Saturday, August 18, 2012

Mad River-John Sandford

Mad River


John Sandford

Putnam, Oct 2 2012, $27.95

ISBN: 9780399157707



The biggest mistake Marsha Hogan made was wearing an expensive diamond necklace at her 35th high school reunion. Becky Welsh, a teen from the other side of the tracks, serves food at the gala and covets the jewelry. Her boyfriend Jimmy Sharp and friend Tom McCall decide to steal the necklace for Becky.



The robbery turns ugly when Marsha’s daughter Agatha starts screaming; Jimmy kills her. Before leaving he grabs a packet from the desk as the three miscreant teenagers flee. They quickly kill a stranger to steal his car. They continual their murdering spree killing relatives while also sending their blood bath to TB news. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Chief Lucas Davenport assigns his top investigator Virgil Flowers to work with a host of various law enforcement agencies hunting the deadly trio; all unaware what the motive behind the seemingly Bonnie and Clyde (and Clyde) deadly joy ride is.



The latest superb Virgil Flowers police procedural (see Shock Wave and Bad Blood) is a great manhunt thriller. The fast-paced storyline is filled with shocking twists of a Mad River, but especially a late one as the audience nears the delta in which John Sandford proves he is one of the sub-genre best when the author laid out clues but hid them brilliantly. Virgil is diligent when it comes to cases and his woman; however, it is the antagonists as pathetic psychopaths abandoning hope for a better life who make this mystery superb when they chose fifteen minutes of infamy as high profile killers.



Harriet Klausner

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