a simple plot line, but it reveals the "coolness" of Virgil and continues to enhance who he is.

Another interesting thing Sandford develops is Virgil's integration with the townsfolk. While in Butternut, he incorporates the residents' help create a list of potential suspects and he quickly makes friends with the locals.

Once again, Sandford pens a great book and furthers the idea that any book of his you pick up will be a great read.

If you were to ask fans of crime series fiction to list their 10 favorite series and authors, it is more likely than not that you would find John Sandford's name listed twice: for Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers. The Davenport books have evolved over the course of two decades into one of the most reliably readable contemporary series in the mystery genre; some 20-odd titles down the road, Sandford continues to publish some of his best writing in his most recent work. The Flowers series is a relatively recent spin-off from the Davenport universe, but is formed from the same elements that make the Davenport books such a joy to read: sharp characterization, witty dialogue and, at heart, a gritty, often puzzling mystery.

Sandford's latest novel, SHOCK WAVE, is the fifth installment in the Flowers series. Flowers is abruptly pulled off of a vacation by Davenport to investigate a bombing in the scenic but obscure Butternut Falls, Minnesota. The explosion occurs at the construction site of a new and controversial PyeMart store. The incident was preceded three weeks prior by a similar bombing at the PyeMart headquarters in Michigan, so that the almost inescapable conclusion is that the two terrorist attacks are linked. A mad bomber creates a wonderfully excruciating ticking clock in Sandford's extremely capable hands, given that there are a plethora of suspects in Butternut Falls, and Flowers needs to begin weeding them out, even as more bombs explode with deadly intent and force.

When the dust settles and the smoke clears, Sandford is a fabulous storyteller above all else, and while I didn't flinch while starting my car in the days following my reading of the book, I might have thought things over for a second or two before I turned the key in the ignition. Or the doorway. Or wherever. Yet the shock isn't the entirety of the novel. In Sandford's hands, Flowers creates a bunch of odd and memorable characters, some of whom wander into and out of the book for chapters at a time, while others appear and disappear but make their presence known.

One of them is an oversexed teenage boy whose appearances are brief but who provides what for me is the line of the book. Then, of course, there is the mystery of who is setting off the bombs. Sandford engages in a touch of tough but fair misdirection that sends Flowers off one way while the bomber goes the other, so that the evildoer almost gets away with it. That's not going to happen, though, with Flowers on the job, vacation time or not.

Flowers and Davenport are somewhat different characters personally; professionally, however, they are cut from the same cloth. They also bring a similar wisecracking attitude to the proceedings that is unsettling for their targets but highly entertaining for the readers. And Flowers, being a worker bee and not the boss, gets to exercise his penchant for smart remarks just a bit more freely in the field. If SHOCK WAVE is any indication, Flowers has a better than even chance of equaling if not surpassing Davenport in the hearts and minds of Sandford's legion of readers.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I began reading the Virgil Flowers series with some suspicion. As a rule, spinoff series aren't very good (witness Connelly's Mickey Haller and Parker's Sunny Randall). By the fourth book, I'm hooked. Sandford has found a solution of sorts to the problem that in continuing series, characters age. While Lucas Davenport moves toward retirement, Virgil Flowers, some ten or twenty years younger, is picking up the torch.

This is a tightly plotted story, with a series of climaxes, each of the penultimates enough of a red herring to keep you wondering. The twist of motive charges up the last 100 pages, and the bomber turns out to be someone more interesting than a talented sociopath.

Virgil is a lot of fun. He is very much Davenport transported forward a couple of decades. He has Davenport's taste in music and affection for alternative pop culture, Davenport's seductive and initially rather off-putting charm, and a sharp mind. He doesn't have Davenport's computer skills, but there's a simple reason for that: Chances are, Sandford has not kept up with technology enough to make that credible. I suspect that's why the Kidd novels tapered off as well. It's hard to write credibly about an industry that pumps out change like a firehose.

If you want bash 'em, smash 'em action, you won't get it from Davenport because he's too old, and you won't get it from Virgil Flowers because it's not his style. What you can count on, what Sandford shares with the irreplaceable Robert Parker, is charming, intelligent writing with enough challenges to keep you reading.
****
Having just finished reading all the Davenports again over a two month period, from Rules of Prey to Silken Prey, and all the Flowers novels up to Mad River again, I want to add a couple of things.

First, the Flowers books are not as good as the Davenports, and never really have been. Flowers is not quite as real as Davenport; he's truly a spinoff character. And the plots in the Flowers books tend off the bizarre into the surreal. Murder at a lesbian woods resort? Christian fundie cult that practices incest, sodomy, and sexual slavery? Mad bomber stalking Sam Walton? I mean, Clara Rinner, Maddog, and Taryn Grant (Scott?) are not your average neighbors, but they are credible in their own milieu.

Second, Sandford is taking a lot of misguided crap about putting his name on somebody else's book. Some reviewers actually claim he identifies his co-author (sometimes "his son," though usually not which one) on his web site, which is managed by his son Roswell. Not so. I went through the entire site looking for this, and if it was ever there, it's gone. My theory is that the seed of the gossip is Sandford's generous acknowledgement of his friends in the forewords of the Flowers novels. What people fail to note is that it's a different friend in each one. Personally, I think Sandford builds the framework of a Flowers novel by shooting the bull with his fishing buddies (golf buddies, etc.), but the writing is one guy, with one style and a pretty consistent grasp of the geography of Flowers' universe. Personally, I don't care if he's got heavy-duty editors, as long as the humor (Shock Wave ends with a joke that's funnier the better you know the series) and the overall readability stay consistent. And so far, they have.

Content to spend his life buying vintage tee shirts featuring classic rock bands and fishing on quiet lakes, Virgil Flowers is a smart crime solver despite his passive demeanor. When a series of bombings threaten to de-rail the construction of a Walmart-style big box store in a small community, Virgil's aw-shucks personality initially appears inadequate to the task of stopping the violence, but the town's residents soon learn better. That's the basic gist of John Sandford's "Shock Wave", the latest in his Virgil Flowers thriller series.

This easygoing yet immersive crime story does a capable, entertaining job juggling, contrasting, and playing off one another its many flavors: the glue of Virgil's placid exterior; the intensity and focus he's more than able to dredge up when called for; the drama generated by the bombings themselves; and the diverse characters with their many concerns and motivations. Along the lines of that last point, Mr. Sandford also makes the most of the several quirky small-town personalities that pepper his story, and the attendant humor they generate.

This was my first Virgil Flowers novel, and I enjoyed it more than enough to want to catch up on the previous entries in the series, as well as to keep an eye out for new installments. After all, I have to see if Virgil indeed gets a new boat (as the Governor helped arrange), after the bomber in "Shock Wave" blew up his old one, much to Virgil's disappointment.

"Shock Wave" is John Sandford's fifth Virgil Flowers detective novel, a spin-off from his entertaining and successful "Prey" series. Flowers is a surfer/hippie roving investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

A bomber is targeting the PyeMart Corporation, a big-box retailer that wipes out small retailers when it moves into an area. The first bomb goes off in the corporate boardroom of the company and the second hits the construction site of a new store being built in Butternut Falls. Flowers draws the case and is soon diving into small town politics, corruption, adultery, and greed, all the things that make small town living so enjoyable. There is no shortage of obvious suspects; the opposition to the store is vocal, particularly those that will lose their livelihoods, and the fishermen who believe the runoff will ruin the local trout stream.

Bombs keep going off, people die, Virgil talks to people, red herrings are dragged across the path and discarded, until Virgil identifies the bad guy twenty pages from the end of the book. Curtain.

The Flowers books are more mystery than thriller and to me, they share a lot with English cozy mysteries. Per Wikipedia, cozy mysteries "avoid ... explicit sex and violence, (have an) emphasis on puzzle-solving over suspense, a small-town setting, and a focus on a hobby or occupation are all frequent elements of cozy mysteries." But there are bombings! People are blown to bits! Yeah, but after brief, grisly descriptions, they move on. Virgil throws one punch, the only violence done by the good guys. Instead of an isolated castle or a steamship going up the Nile, we have a small town in a sea of fields. Characters are introduced and we know one of them will be the murderer. Is it Professor Plum? Miss Scarlett? Colonel Mustard? As their secrets are uncovered, which of their motives is powerful enough to make the character turn to murder? Only our detective, with his eccentric habits and keen insight, can solve the problem.

