They were average kids looking for something to do. Today they started killing people.A modern-day Bonnie and Clyde are on the run through rural Minnesota—victim by victim they’re having the time of their lives. But when Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers joins the hunt for the thrill-hungry kids, things take a shocking detour.
Mad River
By johnsandford
Mad River is the sixth book in John Sandford’s Virgil Flowers series. It’s a little different than the previous books in that Virgil isn’t pulling his boat around and he has absolutely no time for fishing but it’s a great read. Not far from where Virgil grew up three teenagers go on a killing spree after a botched robbery. Virgil is sent in to head up the investigation. As the teens continue to avoid capture the death toll rises and local law enforcement takes up a ‘shoot on sight’ solution to the situation. Virgil is determined to capture the teens alive. I’ve loved all the books thus far in the Virgil Flowers series, but Mad River is my favorite thus far. A really, really great read.
Love Virgil. Three not very bright losers from rural Minn go in to rob a house and end up killing a young woman. While trying to escape, their car won’t start, so they kill a guy getting into his car. At that point they start killing everyone who has ever offended them in any way. Jimmy Sharp, the leader, is evil. And his girlfriend, Becky, is a freak. She really gets off on the killing, it excites her. And, Tom has the hots for Becky so he is along hoping to make his move.
Lucas calls Virgil and sends him to investigate. It’s in a county near his home town. The sheriff is a zealot, can’t be trusted to uphold the law and Virgil has to worry whether he will be able to arrest the idiots before the sheriff has them shot down by his deputies.
Good story.
Another Flowers winner.
Sanford ranks with the best
The audiobooks of the Virgil Flower series have become my COVID escape. This is number 6, and it might be my favorite so far. I’ve only read one of the Prey series, but there was more interaction between Virgil and Lucas, and I loved watching their different personalities bounce off each other. We also get to meet Virgil’s parents, which is a plus! Eric Conger is the perfect narrator for this fast-paced, modern Bonnie and Clyde story with a twist. Off to download #7…
An excellent case for Virgil!
Another good Virgil Flowers book by John Sandford. I like all of John Sandford’s books.
I loved the Virgin Flowers books. This is good but not my favorite.
I loves me some Virgil Flowers, haven’t read a bad one and don’t expect to!
Sanford is a great storyteller. He does it again in Mad River
Tragic story of two lovers on the run. Great read.
I have liked all the prior entries in this series. This one, however, was a disappointment, and therefore can only merit 2 stars.
Virgil Flowers investigates a string of murders committed by three young people on a killing spree. Interviews reveal one was paid to kill one of the victims. But after one gives himself up, the other two are gunned down in an ambush set up by the local sheriff, leaving Virgil no way to prove they were hired to kill someone.
Mystery readers – at least this mystery reader – like to see a clear cut resolution to the story, the killer or killers either caught and turned over to the courts or slain by police attempting to take them into custody. Here there was none of that, only the deaths of the killers and the disappearance of the man suspected of hiring them. At the very end we learn that man is dead but not how he died or who killed him. We are left to figure that out on our own. While that qualifies as a resolution to the crimes that form the core of this story, it was at best only a sort of ambiguous justice.
Sandford usually writes better tighter endings to his novels than what he delivers here. For one thing, it drags on too long. And the last dozen or so scenes (except for the very last one) just sort of peter out to nothing. This leaves me wondering if Sandford was just padding his word count or couldn’t come up with a better, tauter way to end this book.
If you want me to continue reading this series, Mr. Sandford, you’re going to have to do better next time.