This is a really fun and delightful Virgil Flowers book, well-written and complex. ( )

Another brilliant outing by that effin' Flowers!! Intricate plot, great cop talk, and enough twists so you can't figure things out too early. Keep 'em coming. ( )

Virgil Flowers is called out to Butternut Falls on his day off to investigate a bombing and death on a Pyemart construction site. The town is divided about the new store and many oppose it and think the council was bribed. An interesting cast of characters, including Virgil with numerous twists and turns before the identity of the bomber and his motive are revealed. Entertaining dialogue too. ( )

Very good read. Well paced and didn't figure out who dunnit' until near the end.. Easy read w numerous one liners that filled the page. Much less setting and more cgaracter interaction. There were many but Sandford did a good job allowing you to follow. Very good ending and for once VF didn't get laid. ( )

A fairly typical Virgil Flowers novel, not quite as good as some but if you're a fan, you'll like it. Perhaps it was the lack of an active love interest that made this one seem lacking a bit. He's still loosely involved with the Sheriff from the last book, but she's in Florida, and they don't seem to be getting along too well. Perhaps the fame went to her head.

But don't think the book isn't still good - it was. The center of attention in the story is the CEO of a WalMart-like chain called PyeMart that is planned for a small town, Butternut Falls, with a lake and a lot of nature lovers who don't want a PyeMart to destroy their lives. It seems that PyeMart has bribed the town leaders into supporting them, much to the chagrin of many in the town. Somebody is trying to stop the development by blowing things and people up, starting with a failed attempt on the CEO - killing his secretary instead - and including a failed attempt on Virgil. Surprisingly, I found the CEO to be somewhat of a likeable guy, despite being a bit of a jerk.

Virgil uses some fairly unconventional methods to finally find out who the bomber is, and we get some free secondary action as they go after the crooked town leaders.

I'm running out of books in this series, but I look forward to reading some of Sandford's other books, such as the Lucas Davenport series. ( )