Record Details
Book cover

Storm Front

Book  - 2013
MYSTERY FIC Sandf
1 copy / 0 on hold

Available Copies by Location

Location
Victoria Available

Other Formats

  • ISBN: 0399159304
  • ISBN: 9780399159305
  • Physical Description 376 pages.
  • Publisher New York : Penguin Group, [2013]

Content descriptions

General Note:
"G. P. Putnam's Sons."
Immediate Source of Acquisition Note:
LSC 29.50

Additional Information

Syndetic Solutions - Kirkus Review for ISBN Number 0399159304
Storm Front
Storm Front
by Sandford, John
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Kirkus Review

Storm Front

Kirkus Reviews


Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Virgil Flowers (Mad River, 2012, etc.) chases after a biblical relic that turns every person whose path it crosses into a criminal. Lutheran minister Elijah Jones has lived a long time without stepping over the line. But the inscribed stele that turns up on the Israeli archaeological dig on which he's a volunteer is too much of a temptation for even a dying man like Jones to resist. Sneaking off with the priceless relic, he high-tails it home to Mankato for the express purpose, it would seem, of presenting Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with a new challenge. And quite a challenge it is, because what's engraved on the stele is so controversial that it's avidly sought by Yael Aronov, of the Israeli Antiquities Authority; Mossad killer Tal Zahavi; Turkish torturer Timur Kaya; TV archaeologist Tag Bauer; professor John Rogers Sewicky, who teaches ancient mysteries classes at the University of Texas; Lebanese college student Faraj Awad, who may or may not be a liaison for Hezbollah; assorted Beltway types who decline to identify their government agencies; and several lesser fry, from Elijah's daughter Ellen Case to counterfeit lumber merchant Florence "Ma" Nobles, who are both presumably just out for the money. The wholesale pursuit of the relic by everyone in the Central time zone carries serious comic potential, but Sandford, unlike Elijah, sticks to the straight and narrow as he conscientiously follows everyone who's embarked on this treasure hunt. The effect is to muffle Virgil and his senior colleague Lucas Davenport (Silken Prey, 2013, etc.) without creating anyone equally engaging to take their places. Quite a departure for Virgil and Lucas, but this is not a case that plays to their considerable strengths.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Syndetic Solutions - Publishers Weekly Review for ISBN Number 0399159304
Storm Front
Storm Front
by Sandford, John
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Publishers Weekly Review

Storm Front

Publishers Weekly


(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Thriller Award-winner Sandford ventures into Da Vinci Code territory in his clever, quirky seventh Virgil Flowers novel (after 2012's Mad River). When an archeological dig in Israel turns up a stele-an inscribed piece of stone-with the potential to shake the roots of Biblical faith, Elijah Jones, a college professor who fears he's dying, steals the precious artifact and flees home to Mankuto, Minn. Virgil, a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent, at first simply attempts to recover the stolen object, but soon finds himself trying to outwit mercenary Turks as well as agents of the Mossad, Hezbollah, and Texas gazillionares, all of whom want the artifact for their own purposes. Despite the bloodthirsty fanaticism the participants display, the quest for the stone provides many opportunities for cross-cultural verbal confusion and violent slapstick. Though attracted to a sexy local criminal who's become Jones's accomplice, the exasperated Virgil mainly tries to stop the commotion before anyone gets seriously hurt. Unusually good-natured intrigue distinguishes this outing. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Syndetic Solutions - BookList Review for ISBN Number 0399159304
Storm Front
Storm Front
by Sandford, John
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BookList Review

Storm Front

Booklist


From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

The seventh Virgil Flowers mystery finds the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent handed (by his boss, and star of his own series, Lucas Davenport) a curious case. Seems a local college professor stole a valuable artifact from an Israeli archaeological dig, returned home to the States, and then promptly vanished; an Israeli investigator is on her way, determined to track the man down and reclaim the artifact. As it turns out, the case isn't as straightforward as it appears: other people seem pretty interested in the artifact (as evidenced by the violent break-in at the professor's house), and Virgil can't keep himself from thinking the Israeli investigator isn't telling him the whole story. Kudos to Sandford for taking what could have been an ancient-mystery thriller a la Dan Brown (all the ingredients are here, including a secret that could shake the very foundations of Christianity) and playing it like a cop novel. Fans of the Flowers and Davenport series will thoroughly enjoy this one.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist