The eighth Virgil Flowers novel by internationally bestselling author John Sandford
Barns, the chairman, looked around the room and said, 'Okay. We can do this. Let's see a show of hands. It's unanimous, or it's prison. Do we kill Clancy Conley?'
"They all looked around at each other, each of them reluctant to go first. Then the fat man raised his hand, and then Kerns, and then the rest of them.
"'It's unanimous,' Barns said."
In southeast Minnesota, down on the Mississippi, a school board meeting is coming to an end. The board chairman announces that the rest of the meeting will be closed, due to personnel issues. "Issues" is correct. The proposal up for a vote before them is whether to authorize the killing of a local reporter. There are no votes against.
Meanwhile, not far away, Virgil Flowers is helping out a friend by looking into a dognapping, which seems to be turning into something much bigger and uglier -- a team of dognappers supplying medical labs -- when he gets a call from Lucas Davenport. A murdered body has been found -- and the victim is a local reporter...
* * * Praise for John Sandford and the Virgil Flowers novels * * *
โAlong the way to the satisfying ending, Virgil displays the rough humor and rough justice that make him such an appealing characterโ Publishers Weekly on Deep Freeze
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โA knowing portrait of small-town life layered into a very well plotted mystery. Virgil understands that, in small towns, no one ever outgrows high school... One of the very best novels in a superior seriesโBooklistย (starred review) on Deep Freeze
โAdd a gripping storyline, a generous helping of exquisitely conceived characters and laugh-out-loud humor that produce explosive guffaws, not muted chuckles, and youโre in for the usual late-night, donโt-even-think-of-stopping treat when Flowers hits townโ Richmond Times-Dispatch on Deep Freeze
โAn outstanding novelโ Publishers Weeklyย (starred review) on Escape Clause
โPerfect entertainmentโ Kirkus Reviews on Escape Clause