Shock Wave (Virgil Flowers Series #5)

( 221 )

Overview

The thrilling new Virgil Flowers novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.

The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it: local merchants, fearing for their businesses, and environmentalists, predicting ecological disaster. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands.

The first bomb goes off ...

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Shock Wave (Virgil Flowers Series #5)

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More About This Book

Overview

The thrilling new Virgil Flowers novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.

The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it: local merchants, fearing for their businesses, and environmentalists, predicting ecological disaster. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands.

The first bomb goes off on the top floor of PyeMart's headquarters. The second one explodes at the construction site itself. The blasts are meant to inflict maximum damage-and they do. Who's behind the bombs, and how far will they go? It's Virgil Flowers's job to find out . . . before more people get killed.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

When mega-superstore chain PyeMart makes plans to open shop in a Minnesota river town, alarms sound throughout the small community. Mom-and-pop store owners and environmentalists do what little they can to battle the invader, but no one is quite prepared when deadly bombs cut through Pye Mart's corporate headquarters and then the construction site itself. Sent it to investigate, Virgil Flowers doesn't need to look for suspects; he's nearly surrounded by them. A hit in hardcover; now in mass-market paperback and NOOK Book.

Steve Donoghue
[Sandford]'s a thorough professional who knows exactly what he's doing. Whether you're new to Sandford or not, whether you've ever read a Virgil Flowers novel or not, once you start Shock Wave, you'll read it straight through, quickly, compulsively, happy the whole time to be in such good hands.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Wry humor, a fully realized lead, and tense atmospherics lift Sandford’s suspenseful fifth novel featuring Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Virgil Flowers (after Edgar-winner Bad Blood). When a bomb kills a construction superintendent in Butternut Falls, a small community divided over the imminent arrival of a PyeMart megastore, Virgil gets on the case, even though it’s his day off. Three weeks earlier, a bomb exploded at PyeMart’s Michigan headquarters shortly before a board meeting. Willard Pye, the company head, was unharmed, but his executive assistant was blown to pieces. Given the number of locals hostile to the company, Virgil has no shortage of possible suspects, and the ante rises as more bombs are detonated. Coupling a thoroughly modern investigative approach with old-fashioned logical deduction, Virgil narrows in on his target. Sandford effortlessly conjures up the rhythms and personalities of a small town in one of his best outings to date. Author tour. (Oct.)
Library Journal
Local merchants and environmentalists in a little Minnesota town both oppose the construction of a new store by the mega-chain PyeMart, but who's responsible when bombs explode simultaneously at PyeMart headquarters and the construction site? Best-selling New York Times author Sandford, who's given us the long-running Prey series, here offers the fifth in his winning new series starring Virgil Flowers.
Kirkus Reviews

A methodical bomber gives Virgil Flowers a welcome chance to recover from his atypically bombastic last outing (Bad Blood,2010, etc.).

Three days before his 70th birthday, billionaire Willard Pye and his board of directors are one room away from an explosion that rocks his boardroom outside Grand Rapids and kills Angela (Jelly) Brown, his executive assistant. Another blast follows with indecent haste, killing a construction superintendent at the site planned for a new PyeMart in Butternut Falls, Minn. The second bombing brings out the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the person of Virgil Flowers, who assures the disgruntled Pye that he expects to clear the case within a week. "One week and I kiss his ass," Pye tells Marie Chapman, his high-priced amanuensis. But a week doesn't look like nearly long enough for a case this complex. Lots of townsfolk in Butternut Falls are against the new megastore. The Cold Stream Fishers, fearing that a pristine trout stream will be fouled, are especially militant. And Despite Pye's denials, it looks as if a PyeMart expediter has bribed Mayor Geraldine Gore and at least three city councilmen into supporting the highly divisive project. Virgil networks, invites more than 100 locals to make up lists of potential bombers and wonders whether his faltering long-distance relationship with Warren Count Sheriff Lee Coakley is strong enough to keep him safe from Marie Chapman and other indigenous temptresses. The bomber, meanwhile, is moving ahead with a deep-laid plan, setting off one explosive device after another in order to make some kind of statement, mislead Virgil and cover his tracks.

