Johnson Johnson phones his long-time friend Virgil Flowers, of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and asks him to look into some dognappings that have been happening in the small Minnesota town where he lives; the locals fear the dogs are being sold to labs for experimentation. Not far from there, a murder occurred: a down-on-his-luck journalist was shot to death. Rumour has it that he was drinking heavily and doing prescription drugs; some speculated that he might have been involved with meth labs, or he might have been killed by drug traffickers. The truth is otherwise: the members of the school board voted unanimously to have him permanently silenced. He had inadvertently stumbled on nasty goings- on at the local school board. The members have been scamming a lot of money from the government funds, and the journalist was sitting on his story until he got all the information he needed; his editor denies having any knowledge of the story. And the bodies start piling up!

DEADLINE is a traditional police procedural, and the fun has a lot to do with the voyage as well as the destination; few authors do it as well as John Sandford. The author gives us the feel of the town and the people, make us privy to the workings and pitfalls of the investigation, and we enjoy the genuine camaraderie between Johnson and Virgil. All the characters are clearly defined, and a lot is revealed as more layers are peeled. I loved how the sordid machinations of the school board members snowball out of control, among other things, and how cleverly everything is resolved.

Just when you think that DEADLINE is nicely cruising along, that you've got your suspect and things will wrap up tidily, unexpected events occur and things get more complicated and deadly! The actions speeds up at more evil deeds are uncovered culminating in a hair-raising manhunt towards the end, right before another part of the story turns into a mind-boggling circus. There is not a dull moment in DEADLINE!

Book Summary

In Southeast Minnesota, down on the Mississippi, a school board meeting is coming to an end. The board chairman announces that the rest of the meeting will be closed, due to personnel issues. “Issues” is correct. The proposal up for a vote before them is whether to authorize the killing of a local reporter. The vote is four to one in favor.

Meanwhile, not far away, Virgil Flowers is helping out a friend by looking into a dognapping, which seems to be turning into something much bigger and uglier—a team of dognappers supplying medical labs—when he gets a call from Lucas Davenport. A murdered body has been found—and the victim is a local reporter. . . .