Deadline: Virgil Flowers, Book 8

By: John Sandford

Narrated by: Eric Conger

The thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times–bestselling series.

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. . . .

Critic reviews

Praise for Deadline

“Another brainy thriller from a prolific author, ‘Deadline’ fulfills readers’ expectations of Sandford’s fiction: tense, smart and character-driven.” — Richmond Times Dispatch

“Rich characters [and] the descriptions of small-town life, politics and corruption and the concurrent trails of action make for a fast and entertaining read.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Sandford's best Flowers book to date. . . . There is a lot of drama and mayhem in this story and readers of traditional Sandford books will be satisfied for sure. Still if you like a little humor in your plots, this book will more than sate that desire. This book is the most fun I have had reading in a long time.”—Huffington Post

“There’s a lot going on in Deadline . . . The biggest joys of this series are Flowers himself (his boss is Lucas Davenport from the Sandford's Prey novels), the cast of eccentric supporting characters and the humorous dialogue.”—Shelf Awareness

“Sandford keeps one last surprise up his sleeve for the denouement of the dognapping case, and it's a doozy. Exhilaratingly professional work by both Virgil and his creator that breaks no new ground but will keep the fans happy and add to their number.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Stellar . . . Sandford is an accomplished and amusing storyteller, and he nails both the rural characters and terrain as well as he has skewered urban life in past installments.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Sanford balances straight-talking Virgil Flowers’ often hilariously folksy tone and Trippton’s dark core of methamphetamine manufacturers and sociopaths; the result is pure reading pleasure for thriller fans.”—Booklist

Praise for Storm Front

“John Sandford has the Midas touch. [Storm Front is] exciting, complex and funny all the way through. Virgil is a unique character [and] the beauty of Sandford’s writing is that the narrative of the book is told in perfect harmony with Flowers’ personality . . . Entertaining reading all the way.” —The Huffington Post

A dog gone good book.

Great book. Virgil Flowers friend, Johnson Johnson, calls Virgil about dogs being stolen in his part of Minnesota. When Virgil gets there, he finds out that more bad things are going on in addition to the missing dogs. One thing is murder and the other is a large meth cooking lab. The first murdered man was a news reporter investigating a school board that was stealing money from the school budget – millions of dollars! The dog lovers that lost their pets are convinced that the dognapping situation is the most serious and pressing of all the bad stuff going on, and to be truthful, I sort of agree with them. I love dogs. The narrator is excellent.

I rank Deadline among the best of the Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport books.

Awesome as always

Would you listen to Deadline: Virgil Flowers, Book 8 again? Why?

Yes, I typically listen to John Sandfords books several times. Even though I know the outcome, I enjoy the story so much and Eric Conger is an excellent narrator.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Deadline: Virgil Flowers, Book 8?

Cannot tell without giving away the story.

Have you listened to any of Eric Conger’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, he is excellent as always.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Howls in the night!

One of my favorite John Sanford books

This was absolutely one of my favorite John Sanford books. It had a little bit of everything humor, suspense, murder, interesting people.Deadline kept me interested until the very end.

Loved this book and love John Sanford!!!

Parts of book made me laugh and I really enjoyed the storyline! Now to the best one.

Best of Flowers

Great book with a good story. Love Flowers. This had several funny places too. Good listen time well spent. E