The tale drags at times, but the mystification and detection are authentic and the solution surprisingly clever. Virgil fully deserves to have Willard Pye kiss his ass.

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780425250488
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 10/2/2012
  • Series: Virgil Flowers Series , #5
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 432
  • Sales rank: 33,655
  • Product dimensions: 4.10 (w) x 7.50 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

John Sandford

"Like the best writers in this genre—Dashiell Hammett, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain among them—John Sandford evokes his netherworld with authentic dialogue and meticulous details."—Minneapolis Star Tribune

John Sandford is the pseudonym of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. Camp was born in 1944 and was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He received his B.A. in American Studies from the University of Iowa, and received his first training as a journalist and reporter when he was in Korea for 15 months working for his base paper.

After the army, Camp spent 10 months working for the Cape Girardeau Se Missourian newspaper before returning to the University of Iowa for his Masters in Journalism. From 1971 to 1978, he worked as a general assignment reporter for the Miami Herald, covering killings and drug cases, among other beats, with his colleague, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edna Buchanan.

In 1978, Camp joined the St. Paul Pioneer Press as a features reporter. He became a daily columnist at the newspaper in 1980. In the same year, he was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for an article he wrote on the Native American communities in Minnesota and North Dakota and their modern day social problems. In 1986, Camp won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for a series of articles on the farm crisis in the Midwest.

Camp has written fourteen books in the bestselling "Prey" series under the name John Sandford. The titles in this series, which features Lucas Davenport, include Rules of Prey, Shadow Prey, Eyes of Prey, Silent Prey, Winter Prey, Night Prey, Mind Prey, Sudden Prey, Secret Prey, Certain Prey, Easy Prey, Chosen Prey, Naked Prey, Broken Prey, Invisible Prey, and now, Phantom Prey.

With the "Prey" series, Sandford has displayed a brilliance of characterization and pace that has earned him wide praise and made the books national bestsellers. He has been hailed as a "born storyteller" (San Diego Tribune), his work as "the kind of trimmed-to-the-bone thriller you can't put down" (Chicago Tribune), and Davenport as "one of the most engaging (and iconoclastic) characters in contemporary fiction." (Detroit News)

Biography

John Camp (better known to readers as thrillmeister John Sandford) began his career as a journalist -- first as a crime reporter for The Miami Herald, then as a general reporter, columnist, and features writer for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch. In 1986, he won the Pulitzer Prize for "Life on the Land: An American Farm Family," a five-part series examining the farm crisis in southwest Minnesota.

Camp's interests turned to fiction in the mid-1980s, and he took time off to write two novels which were ultimately accepted for publication: The Fool's Run, a techno-thriller featuring a complex con man known as Kidd, and Rules of Prey, a police procedural starring maverick Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport. When both books were scheduled (by different publishers) to be released three months apart in 1989, Camp was persuaded to adopt a pseudonym for one. He chose his paternal grandmother's maiden name, "Sandford" for Rules of Prey, and the nom de plume has remained attached to all the books in the series.

Less Dick Tracy than Dirty Harry, hard-boiled, iconoclastic Lucas Davenport is a composite of the cops Camp met while working the crime beat as a reporter. Intelligent and street smart, Davenport is also manipulative and not above bending the rules to get results. And although he has mellowed over time (something of a skirt chaser in his youth, he is now married with children), he remains one of the edgiest and most popular protagonists in detective fiction. Fans keep returning to the Prey books for their intelligently hatched plots, high-octane pacing, and deft, fully human characterizations.

From time to time, Camp strays from his bestselling series for standalone thrillers (The Night Crew, Dead Watch), and in 2007 he introduced a new series hero, Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who debuted in Dark of the Moon. Although he is no longer a full-time journalist, Camp contributes occasional articles and book reviews to various publications. He is also a passionate archaeologist and has worked at a number of digs, mainly in Israel.

Good To Know

Don't confuse John Sandford with John Sanford -- it's one of Sandford's pet peeves. Sanford (without the "d") is a Christian philosophy writer.

