Bad Blood by John Sandford

This is the fourth Virgil Flowers novel by John Sandford, and it's called Bad Blood.  When I got to page 179 I found a nasty surprise: half of that page was missing.  And the wait list for the book still had eight people on it.  I finally just broke down and read around the part that was missing and continued on with the book.  I couldn't wait for months until it came in to finish it--patience is not one of my virtues.

This is Flowers' biggest case since the bodies that were dumped at various veterans' memorials, and this case is much bigger and much nastier.  A county sheriff calls Flowers in to investigate the suicide of a teen boy being held in her jail for the murder of a middle aged farmer, who, upon closer inspection, turns out to be far from the upstanding citizen most people thought he was.  When the correctional officer on duty at the time of the boy's suicide also turns up dead, it becomes clear this case is bigger than a single murder.  Flowers' investigation reveals a connection to an unsolved Iowa murder whose victim was a local girl with ties to the same private church to which both the farmer and the correctional officer also belonged.

Unfortunately, Flowers' investigation is hindered by a secretive, cult like church whose membership keeps to themselves and resists the intrusion of outsiders.  Through questionable methods Flowers stumbles upon the church's invasive, nasty secret with far reaching side effects that will bring down the church in a hail of deadly fire and bullets leaving broken families, damaged children, and dead bodies in its wake.

Readers won't be able to put down this highly suspenseful page turner especially during the nail biting climax.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie