![]() But by the time we've met everyone, it's hard to figure out who to focus on - a problem the author seems to wrestle with a bit, too. To his credit, Sanford tries to make all of them interesting. ![]() It takes planners, henchmen, brokers, exporters and importers. It opens with crooks stealing two rare tigers from a zoo with the intention of selling their organs on the black market for traditional Asian medicine. It's a typical Sandford work in that the plot starts quickly and moves briskly. He almost makes up for this with a terrific third act, but by then he's fighting an uphill battle. In "Escape Clause," the newest crime thriller featuring detective Virgil Flowers, we're well past the midway point before Sandford puts some oomph into his malefactor. It's the bad guys, different in each installment, who offer the potential for creating intriguing new characters. Once a protagonist has been established, there's only so much more that can be added in successive books. One of the keys to John Sandford's success as a serial author is his ability to take us inside the twisted psyches of his villains. ![]()
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