Escape Clause (A Virgil Flowers Novel)

What’s not to like about a cop that solves the crime and does in a fascinating way? Always a good story from Sanford!

One could only hope, and I did, that Peck would meet an end so poetically just.And the outcome for Blankenship was no less a fitting.Character Bonus: 1) the Simonians, 2) Catrin Mattson. Perhaps we’ll see more of the latter.

After reading all of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels, this novel seems to be lacking character development. It seems like the novel is lengthened by Flower's bumbling. It made a good story although kind of bizaar.

One of the great joys of my life is to read another in the world-class series of crime thrillers by John Sanford featuring his BSC agent Virgil Flowers. So, I just finished Escape Clause, the ninth in the series of novels the author has been penning about Flowers and his exploits, which began in 2007 with Dark of the Moon. One of the really great things about these novels is that they provide numerous opportunities to chuckle under one’s breath all the way to guffaw out loud. Sanford truly writes some funny stuff. Since the stories deal with crimes that Virgil has to investigate, the funny parts kind of sneak up on a body. For one who has never had the pleasure to read one of the Flowers novel, there will be the business of running across Virgil’s nickname, which I won’t bother to include in this review. Suffice it to say that it involves the use of a word your mama probably did not teach you…well, maybe she did.Escape Clause is a story about the theft of two Amur tigers, male and female, from the Minnesota zoo. When I discovered this situation, I thought…h-m-m-m…I wonder how Sanford plans to write a whole book about this subject. Happily, I just read on farther and found out. Logically, the plot begins with the theft and introduces a couple of noteworthies name of Simonian, which name leads to a series of jokes about garbling its construction, which pop up here and there and just crack one up. Much of the novel, then, deals with the search for the stolen tigers and the attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice. Along the way, we are introduced to some of the intrigue surrounding some types of Chines traditional medicine involving the use of body parts for their supposed medicinal value of some endangered mammal species.Meanwhile, back at the farm, Virgil continues to carry on with his longer-than-usual girlfriend Frankie, who is pretty much of a north woods fox. Frankie’s kid sister Sparkle also is involved, along with her sometime priest Bill, who spends only part of the year as a servant of the church and the rest of the time as a practitioner of the dissolute arts. These supportive characters, as well as the rest of the crowd from the BCA, are really well drawn and very interesting in their own right.If you are a fan of John Sanford, you might know him better from the series of twenty-six so-called Prey novels he has written that feature another great character in crime fiction, Lucas Davenport. Since Sanford writes one entry in each of these series annually, there are two opportunities each year to enjoy some very fine reading. If this review intests anyone in checking out that ……. Flowers, then I advise to head back to the first one and read the series in order. It will be a whole lot of fun, believe me.

On the whole, I like Sandford’s Virgil Flowers books. More so now that he has ended the habit of everyone referring to Virgil as ‘that f*****g Flowers’ (a term that got very tiring very quickly) on every page. And he didn’t remind me who a character was every time he or she appears on the page.Mercifully, too, Sandford has not continued along the ‘Virgil saves the world’ path he went down a couple books ago. Some authors get on this road and never leave it, never have their main characters returning to solving more realistic crimes. Here, Virgil is hunting the men who stole a pair of endangered Amur tigers from a zoo.There is a lighter touch to this story as Virgil encounters temptation in the form of his girlfriend’s naked sister, a hapless Xanax-popping bad guy, and revenge seeking brothers. There’s also brutality in the form of several cruel murders and violent assaults.Like in his ‘Prey’ series books (and like Jonathan Kellerman), Sandford writes short scenes – sometimes only a sentence or two long – that break up the flow of the narrative. They make for a storyline that doesn’t flow as smoothly as it could if they were combined into one longer scene, but make it easy to put the book down by providing frequent stopping points.Sandford also has his bad guys brought down not by Flowers but by other means. Readers like the main character to carry the day, solve the crime, and make the bad guys pay for their sins. When someone else does it, the reader (at least this reader) feels cheated to some extent.Sandford fails to deliver on one subplot hinted at in the cover blurb and storyline (unless he plans to expand on it in future books) and again has his wrap up stretch a little too long, diluting the end of the story.Escape Clause is one of the better books in this series, so I’ll be back for more Virgil Flowers books.