I find I have little patience for this style of mystery. I can watch an Agatha Christie movie, but the books send me to the end looking for whodunnit before I'm 25 pages in. Edward Gorey wrote "The Awdrey-Gore Legacy", lovingly skewering the genre. I recommend it.

I liked Virgil Flowers when I first encountered him. Sandford seemed to be writing about the flip side of Lucas Davenport of the "Prey" books: city mouse versus country mouse, likes guns versus can't find his (and can't shoot), tense suspense versus relaxed and sedentary. I wonder if Flowers is at a dead end. Davenport grows, changes, and ages, partly through changes in his job and partly through his relationships with continuing characters. With Flowers, the name of the small towns are different, and the characters change, but it's pretty much the same town. Flowers fishes, wears tee-shirts, and romances different women, but there's no growth and little change.

Sandford delivers a pleasant, professional story with delightful touches of humor, including a visit from the BCA's resident thugs, Shrake and Jenkins, but, as I said, it wasn't my favorite flavor. I give it 3 stars - I'll go back and read it again.

I'm a big John Sandford fan: I've read --- and enjoyed thoroughly --- all of the "Prey" novels, as well as the Kidd titles, and also a few of his one-offs. And I think his Virgil Flowers mystery series is also very good. In Virgil, you have an engaging character with a sense of humor (and one that wears cool rock band T-shirts), and the usual Sandford flair for ace storytelling, dropping clues in the plot, and keeping the reader turning the pages. But these Virgil Flowers books are starting to get TOO silly and ridiculous at times. In this one, we have bombs going off, people being blown up and blood flowing, but Virgil and his new buddies are out there cracking jokes, having friendly chats, and acting like life is great, albeit with a few unpleasant details to work out. If nothing else, that slick Virgil has a knack for making new best friends anywhere he wanders, and they are all on a first-name basis. But I can forgive the silliness and the lack of believablility in parts of this story, simply because parts of it really do make me laugh, and I'm so wrapped up in the story that I can't put the book down. Another winner.

Fun, interesting characters support Virgil in his quest to stop a bomber. Good suspense as always. Wish Virgil hadn’t lectured at the end. That felt a little cheap and easy, like Sandford was just ready to wrap it up. Moving on to the next one though. Virgil’s fun and finds himself in all sorts of messes.

This was a good book. A friend told me that he prefers the Davenport series, which i have read a few of, but i really liked the character of Flowers. He's funny, a good detective, well-rounded and just a well-written character. I identify with Flowers because many of his interjections i could see myself saying. This book was very enjoyable i look forward to reading more of the Flowers series. Recommended.

Shock Wave does not disappoint! Virgil Flowers works for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and is sent by his superior, Lucas Davenport to Butternut Falls, Minnesota to investigate a bombing that took place before a board meeting of the Pye-Mart Corporation. The bomb killed a secretary and injured another person.

By the time Virgil arrives, more bombs have been set off. As he begins his investigation he soon learns that the town's residents are in an uproar because Pye-Mart is a huge company and once they come to the small towns most of the Mom and Pop stores are put out of business because they can't compete with their prices. Sound familiar?

Shock Wave has an excellent plot and interesting characters. Virgil is a little lonely and missing his girlfriend, but has the gut feeling that's he about to be dumped by her!

Usually authors who are as prolific as Sandford eventually seem to burn out and their later books are often stinkers. This malady does not seem to afflict Sandford who churns out book after book and never fails to deliver a riveting story to the reader. Shock Wave is no exception. Sandford spins a nice yarn involving Minnesota investigator Virgil Flowers, who is a mellower version of his boss, the fabled Lucas Davenport. In this book, Flowers is called into a small Minnesota city to investigate the bombing of a planned "big box" store site. He pursues the bomber, just as the bomber begins to pursue him. Sandford keeps the action going and also does a good job of keeping the characters realistic. He doesn't rely on a bunch of serendipitous plot turns and, in this day of hyper-violent novels and movies, Sandford manages to tone things down a notch. All in all, a very good thriller.

I've read the PREY series off and on for years, but I'm new to Virgil Flowers and have quickly found myself loving the series. Even though I've read the books out of order, Sandford keeps the stories encapsulated and the characters easy to follow. SHOCK WAVE takes Flowers into a series of bombings designed to disrupt the building of a Pye-Mart in small town Minnesota. Or are they? Flowers unearths local political corruption and follows a twisted trail to catch the bomber, all while dealing with a relationship with his boss that seems to be failing.

Very hard to put down and although the read is satisfying, Sandford opens the door for the next book in the series. Something to do with missing feet...

I love John Sandford, I've read every one of both the Virgil Flowers and the Lucas Davenport series. I have to confess that I prefer the Davenport ones - Davenport is a more intense character, Flowers is more laid back and somehow feels less engaged with his adventures.

However I found this book a quick, entertaining and satisfying read. I liked the small town interactions, which Sandford just does to perfection - how people talk, what they talk about, what they eat, he never hits a wrong note there. And the mystery was strong and interesting, lots of bombs, not too many bodies, so we could stick with the book. I preferred this to the last Flowers novel Bad Blood: a Virgil Flowers novel adventure.

I would take this on a plane, that's how confident I am with Sandford, he's always engaging. Some of his books linger more than others, and this one might not linger as strongly, but while you are in it, you surely enjoy his world.

JOHN SANFORD RARELY FAILS TO PLEASE AND THIS IS ANOTHER IN HIS LINE OF GREAT STORIES. VIRGIL FLOWERS (SECOND IN MY MIND ONLY TO LUCAS DAVENPORT) INVESTIGATES A SERIES OF SOMETIMES FATAL BOMBINGS RELATED TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MEGA-STORE IN A SMALL MINNESOTA TOWN. LIKE ALL SANFORD BOOKS THIS ONE KEPT ME ENTERTAINED PARTIALLY BY THE TALE ITSELF AND PARTIALLY BY THE DELIGHTFUL PERSONALITY OF VIRGIL! SANFORD JUST HAS SUCH A TALENT FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. IF YOU ARE A SANFORD FAN, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

THIS IS A VERY WELL ORGANIZED STORY THAT LEADS YOU FIRST IN ONE DIRECTION WHERE YOU ARE CONVINCED THAT YOU KNOW WHO THE CULPRIT IS ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT YOU WERE TOTALLY OFF BASE. THESE FALSE ROADS ARE, OF COURSE, BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE TRUE CULPRIT WHO IS VERY GOOD AT COVERING HIS TRACKS AND STEERING THE INVESTIGATION IN THE DIRECTION HE WANTS IT TO GO!!

IF YOU LOVE SANFORD YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE!!

The enjoyable read, is disabled by the presumption that the
character designated as the villain, appears smarter than the
insane scheme, because it relies on a mirage an imaginary hopeful
maybe in the future. thats just not a solid enough foundation,
for the quality of the enjoyable read, the technical aspects of the
main character are redundant and predictable and that gets old
especially when the cleverness of the plot is just invisible.
none of the villains actions made sense given how easy it was
to tie him in with it all. On some level it just has to be
believable. I think Sanford hopes we enjoy the character development
and humor enough to forget the plot is rather unchallenging
and redundant.

I'm a little bit surprised by how much everyone loved this story. It is indeed clever. But a large portion of it runs tepid, lukewarm. Some of it almost seems a bit dull. It didn't grab me like previous Virgil Flowers stories.
One of Sandford's strengths is creating vivid characters that are easy to imagine, allowing the reader to create a picture in their heads while reading the story. His stories are also easy to read with small paragraphs. His books almost are like a reliable car, you know it'll get you where you want to go.
But this one lacks a spark and it isn't one of my favorites. Rating one through ten I'd give it a 6.