The Sandford pseudonym has caused a few problems for Camp in the past. At an airport once, his ticket was reserved under Sandford, while all of his identification, of course, had the name Camp. Luckily, he had one of his novels with him, and thanks to the book jacket photo, he was able to convince airport security to let him on the plane.

The books in Camp's less successful Kidd series (The Fool's Run, The Empress File, The Devil's Code, and The Hanged Man's Song) have been re-released under the Sandford pseudonym.

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    1. Also Known As:
      John Roswell Camp
    2. Hometown:
      St. Paul, Minnesota
    1. Date of Birth:
      February 23, 1944
    2. Place of Birth:
      Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1. Education:
      State University of Iowa, Iowa City: B.A., American History; M.A., Journalism
    2. Website:
      http://www.johnsandford.org

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 221 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(108)

4 Star

(63)

3 Star

(34)

2 Star

(9)

1 Star

(7)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 221 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 7, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    REVIEW THE BOOK NOT THE NOOK

    Let me start off by saying I loved this book just like I loved all his previous books. Great characters, plot and overall flow. That being said...
    I find it very frustrating these days that people use the AUTHOR review board to complain about the prices of nook books. Here's some friendly advice...QUIT BUYING THE NOOK BOOKS AND GO BACK TO PAPERBACKS if you're so unhappy. I use the review board as a way to determine if I want to pick up a book or not. This is not easy to do when nobody is referring to the book. Can't we all just get along? Review the book, not the nook.

    27 out of 31 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted October 10, 2011

    Stop complaining

    I hAve yet to read this,but, i must note that the ratings are lowered by the ratings of those who are complaining about the PRICE and not the book. Maybe there should be another avenue for these complaints so the book reviews would really reflect opinions of the book.!!!

    26 out of 30 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 5, 2011

    Enough Already

    This constant complaining about the Nook price has got to stop. The list price of this book is $27.95. B&N gives a larger discount to hard covers for people who don't have the Nook. If you add shipping and taxes the cost is higher. Nobody twisted your arm in buying the Nook or any other E-Book.

    21 out of 25 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 22, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    a great whodunit

    Three weeks ago a bomb at the Michigan headquarters of the chain PyeMart left Executive Assistant Kelly Brown dead although CEO Willard Pye escaped unscathed. In Butternut Falls, Minnesota, townsfolk are angrily divided over the superstore company setting up shop there. Environmentalists know the poor record of the firm when it come to anything interfering with the bottom line profits while the small town's storeowners know they will be driven out of business as has happened elsewhere.

    A bomb ignites at the superstore's construction site killing construction superintendent Gilbert Kingsley. ATF investigates both explosions that have left PyeMart's leadership shaken and behind on the Minnesota project. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Agent Virgil Flowers also looks into the homicide at Butternut Falls, but finds many townsfolk remain defiant and hostile towards the company's "invasion", but who would take the opposition to such deadly lengths remains hard to determine.

    The fifth Virgil Flowers police procedural (See Rough Country and Bad Blood) is a great whodunit as the state cop makes inquires using modern technology and inductive reasoning to try to solve a case with too many suspects. The town already tense before the deadly explosion brings a profound look at development vs. preservation/environmentalism, but does it inside a well written investigation starring the amusingly self deprecating Minnesota cop.

    Harriet Klausner

    18 out of 22 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 4, 2011

    YES! YES!

    While I just love everything he has written, & have read just about all...I too am dismayed at the recent prices in the Nook line. I purchased the OLD blk & wht nook & noticed that the prices all slowly increasing. Maybe we old schooled are paying for the new colored version of the Nook. Is that fair or what?

    13 out of 23 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 18, 2011

    If you're a f....n Flowers fan, unbeatable

    Sandford does it again with Virgil. Highly entertaining. A good book to curl up with on a rainy night. Virgil is the Man!! Now it's time for Lucas Davenport to come out of hiding. Come on, John, get that computer humming. Please stop using review space to put up your price complaints; just don't buy the book. On the other hand, get a Kindle.