Escape Clause is another great adventure for the hapless Minnesota BCA in vestige tor Virgil Flowers or as he is more commonly called "That f****** Flowers".Virgil's cases are never straightforward so he is the logical choice when 2 rare Amur tigers are stolen from the zoo. With no clues or suspects and a variety of possible motives it will be an uphill battle. Slowly but surely he makes progress but with many obstacles in the way, like murder, Armenian gangsters and his girlfriend Frankie's sister, Sparkle's insistence on investigating the local employment of illegal immigrants until it all comes together in a glorious finale.I look forward to every Virgil novel and have thoroughly enjoyed Escape Clause. Most of it is down to his character. He is laid back and wisecracks his way through the novel, giving off a slightly incompetent air but don't be fooled he is a smart, sharp investigator who always wins through. I'm not so sure about his relationship getting serious with Frankie - will I love him so much if he is taken? Just kidding.The novel is all about the humour, which seems very natural and you feel as if you could chip in at any point, and it is a fun way to pass a few hours. There were points when it had me laughing out loud. It does have a serious side, however, about animal abuse and immigrant labour. There is no preaching just examples of them which occur as a natural part of the story.Escape Clause is a great read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

The wonderfully named Winston Peck VI spends his days strung out on Xanax. He’s overly relaxed and that may be as well seeing as he has just assisted in stealing two rare Amur Tigers from the local zoo. Aiding him in this highly audacious act are two of the Simonian brothers. The Tigers are to be used for Chinese medicine.Naturally, Virgil is soon on the case and it doesn’t take him long to get the Simonian brothers on his radar. They are part of a bigger clan and their brothers have some wonderful cameo appearances throughout this book. From the Simonians, it is not much of a leap to our discredited and strung out doctor, or MD. Following Virgil whilst he tightens the net on Peck is a delight and there are echos here of Hiaasen at the top of his game.As has been the case with other Flowers novels, there is a side story running parallel to the main action and this involves Virgil’s girlfriend and her younger sister, Sparkle, getting involved in investigating a sweatshop factory. This isn’t as strong as the subplots in some of Sandford’s other Flowers novels, but the scrapes that Peck gets himself into here more than make up for that.The subject matter means that the story gets grizzly at times but Sandford always entertains you throughout. If you want some escapism, snap this up.

Entertaining and readable. A bizarre tale of the theft of two tigers, from a zoo, to be used for ancient Chinese medicine and featuring the detective, Virgil Flowers. The chief villain's gradual disintegration was what carried the tale which was otherwise quite far fetched. Virgil himself is a remarkably blank character - he shows some brief emotion when his girlfriend get beaten up but otherwise is free from all the cliched passions often attached to detective characters. There's a good deal of gory dismemberment some of which is mildly amusing. Mr Sandford writes coolly about murder, violence and abuse and, almost in passing, mentions some social issues such as the bad treatment of immigrant workers. I might read more of his work.

Fabulous John Sandfor read... I love the Virgil Flowers series so much that i am sad every time I finsih one as there are none left to read..I do, however , read them over and over. He is the greatest writer and his stories never fail to delight and keep me entertained. This one , Escape Clause, was terrific fun from start to finish. The characters feel like people in my life. Love it.

Sandford really knows how to write a decent novel. The characters, both men and women, are well drawn and balanced with no sexist stereotypes. Virgil Flowers, the main male lead, is in pursuit of a gang of crims who have kidnapped two rare tigers from a local zoo with the aim of converting them into traditional Asian remedies. The gang starts targeting Virgil’s nearest and dearest...no further comments for fear of spoilers.The pace is fast, the tone is light, and joy of joys, it is very well proofread. Try a Virgil Flowers novel out, if you’ve not done so already.