Or at least wears album cover t-shirts from bands with the coolest sounding names even if I've never heard any of them. And he's a genuinely nice guy for the most part, if a little hard bitten but them he's a cop after all, of some sort. And smart and persistent. Quick, enjoyably chaotic noir fiction set in Minnesota donja know.

Love John Sandford's writing he tells a great story and he mixes in humor and intelligence. Virgil Flowers is the quirky unconventional cop who is part hippy part country boy and God conflicted. Great read so far only 8 Flowers books but if you like reading series Lucas Davenport and the Prey series has almost 30 books now all great reads.

Book 5 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

Oh, how I miss Columbo!

The great rumpled sleuth always felt so comfortable to be around. And then by what seemed like blundering intelligence he would bust the bad guys. In fact when Peter Falk passed last summer, I began to contemplate creating a character myself, from the same playground Columbo rose from.

And along comes Virgil Flowers.

No, Virgil is no Columbo. He's a bit more sophisticated, a fisherman and an almost-ladies-man, three times divorced, occasionally pissed off, and a bit more submissive to the bureaucracy -- the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. But Virgil is cool. He's down with the folks. And what he's not is, he's not the mass-market shoot-em'-dead supersleuth, blazingly handsome 007 clone that occupies all the grocery store racks these days. He's believable. And he's funny.

To add to the pleasure, John Sandford sets Virgil up against "Pye Mart," the nasty conglomerate doing corporate corruption all over everywhere, the exact behavior that has lead to the recent occupying of Wall Street. Shock Wave is important fiction, engaging in important issues.

So thanks, John Sandford, for giving us Mr. Flowers. I intend to read the other episodes in his career. A man from among us. And we don't have to turn on the television to get to know him.

I love this character, he's funny but serious about his job, yet still tows his boat along with him on official investigations. What can I say, my fishing gear is often in my trunk for those just in case moments. Shock Wave has Virgil pitted against a mad bomber bent on taking out a walmart-like development. I like seeing how Virgil's mind works and how he responds as the tension is increased. I'm looking forward to Mad River.

John Sancford remains my favorite author, and this book continues his tradition. With "That F'ing Flowers" as the protagonist this book is difficult to put down, and one has to love Sancford way with a phrase such as when Flowers is musing about if admiring a woman's ass is cheating he says, "I know what Jimmy
Carter would say...aw F### him!"

This is one of those books that you just don't want to end, can hardly wait for Sancford's next.

This IS THE LAST Sandford written novel... ever.. I have purchased to date 3/29/16 all Sandfords works. every novel after this is NOT by John Sandford .. all the rest are ghost written and extremely poor copies of his writing.

A great entry in the Virgil Flowers novels series. Excellent plot, fully dimensional characters and plenty of baffling twists and turns. With a clever and completely conscienceless bomber on the loose, everyone will have to work fast and hard and bring all their talents to the table to stop the killing.

I love Sandford and the Virgil Flowers books are awesome. This one was not an exception. I'm not going to rehash plots, but what I will say that I enjoyed the most about this book, was that I didn't know Whodunnit. By the end, I had my suspicions, but it's good to not be sure what's up. Also, love anything that takes a pot shot at Walmart, so enjoyed that, too. Go Virgil! Can't wait for the next one.

boring, boring boring. I really don't like to write negative reviews, but this was just horrible. I wish I knew beforehand that this was written with someone else and not a Sandford original. I had heard that he was good, but this was so bad I won't try another.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a huge fan of Virgil Flowers. I love his flip attitude, his intelligence, and the way he interacts with other characters. I look forward to each encounter with him. But, all that aside, this is a terrific book filled with suspects and plot twists and red herrings. I knew Virgil was being manipulated. I knew I was being manipulated. But I didn't figure it out until close to the end. When I did, I was a page or two ahead of Virgil (In his defense, he was eating and I, for once, wasn't.), and that increased the tension even more.