    10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 8, 2011

    Another Winner from John Sandford

    I purchased "Shock Wave" for my NOOK. I love John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series so when he began the Virgil Flowers series I knew I wanted to give it a chance. I have NOT been disappointed. This new installation, "Shock Wave", is worth reading. It is filled with suspense, great characters and makes you think. [I also like that it features my home state in part of the plot!]

    Read this book...if you like characters like Lucas Davenport, Alex Cross & Kay Scarpetta, you will like Virgil Flowers!

    I agree with other reviewers: STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PRICE FOR THE eBOOK/NOOK EDITIONS! This review isn't for the NOOK it is for the book. Buy the paperback if you don't want to pay the full price. I knew the prices would go up because paper book purchases were going down. Writers/publishers were going to have to make up the difference SOMEWHERE! Instead of complaining here, write to the company/publisher! I like having the convenience of saving money on going to the store to buy my book the day it is released. For me there isn't a Barnes & Noble within 30 miles and I enjoy knowing that the day it is released it is in my "library".

    9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 16, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Not So Shocking

    Sorry to say, but this is not a very interesting book. The author says at the beginning that he wrote in "cooperation" with his golf partner. That's kind of troubling. One, we don't know then how much the author actually wrote. Two,we already have Ludlum books being written ten years after he died. James Patterson has franchised his name and it's not likely that the Patterson novel you pick up was even written by him. So why can't the golf partner write a book on his own? And why can't Sanford, for that matter? Has it become so hard for him to come up with interesting novels? If so, then hang it up, don't write in "cooperation" with your golf partner. As you can see, I did not get a free advance copy from the publisher.

    5 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 12, 2011

    Sandford = Success AGAIN!

    Through John Sandford, the reader is able to join Virgil Flowers's life -and share his conflicts and successes. At the end of the book, you feel you walked with him to solve the crimes. Waiting for the next one :)

    5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 28, 2011

    Enjoyable read.

    Good read but B&N needs to start screening these cheeseball reviewers who constantly complain about the prices.

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 26, 2011

    Entertaining

    Virgil never dissapoints--Fsst moving and a few unexpected twists and turns and a shared investigation (Virgil does not do it all in uncovering evidence) makes the story more believable and holds your interest. Can't wait for the next one (you get a preview at the end of the book) Great recreational read !!!!

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 28, 2011

    Twisted

    This one had a better twist than the other Flowers books

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 16, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Loved It!!

    Another great "That F'n Flowers"! Read! If you love Sandford you will love this book! Just enough intrigue, laughs, mystery and murder to keep everyone happy!

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 12, 2012

    Welcome to waveclan

    Welcome to waveclan! My names seastar!

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 10, 2011

    Virgil Flowers rocks!

    Ive always liked Sandfords books, but Lucas Davenport started to get tiring as any character would. Enter Virgil Flowers, a regular character in the Davenport series, spun off as ypur new protagonist. Home run! Virgil is plain spoken, not always brooding, a good old boy that is modest, listens more than talks and is razor sharp.
    Way to wake up a series. Virgil reminds me of a little bit of Burkes Dave Robicheaux mixed with a little bit of old time Columbo.
    Loved the characters, and really liked the interaction with the townsfolkes. They played a big part and served a purpose and you got to know them.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 8, 2011

    Great !

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 28, 2012

    Loved this book!

    Virgil Flowers is the best character going! This story had me captivated from the first sentence... highly recommend

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 28, 2012

    Highly Recommended!

    Once again Sandford has produced an interesting and entertaining story. It is an excellent read.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 26, 2012

    Night

    "COLT! BATU!" He screamed running over. "What happened?" He asked Colt.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 18, 2011

    It keeps you reading

    John Sandford has repeated his previous success with the Virgil Flowers series. Virgil, as a non-violent social detective is entertaining in a way that takes me back to the deductive mysteries of the 1930's and 1940's, before the 'hard-boiled' school became popular, but thoroughly modern in his approach. More, please.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 221 Customer Reviews
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