Storm Front

Book Description

The thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series.

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 tailing a man who's smuggled out an extraordinary relic--a copper scroll revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon.

Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those Da Vinci Code deals? The secret scroll, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses?

He looks at the cop. 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. Maybe Virgil should start praying.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. 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.)

From Booklist 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. --David Pitt