I like Virgil Flowers but I am getting a little tired of the t-shirt schtick. I think it is very interesting that 'Sandford' writes such cute and kinda hot love scenes for Virgil and for what's his name (Davenport?) and his wife Weather, the love scenes are hinted at and when described it's like they've been married fifty years. She does this then he does his thing.

Another Virgil Flowers story. I really enjoy John Sanford and I like the character he developed in this series. This is the fifth book in this series and here is a lot of humor while the mystery unfolds. One of my favorites so far.

Sandford's 'Shock Wave' is part of the Virgil Flowers series. In this story, Virgil is solving the case of a bomber in small town Minnesota. The plot was not very thrilling and didn't find this work a 'page turner' in the least.

Very good read. Sandford has developed an interesting lead character in Virgil Flowers. The storyline was crisp, and the author offered a tantalizing string of clues to help solve the mystery. But always some surprises. 400 pages in 2 days. I was hooked. Good getaway read. (Checked out my Kindle edition from the library; Putnam Kindle is pricey.)

I listened to this and found it excellent entertainment. Some interesting twists and generally lots of fun. I found myself laughing out loud with some of the conversations in the novel, although the material has a lot of unfunny violence and death. The reader captures the Virgil Flowers character perfectly.

I love Sandfords sense of humor, for me that is what makes his books..all of the Prey, Flowers and that other guy...lol novels. I liked this one much better than the last two Virgil books. Audiobooks are getting very expensive, so I now limit what I purchase on CD. I will continue buying Sandfords on CD.

I have always enjoyed John Sandford's books and have read most of the "Prey" books. I do have a special love for the Virgil Flowers books and this is one of the best ones. Both my husband and I read the book and really enjoyed it.

I have never read any of his works before - so I was pleasantly surprised with this well written book, that kept me in suspense until the last chapter.
I always hate when the books give the the suspect way too early. Good characters. I will read more now.

I live the way Sandford tells stories. I feel like a native of Minnesota. Virgil Flowers is sort of an anti hero. This story is a study in detective work. I I love Shock Wave. Kept me guessing until the end. Thanks John Sandford!!

Virgil is always a treat! He's a different animal from John Sandford's Lucas Davenport, but they're both some of the best reads in the murder mystery genre. Sandford's a former Pulitzer prize winning reporter, and though he says his characters aren't intended to be real, they're real entertaining!

I have read all of the Virgil Flowers books and this is the least entertaining. I'm sorry, but John Sandford "PHONED IN" this one. I mean
Virgil doesn't even get laid! Can you believe that? And those snide remarks about the FOX News reporter and how she "jiggled" even
when she was standing still. The author could have done us all a favor and had Virgil get it on with the Fox News reporter and describe
in detail how lovely she was and also describe how INTELLIGENT and poised she was. Say what you will about the Fox News women, but
by a long shot, they are nearly all brilliant, most of whom have law degrees. Pointing out that the Fox News woman "jiggled," was a real
put down on the Fox News women in general and Virgil is still frustrated. I did not care for this book, especially when I KNOW that the
author can do so much better.

Sandford does not become predictable;even when you think he is about to be . This book is good. I am glad I read it during the winter months because I couldn't let go once I got through the first chapter.Hope other readers give it a try.

Three weeks ago a bomb at the Michigan headquarters of the chain PyeMart left Executive Assistant Kelly Brown dead although CEO Willard Pye escaped unscathed. In Butternut Falls, Minnesota, townsfolk are angrily divided over the superstore company setting up shop there. Environmentalists know the poor record of the firm when it come to anything interfering with the bottom line profits while the small town's storeowners know they will be driven out of business as has happened elsewhere.

A bomb ignites at the superstore's construction site killing construction superintendent Gilbert Kingsley. ATF investigates both explosions that have left PyeMart's leadership shaken and behind on the Minnesota project. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Agent Virgil Flowers also looks into the homicide at Butternut Falls, but finds many townsfolk remain defiant and hostile towards the company's "invasion", but who would take the opposition to such deadly lengths remains hard to determine.

