Catalogue

Record Details

Catalogue Search



Storm front  Cover Image Book Book

Storm front

Summary: In Israel, a man clutching a backpack searches desperately for a boat. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a message from Lucas Davenport: You're about to get a visitor. It's an Israeli cop, and she's chasing a man who's smuggled out an extraordinary relic — an ancient inscribed stone revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon. Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those mystical movie-plot deals? The secret artifact, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses? He looks at the investigator. She's not laughing. As it turns out, there are very bad men chasing the relic, and they don't care who's in the way or what they have to do to get it. "They're crazies," she says. "What kind of crazies?" Palestinian crazies, Syrian crazies, Egyptian crazies, maybe a couple of Israeli crazies. Turks. Some Americans, too, I suppose. Maybe the Pope." Perhaps Virgil should start praying.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780425270240 (pbk.) :
  • ISBN: 0399159304 (hc.)
  • ISBN: 9780399159305 (hc.) :
  • Physical Description: 376 p. ; 24cm.
    print
  • Publisher: New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons ; Berkley Books, 2013.
Subject: Flowers, Virgil (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
Government investigators -- Minnesota -- Fiction
Conspiracies -- Fiction
Criminal investigation -- Fiction
Police Investigation -- Fiction
Religion -- Fiction
Secrets -- Fiction
Minnesota -- Fiction
Genre: Mystery fiction.

Available copies

  • 42 of 47 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
  • 0 of 1 copy available at Chetwynd Public Library. (Show preferred library)

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 47 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date
Chetwynd Public Library Fic San (Mys) AP (Text) 35222000889559 Adult Paperback Not holdable Lost 2023-04-10
Beaver Valley Public Library F SAN (Text) 35144000103965 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -
Burns Lake Public Library AF SAN (Text) 35198000509290 Adult Fiction Volume hold Checked out 2024-04-01
Castlegar Public Library MYS SAN (Text) 35146001830223 Mystery Not holdable Lost 2023-08-03
Creston Public Library FIC SAN (Text) 35140001029563 Fiction Volume hold Available -
Dawson Creek Municipal Public Library PB SUSPENSE (Text) DCL156478 Adult paperbacks Volume hold Available -
Elkford Public Library FC SAN (Text) 35170000357863 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -
Fernie Heritage Library FIC SAN (Text) 35136000415597 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -
Fort Nelson Public Library FIC SAN (Text) 35246000795763 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -
Fort St. James Public Library SAN (Virgil Flowers #7) (Text) 35196000204185 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -

  • Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2013 September #2
    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 à 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. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
  • Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2013 September #1
    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 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
  • Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2013 August #3

    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.)

    [Page ]. Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC

Additional Resources