"Mad River"

"Mad River" is John Sandford's latest Virgil Flowers novel and the first of the Virgil Flowers series I've read.  In fact, I can't remember if I've read any John Sandford mystery novels or not but, if I have, it has been too long ago.  I found this one of the "Best Picks" display at my local library and it was one of several mysteries I read while on a 4 day mini-summer-vacation.  It just makes me want to read the whole Virgil Flowers series as well as the other series that Sandford has written.  You can learn more about Sandford at johnsandford.org or like him on facebook.com/JohnSandfordOfficial.

James Sharp and his girlfriend, Becky Welsh, along with a casual friend, Tom McCall set out to rob a wealthy family for a necklace Becky saw the mother wearing when Becky was working another one of her dead-end jobs.  The trio have not been successful in life and James and Becky believe the money they'll get from the necklace will get them to Hollywood where Becky might have a chance to make it big and get them all out of their "dead-end" lives.

However, the robbery ends in a murder and the trio now have a crime spree going through rural Minnesota which means Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Investigator Virgil Flowers is called in just after his return from a relaxing vacation.  The investigation has lots of twists and turns and everywhere the trio goes more dead bodies appear so there is an urgency to this investigation but also down time as crime scene data is analyzed and clues sifted through as Flowers and his team try to discover what these teenagers have in mind next.

Virgil does find time to visit his mom and dad since the investigation is near where his dad is pastor of a church.  He also manages to reconnect with an old flame from high school and now that they're both divorced there appears to be a mutual attraction.

Sandford writes a great mystery while developing all the characters.  I highly recommend this book and I'm already searching out more of his work.  I read this one in a day and that was with lots of breaks to spend time with my vacationing family.  pazt