#1 New York Times Bestseller An ancient relic is unearthed during an archaeological dig. A Minnesota college professor is keeping a secret that could change the world’s history as we know it. For Virgil Flowers, the link between the two is inescapable—and his investigation, more dangerous and far-reaching than he can possibly imagine.
Storm Front
By johnsandford
Storm Front is the seventh book in John Sanford’s Virgil Flowers series. I love the Virgil Flowers series, but Storm Front seems to have dropped in from somewhere else. This was not what I was looking forward to after the first six books. A relic is discovered in an archeological dig in Israel where it is then stolen and taken back to Minnesota. Suddenly foreign agents, Hezbollah, the CIA, and a sexy Israeli Mossad agent are involved. Maybe it’s just me but I long for the old Virgil Flowers with crime and criminals.
All of the Virgil Flowers series are must reads
That f—-I got Flowers again.
Not the best of Mr. Sandford’s efforts. The plot was all over the place and never really drew me in. I love the Virgil Flowers character and the humor throughout the book, but just couldn’t get behind a plot that involved a crooked preacher, a backwoods woman who sleeps around, several Israeli operatives, and so many other dubious characters that I actually lost track of them, then resolved with a trip to the holy land where Virgil discovers the artifact they were all chasing was a fake. I thought the plot was weak and unrealistic.
Virge is my hero.
A little different story line for the Virgil series.
Virgil Flowers is my hero.
I read everything I can by Sanford, He is a good author who has a way of involving you in the story right from the start.
Excellent reading
The Virgil Flowers books are funny in parts while he solves the latest crime. The other characters are well defined and Virgil is a bit like colombo. The villains usually underestimate his easy going manner.
Not John Sanford’s best effort
I like this series, maybe even a little better than Sandford’s Lucas Davenport books. But I may have to re-think that.
The center point of the plot here – a stolen piece of a stele (an upright stone or pillar bearing an inscription and serving as a monument) that could totally re-write Judeo-Christian history – seemed a bit of a stretch. I hope this isn’t a sign of more ‘grandiose’ plots to come.
Sandford has stopped referring to Virgil as ‘that f**king Flowers’ on every other page. It only showed up a half-dozen times in this book. As I noted in reviews of earlier books in the series, it was cute initially but became tiring before long.
Sandford still writes too many short scenes, sometimes ending a scene in the middle of a conversation or action, where one longer scene is all that’s needed.
It seemed odd, too, that everyone Virgil encountered knew him before they met him. How is that possible, especially with Israeli visitors just in the country for a few days?
As in Mad River, the prior entry in this series, the climax just wasn’t much of one (the most important part happened of-stage. Not good!) and came a bit early in my opinion. And there were too many follow-up scenes, too few of which were actually necessary to tie up loose ends.
I like this series, Mr. Sandford, but you’ll have to do better if you want me to keep reading.