Rough Country by John Sandford

Nina Zampetti, 12th Grade

It would be remiss for me to spend a year reviewing my favorite realistic fiction novels and overlook author John Sandford. Sandford has written several notable series, including the Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers novels, and collaborated with Michelle Cook on the YA series The Singular Menace. They all tend towards the airport mystery-thriller alignment, and in total honesty, the entire Lucas Davenport series is just the same two alternating plots. But Sandford's novels also - despite or maybe because of their cliches - make for quick, edge-of-your-seat reads that will absorb you completely (and make you miss your stop on the bus). I can't talk about all the books I've read by Sandford, so right now I'm reviewing Rough Country, a Virgil Flowers novel. Reader warning: these novels are adult fiction and as such deal with mature subject matters and use strong language. They are definitely not meant for every reader. Without further ado, the review!

Rough Country follows detective Virgil Flowers - affectionately referred to as "that F'ing Flowers" by everyone in his office at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension - as he is pulled away from a fishing competition and begins solving the murder case of a high-powered lesbian CEO. The book is set at a picturesque nature retreat in the small, small town of Stone Lake, Itasca County, Minnesota. We follow Flowers as he investigates a home-grown lesbian pop-rock band, the cute assistant at the resort, and a smattering of other individuals around town. The case is intriguing and I tried to solve it alongside Flowers as I read - an enjoyable experience. Sandford does an excellent job delivering clues and unfolding the story (as one would hope he does, with nearly 40 published mysteries under his belt). The prose isn't the most poetic, but it's not dry or repetitive; Sandford does his job painting pictures of locations and people, and illustrating what Flowers is thinking as he solves his case. As an avid reader of Sandford's works, I will admit they tend to feel formulaic at some points, but the characters prevent the plot from being boring.

Flowers makes for an incredibly interesting detective. He has surfer dude hair, wears indie band t-shirts and cowboy boots, and doesn't like to carry his gun. He has a way with the ladies and a decent moral compass. He writes articles for The New York Times. He also has all the traits of a good detective: he's intelligent, with sharp instincts and a way of asking the right questions. And he's a good narrator, if occasionally a little too focused on romancing the ladies he meets in his crime-solving endeavors. I genuinely enjoy tagging along for a crime-solving ride in his head and he definitely contributes heavily to my enjoyment of the novel. But it's not only Flowers that makes Rough Country so enjoyable. Wendy, the queen-bee lead singer of Stone Lake's local girl band, is a fiery womanizer who constantly stirs up drama and intrigue. Then there's Zoe Tull, the lesbian accountant at the all-women's resort where CEO Erica McDill was murdered-the focal point of the case. Zoe shows Flowers around Stone Lake and acts as his local guide to all the small-town secrets. There's also sweet Janet, who works at a candy store to support her husband and rides her bike to and from the store for exercise-until she's shot to throw Flowers off the trail. And creepy, mean Slide Ashbach, Wendy's father and the local dog breeder with a handy touch for gardening. I could go on and on. Every face that appears in this book is unique and exposes a new facet of the rural Midwestern town that is Stone Lake.

I have read many Sandford novels, but I wanted to review this one in particular for how it represents the LGBT+ community. Published in 2009, the book is remarkably progressive. The case, in the novel, is treated as a "political hot potato" and gets handed around from agency to agency, detective to detective until it's given to Flowers, who's handled delicate cases in the past. There certainly is an element of people not wanting to take the case because it's a career-ender if handled poorly. But the case gets assigned to Flowers, who treats all people involved in it with the care and dignity any murder case requires. He never disparages any of the lesbian characters we come across, doesn't make jokes about turning girls straight, and just generally treats them like people. And Sandford does the same. All of the women are written as women who are lesbians, rather than lesbian women. They have other character traits and purposes besides being there for diversity clout. The only thing I truly take issue with, as a queer woman myself, is that there are a number of women who cheat on their partners with other women. There are, like, four characters who do this. However, in the context of other Sandford novels, that's not too unusual for his characters. There are a lot of infidelities uncovered when you investigate a murder, apparently. But Flowers eventually connects all the little clues he's discovers and tracks down the criminal, with only some minor bloodshed. All in all, a good day's work for the detective.

Generally, I love Sandford's books. I read them on planes, trains, buses, while waiting for my class at my dance studio-everywhere. I have missed my stop on the M4 numerous times because I was right next to Virgil Flowers in some backwater Midwestern town, sleuthing around for clues to a murder. While not always the most original, Rough Country easily follows in the footsteps of all Sandford's novels as an engrossing read to return to, time and again.