shock wave

Virgil is sent out to a small Minnesota river town after to find out who is trying to stop megastore Pyemart from moving in.  So far two bombs and two people have been killed and Virgil is tasked with stopping the bomber from killing any more innocent people.

I just really enjoy Virgil Flowers.  Almost more than Lucas Davenport.  He's hilarious.  Easy going and smart, but not afraid to throw a punch when it's needed.  The difference between Lucas and Virgil is that while Lucas does step outsides the lines of the law quite often, Virgil doesn't so much but he still feels like he's not so straight laced.  He also tends to be more down to earth and uses the community to help him find answers.

Pyemart is basically a WalMart and the small town of Butternut just can't sustain a huge superstore like that and support its local mom and pop businesses.  Then there's the possible pollution into the river that runs through the town and brings trout fisherman from all over.  So there's plenty of people who don't want PyeMart to move in and plenty who believe that the city council was bribed.  Plenty of mad people in this town, which means plenty of suspects for Virgil to wade through when the bombing start.

Great series, great book.  You don't necessarily have to read these in order, but there are references to characters from previous books.  Either way, this is one not to miss.