When two very rare Amur tigers are taken from a Minnesota
zoo, officials fear they've been stolen for their body pa
parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Ev
Everyone knows the longer the tigers are not located, the mo
more tragic the outcome for the beautiful animals. Mi
Minnesota BCA agent Virgil Flowers has an exceptional re
record of solving major crimes, so he is immediately as
assigned the case of finding the tigers, hopefully still al
alive, and bring the criminals to justice.
With little evidence to work with in apprehending the
thieves, Virgil's frustration level is high. It skyrockets
even more when his girlfriend, Frankie, is mistaken for her
sister, Sparkle, and assaulted. Sparkle is staying at
Frankie's place while she's writing a dissertation on the
abuse of migrant workers at a local factory. Of course,
this upsets the factory owner. Virgil knows he can depend
on agent Catrin Mattson to investigate Frankie's case, but he
he is still closely involved.
When several dead bodies show up with limbs removed, Virgil
has a feeling they're linked to the tigers somehow. It will ta
take every finely honed detecting skill Virgil possesses to so
solve this perplexing and unique case.
John Sandford's outstanding new thriller, ESCAPE
CLAUSE, is not a whodunit from the reader's perspective,
since we know the culprits and the extent of the crime from
the very start. However, it is a mystery for Virgil Flowers
and the other investigators involved, and seeing their
missteps in the procedure and then decisive progress to the
final outcome is exhilarating and exciting. The secondary
storyline involving Virgil's girlfriend provides temperate
insight into his lone-wolf personality. I have been a big
John Sandford fan from the very start of his
exemplary Prey series. When he spun off the
distinctive character of Virgil Flowers for his own series,
I followed right along -- and I have enjoyed every one of
his investigations. Sandford always keeps the tension high,
the suspense well-maintained and the conclusion more than
satisfying. I have to add that I think the title ESCAPE
CLAUSE is a fitting play on words for this book. Just be
warned that some descriptions concerning the tigers may be
a bit graphic for some readers' tastes.
Whenever you hear the sky rumble, that usually means a
storm. In Virgil Flowers’ case, make that two. The
exceptional new thriller from the writer whose books
are “pure reading pleasure” (Booklist)
The first storm comes from, of all places, the Minnesota
zoo. Two large, and very rare, Amur tigers have vanished
from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that
they’ve been stolen for their body parts. Traditional
Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and
people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some
of them are a great deal more extreme than others -- as Vi
Virgil is about to find out.
Then there’s the home front. Virgil’s relationship with his
girlfriend Frankie has been getting kind of serious, but
when Frankie’s sister Sparkle moves in for the summer, the
situation gets a lot more complicated. For one thing, her
research into migrant workers is about to bring her up
against some very violent people who emphatically do not
want to be researched. For another...she thinks Virgil’s k
kind of cute.
“You mess around with Sparkle,” Frankie told
Virgil, “you could get yourself stabbed.”
“She carries a knife?”
“No, but I do.”
Forget a storm – this one’s a tornado.
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