Bad Blood

A Virgil Flowers Novel

By: John Sandford

Narrated by: Eric Conger

Thriller Award for Best Hard Cover Novel, 2011

The brilliant new Virgil Flowers thriller from the number-one New York Times-best-selling author.

One late fall Sunday in southern Minnesota, a farmer brings a load of soybeans to a local grain elevator - and a young man hits him on the head with a steel bar, drops him into the grain bin, waits until he's sure he's dead, and then calls the sheriff to report the "accident". Suspicious, the sheriff calls in Virgil Flowers, who quickly breaks the kid down...and the next day the boy's found hanging in his cell.

Remorse? Virgil isn't so sure, and as he investigates he begins to uncover a multigeneration, multifamily conspiracy - a series of crimes of such monstrosity that, though he's seen an awful lot in his life, even he has difficulty in comprehending it...and in figuring out what to do next.

Stemming crime: listen to another Virgil Flowers novel.©2010 John Sandford (P)2010 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Flowers is a fun character, smart and honest with a healthy supply of cynicism and snark...a thoroughly engaging, suspenseful, satisfying story.” (The Washington Examiner)

“Sandford’s exciting fourth thriller to feature Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Virgil Flowers. [His] biggest...case to date.” (Publishers Weekly)

"A Pandora’s box of multiple murders, criminal behavior…and revelations of deviancy that go back generations. As usual, Sandford delivers a great mystery with action, suspense, humor, and, yes, sex. Virgil always gets his man, but he also gets the girl. Good reading.” (Booklist)

Stick with it...

I had a hard time starting this one. The beginning is a lot of last names and info that just comes at you Maybe it was just me but I had a hard time with the first half of this one. Stick with it though. About halfway through the pace picks up and the pedal stays to the floor for the rest of the novel. Great book. I still like Davenport better than Flowers, but he's growing on me.

I Can't Get Enough of "That F*****G Flowers".

What a rush! Most the characters weren't very well developed. However the insidious subject matter and the final outcome far overshadow the shallow characters.
In "Rough Country" the sidebar of Flowers not getting the girl was super and developed into a fun side bar. In this book no sidebar could derail the plot line. Sandford takes Flowers up a notch. I can't get enough of "That F******G Flowers"!

Lucas you need to put the fire back into your work, I love you too and I never thought I'd see the day anyone would upstage you. Time to put your big boy pants on get away from that damn political anvil and restart kicking ass.

Conger is the man for Flowers. I love different narrators for each hero.

I recently warmed up to Flowers. I boycotted him because I loved Davenport. I was disappointed Davenport seemed to lose his edge and avoided the new series. Sanford upped the ante in Flowers and I missed it for months.

Oh my where can the plots go from here.....#4 next!

Great

One of the best Virgil Flowers book I've read. Can't wait to listen to the next one. I love the humor and the stories are fast paced and interesting.

Really Tough Content

As always, I enjoy Sanford's writing and characters but this time the content was too much. I'm not sure the graphic depiction of child sexual abuse is worth the value of a good mystery.

This is like the early John Sanford Books

Virgil Flowers is like reading the old John Sanford Prey Books. The new Lucas Davenport novels have taken the fun out of the reading for me. I will buy all the Virgil Flowers books I can get my hands on. This is a believable plot due to stories that have appeared in the news over the past 4 to 5 years.

Still good

I've enjoyed all of the Vrigil Flowers novels, but this is probably my least favorite. Nothing specific really, just didn't like the story as much as the last 2 i guess. Still worth a listen, and i will definitiely get the next one as well.

Bad Blood by A. Virgil Flowers

Loved the book, but because I know this goes on in some communities I hated listening to it. My heart just broke for each one of the victims. I guess my favorite part was the end where one victim held a mock trial right there in their living room; finding her husband, father and grandfather GUILTY. Read the book to see what happened next. . . . .

memorable

I listened to this one a while back and for some reason did not seek any more books from this author. However, as I read through the summary I do in fact remember this plot rather vividly. So I enjoyed it and it was satisfyingly complex, not too formulaic or predictable. Since I recall it has being a 'page turner' I'm going to try Book 1 (this is book 4/6) in the Virgil Flowers series and see whether I'd like to pick it up. My favorite genre is mystery/thriller and I loved the Lee Child series with Jack Reacher.

Wow!

This one really kept me on the edge, and uncomfortable, at the same time. Extremely hard to put down!

One of my favorite books

The narrator is mesmerizing and the story is is captivating without be too graphic, considering the content. Highly recommend.