Book review: ‘Escape Clause’ difficult to finish

By Kathryn Reed

My book club friends say John Sandford is a great read at the beach – fast, easy and not intellectual. That sounds perfect to me.

The problem, though, is one of his latest books, “Escape Clause” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2016), is really bad. So bad that it seemed like torture “having” to read it. I was so slow I didn’t get it done in time for our meeting.

Still, I went to the gathering last week just to hear what others had to say. I had to know if I was the only one who found few redeeming qualities in this book. I was not alone – in fact, I was in the majority.

It’s hard to say if the story or writing was worse. Both left a lot to be desired.

It was good to hear that Sandford’s other Virgil Flowers novels are much better. I’m wary, though. I doubt I will give him another shot even though others raved about his previous works.

The two tigers being stolen from a zoo with the intent to kill them and use their body parts for medicinal purposes was intriguing. It generated a lot of discussion in my book club. This was a good premise, but not well developed.

Some of the book clubbers said they didn’t like the main character, Virgil Flowers, as much in this book, or the woman he was hooked up with. Flowers is a cop for the state of Minnesota.

I don’t have a problem with non-intellectual books, but I do want to be entertained.

I think I’ll look for another author for my beach reading.