Heat Lightning

by John Sandford

Part of Virgil Flowers, book 2

First published 2008

Virgil Flowers receives a call from Lucas Davenport on a sweltering Minnesota night. Another body has turned up near the veterans' memorial in Stillwater. Two bullets to the head and a lemon placed in the mouth. The killer used the same signature two weeks earlier on a different victim. Flowers digs into the murders and realizes someone is working methodically through a list of targets. Many names remain unchecked. When Flowers uncovers the connection linking all the victims, the discovery brings him no satisfaction. The truth reveals a web of trails branching in multiple directions. Each path contains deadly traps waiting for anyone who follows too closely. What started as a double homicide investigation becomes something far more complex and dangerous than Flowers anticipated.

Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller

Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful

Tropes: cat-and-mouse, investigation

Setting: Minnesota, Stillwater

Period: contemporary

388 pages · Hardcover · G. P. Putnam's Sons

Content warnings: murder, violence

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