Blog Posts by Uncle Will
town that has a mad bomber on the loose. The dead and injured are mounting and Lucas
Davenport, Flower's boss, gives Virgil a week to close the case.
It appears that someone is opposed to the idea that a WalMart-like store (PyeMart) open in
their town. There is speculation that several of the city council's votes have been bought
to favor the re-zoning and building project. Even the billionaire Pye has been
unsuccessfully targeted. Working alongside a team of federal bomb experts, Virgil becomes
despondent with the lack of evidence and growing list of suspects.
They know what the bombs are comprised of and from where the materials were stolen. Virgil
decides to use a marketing tool and mass produce a survey that he has hand-delivered to
selective townfolks. The survey asks for names of neighbors that might be guilty. Virgil's
plan is to collect the completed surveys and tally the results. He will then interview the
names of those most offered as likely candidates in hopes of finding his killer.
This is the 5th installment in Sandford's Virgil Flowers series. Virgil remains a maverick.
He still dresses in faded t-shirts, blue jeans, and cowboy boots. His hair is still long and
disheveled. He still hates to wear a sidearm and tows his fishing boat behind his pickup to
every crime scene in hopes of getting some "reel time" alone with his thoughts. He's a ladies
man who is a 3-time loser at the altar. Still, he is a lovable character that is enviable and
charismatic.
Pam Tibbs, the dubious deputy, and Hack are once again on the hunt for the machine-gun-toting-serial-killer, Preacher Jack Collins. The Preacher stumbles upon a government official, Noie Barnum, who was kidnapped and tortured by a crazed Mexican assassin called Krill. Collins adopts Barnum and offers a strange sort of sanctuary towards the escapee. Barnum has information in his head that makes him also the target of the Russian mob and a rogue U.S. Congressman's hit team.
If that isn't enough characters, add a Chinese female former CIA agent, who has ties back to the Cambodian Khmer Rouge during the Vietnam Conflict. Anton Ling, nicknamed "La Magdalena" by the refugees she harbors on her ranch, resembles Hack's late wife. Tibbs senses something sensual stirring deep inside Hack and takes an immediate dislike to Ling.
All the players are desperate to bring closure to their pursuits and this helps make the story fast-paced, not unlike a fire drill.
Usually a character-rich story with several subplots can get confusing. Burke's tale unfolds effortlessly.
Martin wakes one day in a Paris hospital where he finds he has been in a coma for several
days. He learns that while traveling in a taxi he was involved in an accident resulting in
his hospitalization. Thankfully his injuries are minor.
His minor injuries soon become a major problem. It seems that while he was out cold, Martin's
identity was stolen, on a grand scale. Even Martin's wife denies knowing him; along with the
man she's sharing her bed with who claims to be the real Dr. Harris. With no passport or
wallet, Martin turns to the cabbie that was driving the taxi during their accident and the
physician who is treating him for some support.
Martin's support circle grows thin, while evidence keeps mounting that Martin might not be
who he claims. Even Martin starts to wonder if he is the brunt of some elaborate hoax or
slowing going insane. What follows is a tightly constructed suspense story that leads to an surprising ending.
This book is new to our collection; however, it was previously published under the title: Out
of My Head. It also was adapted to film with Liam Neeson in the starring role. It is less than 200 pages and adapted well to the big screen. Like in most adaptations, reading the book first before viewing the film is the best course.
In his latest non-series book, his main character, Matt Bannon, is a struggling artist living meagerly in New York City. He comes from a generational family of Marines on his paternal side. Maternally he's inherited the traits of a talented, creative, caring person. In order to not disappoint his parents, he enlists in the Marine Corps and becomes a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Upon his discharge he begins a life as a struggling artist.
Matt, next chapter in his artistic life, begins to brighten when he meets a beautiful art instructor, falls in love, and gets the opportunity to enroll in her prestigious school. His world is rocked when he accidently stumbles upon the assassination of a dirty diamond dealer by a smoke and mirrors professional hit-man called The Ghost.
The plot gets convoluted when the Russian mobster who hired the hit wants the bag of diamonds returned to him that Matt stole from the murder scene. Nathaniel Prince and his incestuous daughter, Natalia, are forces to be reckoned with. Prince orders the services of The Ghost to find the diamonds at any cost.
Like any successful mob kingpin, Prince's power structure is well insulated. His orders are channeled through his long-time childhood friend and mob-captain, Chukov; a despicable derelict who will stop at nothing to save his own hide. Chukov in turn, has a pair of New York's finest who he orders to find the bag of gems and the thief. This thickening plot takes on the appearance of a guppy swimming in a sea of sharks.
Matt is no guppy nor minnow. Unknowns to all the villains involved, the past and present events will be more like sharks swimming with several other sharks in a blood-frenzy.
This is one of Patterson's more suspenseful novels. It is Hitchcockian in style and storyline. Anyone fortunate to have this book be their first cast into the James Patterson pool of popular prose will undoubtedly be hooked.
