Dark of the Moon (Virgil Flowers #1)

The Virgil Flowers Series by John Sandford
Id read all Sandfords Prey novels then decided to order the most recently released Virgil Flowers one. That lead to my ordering all the rest of this series. After theyd all arrived, I put them in publication order. Beginning with the first of the series, I began a John Sandfords Virgil Flowers series reading marathon. If youre a mystery/thriller fan youve probably read Sandford
and know what to expect. Excellent character development, good descriptions of people and places, interesting story lines, plots with twists and turns, real life, although not for the sensitive to vulgarity, conversations and page-turning, have to see what happens next stories. Rather than get into thestoryline of each book in the series, since so many other reviews have already done that, I think that pretty much says it all. The one thought I had after completing each one wasHow does he come up with all these different story lines? If you like reading mystery/thriller books, I highly recommend John Sandford.

Virgil Flowers is a horndog who feels compelled to chase every pretty woman under the age of 50. Though his own faith rejects Jesus, he’s “the son of a Presbyterian minister and a professor of engineering, who saw in God the Great Engineer and believed as devoutly as her husband.” He’s been married and divorced three times, but “he didn’t want to be a four-time loser, so he stopped getting married.” He’s also a university graduate with a degree in environmental science, an outdoorsman, a published writer for hunting and fishing magazines, and an aspiring short story writer. And, oh by the way, he’s one of the top investigators in the fictional Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) known far and wide in the bureau as “that f***ing Flowers.” In Dark of the Moon, John Sandford presents Virgil in a starring role in the first entry in his own series, a spinoff from his wildly popular “Prey” novels featuring Lucas Davenport. To date, there are twenty-seven of the latter and ten in the Virgil Flowers series. There’s no end in sight for either series.

As Virgil heads home in his truck, he spots a roaring fire on a hilltop along the way. Rushing to the scene, he encounters fire trucks, several sheriff’s deputies, and a crowd of onlookers. An enormous house atop the hill is in the process of being reduced to rubble as the firefighters stand aside, unable to do a thing about it. As Virgil knowsas everyone in the region knowsthe house is the property of Bill Judd Sr., an aging multimillionaire hated by virtually everyone within driving distance. More than twenty years earlier, Judd had been the perpetrator of a Ponzi scheme that bankrupted many of his neighbors. Had someone finally gotten even? That was the conventional wisdom in the neighboring town of Bluestem. But this is not Virgil’s case.

At first, it appears that the incident at the Judd house was simply a matter of arson. Perhaps the old man torched the place and has run off to Bora-Bora to enjoy the millions he stole. But it soon becomes clear to Virgil and the local investigators that Judd died a horrible death in the fire, a victim of murder. In fact, Sandford had already told us that the old man was viciously killed by someone named Moonie and that there are more murders to come.

Judd’s son, Bill Judd Jr., “a greedy, grasping, sociopathic businessman” like his father, is frantic for the case to be closed so he can inherit the estate. However, a young woman named Jesse Laymon steps forward claiming to be a natural daughter of Judd Sr. Clearly, this will slow things down, complicating Jr’s desperate grab for his father’s money. It now seems to be clear that money lies at the heart of this case. Or does it? Somehow, a drug-dealing right-wing preacher seems to have a connection to the case.

Not long afterward, as we expect, a brutal double murder takes place in Bluestem. The victims are a couple in their eighties, contemporaries of Bill Judd Sr. Sheriff Jim Stryker, a friend of Virgil’s, is at a standstill in his investigation in both cases, so he calls in the state’s equivalent of the FBI, the BCA in the person of Virgil Flowers, to help him with what appears to be the work of a ritual killer. Bluestem is in Virgil’s territory, and he’s soon on the scene. Virgil quickly begins to wonder whether the two cases are connectedall three victims were in their eighties. However, if there is a connection, it will take Virgil a lot of work to bring it out into the open.

Meanwhile, Virgil becomes involved romantically with Joanie Stryker, the sheriff’s beautiful younger sister. The sheriff himself begins developing a relationship with Jesse Laymon. It doesn’t take long for Virgil to realize that practically everyone he meets in Bluestem, including Judd Jr., Joanie, and Jesse, is a suspect in what has become clear to him is a triple homicide. Everyone seems to have a motive. Then two other murders come to light, pressure from the news media and Virgil’s boss begins to mount, and Virgil’s investigation ranges further afield to include that fanatical right-wing preacher who is suspected of drug-dealing, the local newspaper editor, and the sheriff himself. It will take every ounce of Virgil’s considerable intelligence and insight to untangle the mystery. He can only hope that in the process he won’t alienate everyone in town.

It’s easy to understand how John Sandford parlayed this gem of a mystery novel into his second popular series. The characters are believable, the dialogue sparkles, and the suspense builds to a tragic climax.

John Sandford, although not this book in particular, was recommended to me by a good reader friend. I decided to start with the first Virgil Flowers novel and read my way through the series. I love a good detective story. This is not it.

The writing is sloppy (actual plot errors), the pacing is glacial, and the main character–someone we’re supposed to find sympathetic–is so sexist that the book feels like something churned out in, say, 1955. He actually stands on street corners and grades women’s body parts as they walk by. So do his friends.

This was my first Sandford. Also my last.

I son’t know how I remained ignorant of John Sanfdord for all this time. Catching up is going to be a good use of time. In Dark of the Moon, Stanford produces the first Novel with Virgil FLowers as the central character. Flowers works for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension – sort of the Minnesota version of the FBI. He is laid back, likes to fish and chase any skirt that is attractive and available. He is also very smart and always gets his man (woman). Sanford is a very intelligent writer who never underestimates hos reader. Well, he is bad with grammar, like almost all writers today, except Michael Connelly. There is a lot of dry humor and a lot of detailed digging into Minnesota geography. I have spent quite a lot of time in Minnesota so that is interesting to me. Sandford is so good that I am going to go back and read all 27 of the Prey series in sequence.

I accidently stumbled upon John Sanford’s ‘Prey’ series last year and proceeded to devour the 25 books one after the other and this spin-off series does not disappoint. They are somewhat similar to James Patterson’s Alex Cross books but I kind of fell out of those as I was getting tired of the same old formula- Sanford’s books however are just more well thought out and intricate and the characters so well developed you can’t help but to care about them- and though you needn’t have read the ‘Prey’ series to enjoy this spin-off series, I would suggest doing so just because of that character development. Though Virgil Flowers is a somewhat minor character in the ‘Prey’ series, you’ll have a much better understanding of where he came from and what kind of person and detective he is. I won’t give anything away, but overall ‘Dark of the Moon’ is a great read- well thought out and written with many well fleshed out characters and story lines that keep you thinking and interested, and if we’re lucky enough to get another 20+ books from this series then I will certainly read them all. I hope you’ve found this review helpful! Happy reading!

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