The fifth Virgil Flowers police procedural (See Rough Country and Bad Blood) is a great whodunit as the state cop makes inquires using modern technology and inductive reasoning to try to solve a case with too many suspects. The town already tense before the deadly explosion brings a profound look at development vs. preservation/environmentalism, but does it inside a well written investigation starring the amusingly self deprecating Minnesota cop.

Harriet Klausner

This is the first Sandford work that I have read and I found it to be totally average. It was even mostly boring. He tries to be clever in character development but they turn out to be just incongruous. His hero quotes the Bible and prays to God and then curses and uses f-bombs.

A bomb explodes at the corporate headquarters of a big store chain. How did the bomber get in to the building? There are security cameras everywhere and nobody saw anything? When another bomb goes off in a Minnesota town where the chain is building a new store it is time for Virgil and the feds to investigate.

Is the bomber upset because the new store will damage the prime trout stream close by? Virgil can relate. He brought his fishing boat along just in case he has time to check out some of the local lakes. This novel is cleverly written. Virgil's libido is still quite active. There's humor here when things are not exploding.

This is a fun page turner. And for those who were offended by the religious cult of child abusers in the last Virgil Flowers book; no worries here! Mostly good clean mystery writing without all that perverse stuff.

A long time fan of John Sandford and his books, I have enjoyed the Flowers books immensely. This is about the time that some authors get sloppy or lazy or both with a series, this book is sharp, well written and has a stellar ending. If you've not read the Kidd novels by Sandford, they are being re-released. My favorite is The Hanged Man's Song but they are all worth the read. A definite win for the author on this one and the Lucas Davenport novel published this year, Buried Prey.

I am just flabbergasted that so many reviewers here found this book enjoyable. This does not sound like the John Sandford I've come to know and love. Were there two versions of this book published? Did I get one of the placebos? The only good thing I can say about this one is that it is a good sleep aid.

I don't know what it is - but I get a new Sandford book and I can't put it down. Traveling around MN with Virgil Flowers is a treat. While Virgil may have worked for Davenport in the Twin Citys, he has shown himself to be a great investigator who works well on his own - the less supervision the better - ergo, his beloved "fishing detours" where he does his best thinking.

While these books aren't meant to be funny, human nature being what it is, Sandford manages to work in the off-beat sense of humor that the best cops have, such as: Good Thunder said "I got a trivial question, if you don't mind. How'd you know he sent it Fed-Ex?"

Virgil shrugged: "Would you trust a bomb to a company called 'Oops'?" I laughed until I had tears. Admittedly I was over tired, but still. These little gems pop up in SandFords books a lot. They make to stories more interesting and realistic to me. Cops are human, too. They make as many bad jokes as the rest of us.

As for the rest of the story, I ain't tellin'. It's classic SandFord. Read it. Enjoy it. The Flowers series is just gettin' started. I hope to see much more of our "surfer dude" cop, "that effin' Flowers"... Keep up the good work, Mr. SandFord, Please?

Three weeks ago a bomb at the Michigan headquarters of the chain PyeMart left Executive Assistant Kelly Brown dead although CEO Willard Pye escaped unscathed. In Butternut Falls, Minnesota, townsfolk are angrily divided over the superstore company setting up shop there. Environmentalists know the poor record of the firm when it come to anything interfering with the bottom line profits while the small town's storeowners know they will be driven out of business as has happened elsewhere.

A bomb ignites at the superstore's construction site killing construction superintendent Gilbert Kingsley. ATF investigates both explosions that have left PyeMart's leadership shaken and behind on the Minnesota project. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Agent Virgil Flowers also looks into the homicide at Butternut Falls, but finds many townsfolk remain defiant and hostile towards the company's "invasion", but who would take the opposition to such deadly lengths remains hard to determine.

The fifth Virgil Flowers police procedural (See Rough Country and Bad Blood) is a great whodunit as the state cop makes inquires using modern technology and inductive reasoning to try to solve a case with too many suspects. The town already tense before the deadly explosion brings a profound look at development vs. preservation/environmentalism, but does it inside a well written investigation starring the amusingly self deprecating Minnesota cop.

