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Shock Wave
Unavailable
Shock Wave
Unavailable
Shock Wave
Audiobook9 hours

Shock Wave

Written by John Sandford

Narrated by Eric Conger

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it. The first bomb goes off on the top floor of PyeMart's headquarters. The second one explodes at the construction site itself. Who's behind the bombs, and how far will they go? It's Virgil Flowers's job to find out… before more people get killed.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 1, 2011
ISBN9781407494333
Unavailable
Shock Wave
Author

John Sandford

John Sandford is the pseudonym for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. He is the author of thirty-three Prey novels, two Letty Davenport novels, four Kidd novels, twelve Virgil Flowers novels, three YA novels co-authored with his wife, Michele Cook, and five stand-alone books.

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Reviews for Shock Wave

Rating: 3.9642857142857144 out of 5 stars
4/5

364 ratings30 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Detective Virgil Flowers is in a small town in Minnesota, searching for the person or persons responsible for a series of bombings. A new big box store is opening in the area. There's evidence to support this construction is sure to damage the nearby waterways and negatively impact the local fishing. Flowers isn't sure which group the bomber or bombers belong to - the fishermen, the environmentalists or the local storeowners who are certain to lose their long-standing businesses.This is a quick read, and surprisingly, the characters were well developed in a short amount of time. While there was some technical language used to explain the bomb and its components, overall, it wasn't difficult to understand. For those who like crime dramas, I guess you might like this.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Always keeps you guessing. Love the character Flowers. Highly recommend.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An unidentified bomber has decided to eliminate the building of a local Pye Mart in Butternut, Minnesota. But why and who? Virgil Flowers is called to the scene to find the bomber before he kills or injures any more individuals. John Sandford is always a good read, and Virgil is just about as much fun as Lucas Davenport.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ah! another great Virgil Flowers. The man can't go investigate anything without uncovering all kinds of weirdness. This is now different. Someone seems to be upset and trying to stop the building of a PyeMart in the little town of Butternut. And they are punctuating their arguments with deadly explosions. The person responsible is doing a great job of not raising any flags, to give away themselves. The Virgil Flowers books always make me laugh and always have a much lighter feel than the Davenport books. Keep up the good work!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another Virgil Flowers novel. 'nuf said.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I didn't realize until I'd gotten this home from the library that I'd read this before. Luckily, John Sandford's Virgil Flowers books are worth re-reading. For the life of me, the ending of this one totally surprised me. Could it be that I somehow didn't finish the book the first time around?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Synopsis: Virgil is called in when it appears that a bombing of an executive's office in the city is tied to the bombing of one of his businesses in a rural town, but there are no discernible perpetrators in the two settings. As he investigates, Virgil finds that this little town has its share of infidelity, greed, and crazies that could account for the bombings. However, when his boat is blown up, Virgil takes this personally.Review: As usual, stories about Virgil are fun to read. He seems to be the character Sandford enjoys writing because of the situations that arise in the books. This one ends with the readers saying, 'Poor Virgil', since he seems to be the butt of one long joke.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I never get tired of John Sanford's books. They're great to read and lots of fun on audio. This was my "running errands" audio and it made errands a real pleasure. This is another Virgil Flowers book and I have to admit that Virgil is really starting to grow on me. Of course, Lucas Davenport is still my favorite but Virgil is getting closer with each new book! This book is about a large store being built in a small town. There are a lot of people that don't want that to happen and when bombs start going off, first at the PyeMart headquarters, then at the building site, Lucas sends Virgil into the fray to figure it out. As always, loved it!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I know of no other mystery/thriller author who has written more consistently excellent books than John Sandford. Shock Wave is yet another winner. Sandford created one of my favorite characters in the genre, Lucas Davenport, and the star of this book, Virgil Flowers, is rapidly moving up the list.

    As in all Sandford's books, the plot is excellent, the police investigative work rings true, the dialogue is great, and the characters are very believable. The plot was a real head-scratcher, but the conclusion worked and made sense.

    All-in-all, this is another fine addition to the roster of excellent novels by Sandford. If you're already a fan or new to this author, you'll love it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "Shock Wave" is aptly named, as it involves a plot about a very busy bomber who has it in for "Pye-Mart", obviously a Walmart knockoff, that is in the early construction phase in Butternut Falls, MN and is expected to destroy the local merchants and pollute the river with runoff. While that's not exactly an original premise, the one or two bombings per day keep everyone hopping to an insane degree, with a similar increase in suspense to the reader. Not surprisingly, there appears to have been illegal payoffs to local politicals to make the approval for the new megastore a reality. While Virgil Flowers is trying to discover the identity of the bomber, he uncovers those crimes as well, nicely cleaning up the local scene. Meanwhile, it seems he is breaking up with his new sheriff sweetheart, which slows down his tendency to womanize key characters.

