Dark of the Moon

By: John Sandford

Narrated by: Eric Conger

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Virgil Flowers kicked around for a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff."

He's been doing the hard stuff for three years now, but never anything like this.

In the small town of Bluestem, a house way up on a ridge explodes into flames, its owner, a man named Judd, trapped inside. There are a lot of reasons to hate him, Flowers discovers. In fact, he concludes, you'd probably have to dig around to find a person who doesn't despise Judd.

And that isn't even why Flowers came to Bluestem. Three weeks before, there'd been another murder, two, in fact, a doctor and his wife, the doctor found propped up in his backyard, both eyes shot out. Flowers knows two things: this wasn't a coincidence, and it had to be personal.

But just how personal is something even he doesn't realize, and may not find out until too late. Because the next victim may be himself.

©2007 John Sandford (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Critic reviews

“A book that will keep you turning pages, guessing, and completely immersed - and engrossed - in whatever Sandford wants to throw at you. It’s a great ride, and Sandford proves that sometimes it’s not the character, it’s not the series, it’s the writer.” (The Post)

“An adrenaline rush peppered with laugh-out-loud moments." (Booklist)

broken prey

What ever this guy writes is great.

Passes a few hours just fine

It was interesting enough that I'll read the next in the series. I prefer Flowers over Davenport because he feels just a bit less "dated" (of course, Davenport's stories are older, so that explains why they're more dated, but still). Flowers is still borderline sexist and really too "cute" to be real, and somehow falls into a sexual relationship immediately after arriving in a small town to investigate a crime... but anyway, this didn't detract too much from the story.

The "mystery" wasn't really much of a mystery. I think Sandford intended there to be lots of suspects by suggesting it could have been anyone in the town, but in reality there was only one realistic suspect. I think, also, that the author attempted to explain the rationale behind the murders but it was a bit of a leap - it kinda can be summed up in that the killer was just plain crazy, but the 'why' behind this craziness is still unclear to me. The other thing that bothered me a bit is how the point of view would change periodically - most of the book (90%+) is from Virgil's point of view, but every now and again, with no warning, we're popped into someone else's head - I could understand if it was just the killer's head we visited, but it is not.

Sounds like I disliked the book - but I did not... would I have liked a main character who was a bit more pro-active and a bit less "entitled"? Sure. Would I have liked more butt-kicking and less driving back-and-forth between towns? Sure...

All in all: it might not have been very deep, very thought-provoking, or very suspenseful, but it passes a few hours just fine. The narration included.

Sorry to see it end

I was a little leary of listening to this book because I love the Davenport character. I was not disapointed. I love Flowers, I enjoyed the book and was sorry to see it end. I hope to read more of Virgil.

compelling!

This was just a really good book. The reader added
a manner and tone for the characters. I would have read the whole book in one sitting if I could have.

Virgil vs Lucas

This was my 3rd Virgil story after 10-12 of Lucas' "Preys". No offense to Lucas Davenport, but I'm enjoying "that f-in Flowers" even more than Lucas.

The whole Minnesota "thing" doesn't appeal to me but I do enjoy the characters and the stories.

I enjoy that Lucas is a secondary character in these but he leaves it up to Virgil to solve the cases.

Exciting mystery

I loved the book. It was a who done it, who done a lot of it. The narrator however didn't do it for me. He has a pleasing voice but monotone. There was little to no difference between characters..
Yet the story was strong enough to keep my interest. Overall worth the time and money.

Flowers First!!

This is the first Virgil Flowers book and it is excellent!! It is a very easy listen and it kept my attention throughout. Eric Conger is a fantastic narrator. I highly recommend this book.

Sound track issue

All throughout this book the sound track kept getting clipped not hearing the beginning of sentences making it difficult to listen to. Not very good continuity.

long and drawn out

willing to give a series a shot but will need to draw more detail and intriguing mystery

Spellbinding

My first time with this author. Thoroughly enjoyed the flow of the plot twists and turns.