Deep Freeze (A Virgil Flowers Novel)

Sandford fan. Big Sandford fan. Big fan of his Virgil Flowers series.I found myself irritated that the heretofore intuitive and brilliant Virgil didn’t figure out the BugOut yellow hat MUCH sooner.Otherwise and as usual a fun and rousing adventure.

I believe that I have become an addict to well written tales written by John Sandford- interestingly one of the reasons I enjoy his books is because we are both the same age- similar ways of looking at people and events based on age- well that is one theory

I am one of those people who have read all of the Virgil Flowers series along with the Prey Series and over the years they have given me a lot of reading pleasure and I am always excited when a new offering is released.Virgil Flowers, better known as ‘that F – ing Flowers’ returns to the smallish town of Tippton, Minnesota where in a previous novel Virgil arrests (for murder) the entire school board, breaks up a large Meth Lab and shuts down a dog stealing ring. While this repeat location seems to have disturbed some readers I personally was delighted. The reason for this is that a few of the familiar characters make reappearances and there is less ‘road time’ for Virgil. One of the few aspects of both the Flowers series and the Prey series is that many pages consists of characters spending page after page dashing here and there and the author, Sandford, gives a road by road, turn by turn and café by café account of each and every trip which I find to me more filler than adding to the story. In this novel we have much less windshield time and more story and plot. It is cold – the dead of winter which complicates things. The leading banker in down is found murdered by a fisherman and there is no motive but a large group of possible suspects. Virgil must do some deep digging and does it in a typical Flowers fashion.I have to admit that during the first 50 or so pages of this book I had a smile of my face and actually laughed (or giggled) throughout much of it. I found the dialog between characters to be as amusing and sharp as ever and I found the ‘whodunit’ aspect of the story to be up to Sandford’s normal high standards. The reading was smooth and I found myself drawn to not only Virgil but a number of other characters inhabiting this work. I must admit that I read this from cover to cover with very little letting off until I was finished...my wife did the same thing after I had finished...we both enjoyed this one.As a side note – I have lived and traveled all over the U.S. over the past 70 years and spent time in Minnesota and have traveled through the state; always in the summer. I doubt seriously if I will ever make a trip there during the winter....Good grief – I hate the cold and admire those that thrive on it.I cannot wait for the next ‘Flowers” offering.

John Sandford has written a number of successful detective novels with Lucas Davenport as the main character and Virgil Flowers as part of his supporting cast. Virgil has become a main character in his own right and now commands center stage whenever his knowledge of small town midwestern attitudes and habits requires his own unique spin on things. There never seems to be a specific protocol to Virgil's investigations, hence the title of this review. Virgil simply inserts himself into the center of the action and shakes the trees until something useful falls out that he can pursue until his prey basically paints himself/herself into a corner.This is another interesting and well-written "who done it" involving small town characters who have known each other almost all of their lives. They have grown up together but belong to different cliches/groups that often have members who are mirror images of each other. It's relatively easy to be a "big fish in a small pond" and each of them takes their status seriously even though their achievements are based more on their upbringing than on their own marginal accomplishments. This is often described as being either "the best of the worst" and/or "the worst of the best". There is always someone better who plays on a bigger field -- they just don't live in this particular town.All of this is intimately familiar to me since I grew up in a small Wisconsin town with a population of just under 4,000 hearty souls. The townspeople inhabiting John Sandford's books are amazingly similar to those I grew up with. The difference is that I couldn't wait to escape that suffocating atmosphere, the same environment that provided safety and security to the residents who would never (ever) consider moving away. Heck, some of them never even considered crossing the state lines. All of this results in groups of residents who either love or hate one another and take great delight in the downfall of those who consider themselves "holier than thou". Pretty funny from my perspective but dead serious to them.Those of you who don't come from small town atmospheres will get a kick out of the social maneuvering here. Obviously the banker's daughter can't marry the local pest control owner's son. Virgil Flowers knows this unwavering fact and uses it to his advantage while trying to unsnarl this seemingly accidental crime. You gotta love Virgil. He'll do what he has to, including getting his own butt kicked by a bunch of women, in order to shake out the rodent responsible for the crime. Enjoy it!

Round and round you go where she stops no one knows. Yes another Virgil Flowers novel. And what a story it is. A woman’s body has been pulled from the frozen river. Cause of death, a single blow to the head. A eal who done it.

Dave Birkmann is guilty. No doubt in my mind. And the author confirms that for us in the opening few pages of this very entertaining book. If you enjoy working out who the killer is,then this book probably is not for you. If,on the other hand,you enjoy a book populated with quirky characters and wacky storylines,then put this on your TBR pile.Gina Hemming is a local woman made good. Wealthy,pretty and far out of Dave Birkmann’s league. That doesn’t damper Dave’s spirits though and when a high school reunion puts him within smooching distance of Gina,he boldly makes his move. Unsurprisingly,Dave’s advances are rebuffed and it at this point that Dave finds out the true cost of rejection. Although the killer is revealed to us at the start of the book,this does not in any way detract from the story. The entertainment here is provided by the locals and the interaction they have with each other and with Virgil,the detective trying to solve Gina’s murder.A parallel storyline involving doctored Barbie dolls is a stroke of genius and I found myself laughing out loud when Vergil has the dubious pleasure of listening to one of the corrupted dolls. Even Ken isn’t safe.Barbie’s significant other has been anatomically altered. It is all very naughty and unsurprisingly,Mattel want a stop put to it and quickly. An LA detective is sent with a stack of cease and desist orders to be served to the miscreant making the highly excitable dolls but finding her proves to be far from straight forward. She enlists Virgil’s help but Virgil already has his hands full trying to work out who bashed Gina Hemming. He does lend a hand of course but has he bitten off more than he can chew?Perfectly paced and packed with stand out characters. This book is well worth your time.

When Gina Hemmings is found dead in the only unfrozen bit of river in Trippton, Minnesota the BCA send Virgil Flowers to help local law enforcement investigate. Trippton is a town Virgil knows well and a town that knows Virgil well after he arrested the school board in a previous case. And as he's there the governor asks him to assist LA PI Margaret Griffin in another matter.I thoroughly enjoyed Deep Freeze which is the usual Virgil stumbling around asking questions until the solution occurs to him with the exception that the reader knows who the killer is from the start although there is a twist in that. I'm not going to reveal "the other matter" but suffice to say it is silly, fun and soon becomes a running gag although you have to wonder about Mr Sandford's proclivities when he dream it up!The plot isn't particularly profound but it's enough to engage the reader's attention as it's not the main point of the novel. The fun of the read comes from Virgil and his interactions with his interviewees, colleagues and friends. I feel he is a bit subdued in this novel - there is less of the wisecracking with the guys and flirting with the ladies we have become accustomed to but enough to still bring a smile to the face. I love his natural reactions to events.Deep Freeze is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

For some reason John Sanford has never really taken off in this country (as opposed to the US), difficult to see why. This series and the Lucas Davenport “Prey” novels are much better written than those of all of his competitors (except perhaps John Connolly), witty and entertaingly plotted with believable characters, both minor and major. There is some advantage to reading the early ones first, but it’s not that important - read one and you’ll go back for more.

So far a terrific yarn. Really getting in to is and enjoying it lots. Virgil is a fabulous good character and Sanford is wonderful I lap up his work and can not wait for more. This book seems no exception to that .Fun and great excapist reading.

I love all of John Sandford's novels and his Virgil Flowers series is extremely readable. Mr Sandford has such great rounded and interesting characters. Reading Deep Freeze during a heatwave was particularly moving.