    As in all Sandford's books, the plot is excellent, the police investigative work rings true, the dialogue is great, and the characters are very believable. The plot was a real head-scratcher, but the conclusion worked and made sense. All-in-all, this is another fine addition to the roster of excellent novels by John Sandford. If you're already a fan or new to this author, you'll love it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The fifth offering in John Sanford's series featuring Virgil Flowers finds Virgil investigating a series of bombings in Butternut Falls, MN. The town council surprised the residents by voting to modify the municipal plan to accommodate a large discount store chain and many residents fear the local environment, not to mention most of the local businesses, will be damaged or destroyed.This is arguably the best of Sanford's novels featuring Virgil Flowers, the only competition coming from the second entry in the series, Heat Lightening. Many of the complaints I have about some of the earlier books in this series are corrected in this book. Flowers' interest in off-the-wall T-shirts is still evident but not featured excessively as in previous novels and his casual hook-ups with women is replaced with genuine affection for the central female figure of Bad Blood which leads Virgil to exercise restraint. Most important, this is the first novel that achieves the genuine status of "mystery." In the previous novels the guilty party was either known or somewhat obvious and the only mystery was how Virgil would obtain the evidence needed to prove guilt. Here the identity of the bomber is not known until the final 20 pages. While the final ending is a bit weak, Sandford's ability to maintain the mystery up until the end and still tie everything together nicely is bound to please most reader.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was an audiobook listen for me. I have been a big fan of John Sandford for many many years. Mr Sandford writes consistently great books. His characters are interesting and the stories draw you in. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more Virgil Flowers novels.

    The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it: local merchants, fearing for their businesses, and environmentalists, predicting ecological disaster. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands.

    The first bomb goes off on the top floor of PyeMart's headquarters. The second one explodes at the construction site itself. The blasts are meant to inflict maximum damage-and they do. Who's behind the bombs, and how far will they go? It's Virgil Flowers's job to find out . . . before more people get killed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As always, John Sandford is really good at what he does.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A pretty well written, easy to read book. Decently plotted and did have the feel (generally) of an investigation sifting through potential suspects. One facet that wasn't believable was the manner in which Flowers freely discussed the case with various people met in the course of the investigation. This aspect threw me off from being able to be totally immersed in the plot.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two groups want to stop it: local merchants and environmentalists. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands. The first bomb goes off on the top floor of PyeMart's headquarters. The second explodes at the construction site itself. Who's behind the bombs, and how far will they go? It's Virgil Flowers job to find out before more people get killed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Somebody really, really doesn't want Pie-mart to come to town. And they're not sending flowers to get it to stop, they're setting bombs. BCA investigator Virgil Flowers is pretty sure he can solve the case. But not before some more things go "boom".The Flowers books just get better and better. LOVE the volleyball opener.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ka-boom, ka-boom. Lotta explosions in this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another excellent book from an outstanding author. Great sense of place created with fishing and fish talk providing an interesting small town Minnesota background. Really hard to put down as the plot kept driving the action forward. Some of the simple solutions, how the bomb got into the tower, for example, created a very realistic and satisfactory conclusion.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    What I wouldn't give for a really good John Stanford novel. Unfortunately this one's not it. Though it is a serviceable book. Virgil Flowers, who it seems Sandford has a better grip on than Lucas Davenport, investigates a series of corporate bombings. While the story isn't overly interesting, the characters are compelling and some of the dialog is crisp. It'll have to do as I await a really good John Sandford novel. One thats been a long time coming.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pretty good
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I like Sandford and I like Virgil Flowers. I found Shock Wave a bit slow at times; I guess I did not care for the storyline - but I liked the characters and I liked the dialogue. Not his best stuff, in my opinion, but still an enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Two corporate bombings cause the authorities to bring in Virgil Flowers, a top investigator, to find and stop the bomber.There is animosity toward PyeMart, a Wall Mart type of corporation. Some don't want it moving in because they fear they would lose their jobs and others feel that there would be an adverse ecological effect on the water because PyeMart would add polutants to the water.Flowers has a down home approach to his investigation and the people he speaks to seem to give him more information because they feel he is on their side.The list of suspects is established and grows as Flowers attempts to find people who have the worst feelings toward PyeMart and it's billionaire owner."Shock Wave" is an enjoyable read with colorful characters and is sure to entertain.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Another great Vigil Flowers story only no sex in this one. He hunts for a bomber targeting a big box store being constructed in a small Minnesota town.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Easy read - simple plot - good character development - BUT the prime character, Virgil Flowers, is quirky - seemingly just for quirky's sake - there seemed to be no point. I found him to actually be a distraction from a pretty good story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wish everyone talked like Sandford's characters! Great repartee!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think Virgil Flowers is hilarious. I love his quirks. It feels like Sanford is settling in with this character and getting more comfortable with who Virgil is. I love his laid back swagger and how other law enforcement people and civilians react to his unorthodox style. People either don't know what to think and they are stand-offish with him (usually law enforcement) or feel comfortable enough with him that they want to get involved with the case by offering suggestions and ideas (usually civilians).Can't wait to see what case is next and how Virgil goes about solving it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Another novel featuring Virgil Flowers. His character is not nearly as interesting as Davenport in Sandford's Prey series. I can't really get into the quirks of this character.