Book Review: BLOODY GENIUS by John Sandford

BLOODY GENIUS by John Sandford (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, October 2019)  Hardcover, 372 pages. ISBN #0524436612 / 9780525536611 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Virgil Flowers will have to watch his back--and his mouth--as he investigates a college culture war turned deadly in another one of Sandford's "madly entertaining Virgil Flowers mysteries" (New York Times Book Review).

At the local state university, two feuding departments have faced off on the battleground of science and medicine. Each carries their views to extremes that may seem absurd, but highly educated people of sound mind and good intentions can reasonably disagree, right?

Then a renowned and confrontational scholar winds up dead, and Virgil Flowers is brought in to investigate . . . and as he probes the recent ideological unrest, he soon comes to realize he's dealing with people who, on this one particular issue, are functionally crazy. Among this group of wildly impassioned, diametrically opposed zealots lurks a killer, and it will be up to Virgil to sort the murderer from the mere maniacs. 

My 3-Star Review On The Goodreads Website . . . . .

     If you're a new reader to John Sandford's enjoyable fiction, I don't recommend you start with this book - - the reason being you might put it down before finishing while regular readers of Sanford are going to keep going.

     This is the first Sandford novel, and also the first one featuring Virgil Flowers, that didn't grab me early on and pull me through the book. There is a curious depiction of a brutal murder in the opening chapter, but it bogs down after that. This is a book that really picks up steam on the back end, and felt like Sandford was going through the motions in the early chapters. This felt formulaic, something I'd never thought of while reading Sandford before despite his prolific output.

     What saves it in the first two-thirds of the book are the engaging interviews of various suspects and potential witnesses, which Sandford peppers with his usual character quirks. Most of this book is a series of conversations between Flowers and others, with more than one red herring than expected. 

     Once the real murderer has been identified I was thoroughly engaged until the final page. The last part of the novel and the resolution were very satisfying.

     In hindsight, Im sure a lot of criminal investigations go this way - - interview after interview without turning up any sufficient evidence to reach a conclusion or narrow down the possibilities. It's a long slog, and parts of this novel reflect that accurately.

     I'd give this a 3.5 Star rating if only Goodreads would expand their system to accommodate that. It's better than average, but did not exceed my expectations enough to earn 4 Stars.