Johnson Johnson phones his long-time friend Virgil
Flowers, of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and asks
him to look into some dognappings that have been
happening in the small Minnesota town where he lives; the
locals fear the dogs are being sold to labs for
experimentation. Not far from there, a murder occurred: a
down-on-his-luck journalist was shot to death. Rumour has
it that he was drinking heavily and doing prescription
drugs; some speculated that he might have been involved
with meth labs, or he might have been killed by drug
traffickers. The truth is otherwise: the members of the
school board voted unanimously to have him permanently
silenced. He had inadvertently stumbled on nasty goings-
on at the local school board. The members have been
scamming a lot of money from the government funds, and
the journalist was sitting on his story until he got all
the information he needed; his editor denies having any
knowledge of the story. And the bodies start piling up!
DEADLINE is a traditional police procedural, and the fun
has a lot to do with the voyage as well as the
destination; few authors do it as well as John Sandford.
The author gives us the feel of the town and the people,
make us privy to the workings and pitfalls of the
investigation, and we enjoy the genuine camaraderie
between Johnson and Virgil. All the characters are
clearly defined, and a lot is revealed as more layers are
peeled. I loved how the sordid machinations of the school
board members snowball out of control, among other
things, and how cleverly everything is resolved.
Just when you think that DEADLINE is nicely cruising
along, that you've got your suspect and things will wrap
up tidily, unexpected events occur and things get more
complicated and deadly! The actions speeds up at more
evil deeds are uncovered culminating in a hair-raising
manhunt towards the end, right before another part of the
story turns into a mind-boggling circus. There is not a
dull moment in DEADLINE!
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. The vote is four to one in favor.
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. . . .
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