Whenever you hear the sky rumble, that usually means a storm. In Virgil Flowersโ case, make that two. The exceptional new thriller from the writer whose books are โpure reading pleasureโ (Booklist).
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The first storm comes from, of all places, the Minnesota zoo. Two large, and very rare, Amur tigers have vanished from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that theyโve been stolen for their body parts. Traditional Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some of them are a great deal more extreme than othersโas Virgil is about to find out.
Then thereโs the homefront. Virgilโs relationship with his girlfriend Frankie has been getting kind of serious, but when Frankieโs sister Sparkle moves in for the summer, the situation gets a lot more complicated. For one thing, her research into migrant workers is about to bring her up against some very violent people who emphatically do not want to be researched. For anotherโฆshe thinks Virgilโs kind of cute.
ย ย ย ย โYou mess around with Sparkle,โ Frankie told Virgil, โyou could get yourself stabbed.โ
ย ย ย ย โShe carries a knife?โ
ย ย ย ย โNo, but I do.โ
Forget a stormโthis oneโs a tornado.