Harriet Klausner

This is the first Sandford work that I have read and I found it to be totally average. It was even mostly boring. He tries to be clever in character development but they turn out to be just incongruous. His hero quotes the Bible and prays to God and then curses and uses f-bombs.

A bomb explodes at the corporate headquarters of a big store chain. How did the bomber get in to the building? There are security cameras everywhere and nobody saw anything? When another bomb goes off in a Minnesota town where the chain is building a new store it is time for Virgil and the feds to investigate.

Is the bomber upset because the new store will damage the prime trout stream close by? Virgil can relate. He brought his fishing boat along just in case he has time to check out some of the local lakes. This novel is cleverly written. Virgil's libido is still quite active. There's humor here when things are not exploding.

This is a fun page turner. And for those who were offended by the religious cult of child abusers in the last Virgil Flowers book; no worries here! Mostly good clean mystery writing without all that perverse stuff.

A long time fan of John Sandford and his books, I have enjoyed the Flowers books immensely. This is about the time that some authors get sloppy or lazy or both with a series, this book is sharp, well written and has a stellar ending. If you've not read the Kidd novels by Sandford, they are being re-released. My favorite is The Hanged Man's Song but they are all worth the read. A definite win for the author on this one and the Lucas Davenport novel published this year, Buried Prey.

Another excellent story by John Sandford. The book moves along at a really nice pace, the main characters stay true to form and the new characters are interesting and well developed. The story is exciting with many twists and turns and comes together for a thrilling conclusion.

Believable storyline, interesting characters, humorous dialogue. Virgil's hippie cop attitude is so endearing. I laughed out loud at some of his sarcastic remarks. It feels like he's not going to solve the case and suddenly you realize he already has. That Virgil, what a guy!

I read this book in one day. Every book by John Sandford is a page turner. I would like to suggest that if there is ever a movie made about Virgil Flowers that the actor chosen to play him be Eric Olsen from NCIS/LA. He fits the description perfectly!! Mr Sandford is a winner in every book he writes.

Virgil Flowers solves another one. Huge retailer Pyemart wants to expand it's operation to a small upstate Minnesota river town. Some of the locals don't like it, and they feel steamrolled until someone else takes matters in hand and begins a bombing campaign against Pyemart and it's collaborators. Enter Virgil Flowers - state cop, or something, it's not too clear exactly which state agency he does work for - anyways he does his usual schtick - sowing ah shucks friendliness and spreading sly rumours amongst the locals in the hopes of stirring up a hornet's nest. An enjoyable read. Myself - I like the pacing of these much better than the thrillers of the authors other series character - Lucas Davenport.

Another excellent story by John Sandford. The book moves along at a really nice pace, the main characters stay true to form and the new characters are interesting and well developed. The story is exciting with many twists and turns and comes together for a thrilling conclusion.

Believable storyline, interesting characters, humorous dialogue. Virgil's hippie cop attitude is so endearing. I laughed out loud at some of his sarcastic remarks. It feels like he's not going to solve the case and suddenly you realize he already has. That Virgil, what a guy!

I read this book in one day. Every book by John Sandford is a page turner. I would like to suggest that if there is ever a movie made about Virgil Flowers that the actor chosen to play him be Eric Olsen from NCIS/LA. He fits the description perfectly!! Mr Sandford is a winner in every book he writes.

John Sandford is a dependable author who writes buttery smooth stories. I can pick up one of his books and immediately be in the moment with his characters. Just the way I like it! Escapist literature, easy to escape into.

I enjoy Sandford's non-Davenport books far more than the Prey/Davenport series. Shock Wave, featuring Virgil Flowers, is no exception. I listened to the Audible edition, and the narration is also good.

Sandford keeps the reader turning the pages with his Virgil Flowers books. I got tired of waiting for a new Lucas Davenport, so started on the Virgil Flowers series, and like them every bit as much as the Davenport books.

Virgil Flowers, a/k/a 'that effing Flowers' is one of the best mystery characters to appear on the scene in a long time.

Books by John Sanford are a welcome addition to my library, and the Virgil Flowers series is great.

I hope there will be more.