Part of Virgil Flowers, book 6
First published 2012
Three teenagers see themselves as modern outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde. They have nowhere to go, anger to burn, and weapons in hand. Their crime spree begins when they murder a woman during a robbery. The second killing happens because someone gets in their way. After that, they decide to keep going. Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers arrives at the Shinder murder scene and starts piecing together the evidence. The young killers carve a bloody path across rural Minnesota while an expanding force of law enforcement officers joins Virgil in pursuit. The hunt intensifies as more cops converge on the case, but Virgil cannot predict what will happen next. The teenagers believe they are living out a romantic criminal fantasy, but their violence escalates beyond control as they flee across the countryside.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, criminal-fantasy, escalating-violence
Setting: Minnesota
387 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder, violence