Escape Clause (Virgil Flowers #9)

I am a Virgil Flowers/Lucas Davenport/John Sanford addict, but this one did not make it for me. The crooks were too stupid, the plot too straightforward, the solution too easy. It would not do to discuss the plot details, but most of the time in this series, the solution is a combination of cleverness on the part of Flowers and a minor slip by the bad guys, or something Flowers latches on to. These crooks are hopeless, and as the story moves along, are simply more hopeless.
There are some disconnects in the story – at one point Honus is with the girlfriend and then is magically transported from Frankie’s place to Virgil’s Mankato home. Sanford novels are usually more carefully crafted than that. For my money – part of Virgil’s character is the ease with which he charms all women (okay, I am envious). Virgil is a one woman guy in this book – nothing wrong with that, but it takes something off of his character.

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 the storyline 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.

Escape Clause is a very predictable and familiar entry in the Virgil Flowers series. It follows Sandford’s usual formula: the talented but irreverent cop, an odd crime that escalates into murder and mayhem, the inevitable scrapes and risks, and culminating with the capture/end of the bad guy(s). With his prolific output of 2-4 books/year, it seems Sandford is writing the same book again and again and only changing some of the details. Nevertheless, the formula works; like most of his entries, Escape Clause is an easy, entertaining, and quick read; perfect for a snowy weekend, beach, or airplane ride. Just don’t expect much in the way of “depth” or fine prose.

I’m a big fan of Sandford and his main characters Virgil Flowers or Lucas Davenport– he makes them “real” and accessible for the readers.
They have flaws, everything doesn’t go as planned, and they can be wrong.

The language is often conversational, raw, and manly, if silly at times, and makes me think of my friends and me at the bar or watching the game on TV. We kid good naturedly, though sometimes a bit vulgar! Flowers has problems with women and his cases often lead him into complex and sometimes funny situations.

Plot seems staightforward at first– Virgil has been tasked with recovering two Tigers (very valuable in terms of Chinese Medicine) which were stolen from the zoo. He’s not thrilled with the job, but once he gets into it , he realizes the stakes are very high and there is a lot to deal with– some of which overlaps into other cases and territories. It helps if you are aware of previous cases that involved Flowers and Davenport!!

I would encourage anyone who hasn’t read Sandford to go back to book one and READ THEM ALL!! Outstanding stuff!

I thought the book was just OK it wasn’t as far as I’m concerned up to the usual Sanford high standard.

It was interminably long in getting to the point where we could feel that there was a conclusion to be had. It seemed like we went over and over the same ground time and time again. The only thing that kept me going was it was a Sandford book and something unexpected was going to happen to Virgil Flowers. It didn’t happen and it was a lack lustre finish. Terribly disappointing as the previews seemed to offer so much.

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