Storm Front (A Virgil Flowers Novel)

by John Sandford

2014

Status

Available

Publication

G.P. Putnam's Sons (2014), Edition: Reprint, 432 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: In Israel, a man clutching a backpack searches desperately for a boat. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a message from Lucas Davenport: You're about to get a visitor. It's an Israeli cop, and she's tailing a man who's smuggled out an extraordinary relicâ??a copper scroll revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon. Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those Da Vinci Code deals? The secret scroll, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses? He looks at the cop. She's not laughing. As it turns out, there are very bad men chasing the relic, and they don't care who's in the way or what they have to do to get it. Maybe Virgil should start praying.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member TheJeanette
I really enjoyed the different flavor of this latest Virgil Flowers mystery, with the addition of the antiquities angle and the "foreign elements" --- Turks, Israelis, and Texans. At times it was a little slow moving, and sometimes it was hard to keep track of all the characters, but Sandford
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always provides a fun ride nonetheless. Any flaws are more than made up for by his always amusing dialogue, which is especially fun in this installment because there are several characters who are not native speakers of English.
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LibraryThing member cmeilink
A longtime fan of John Sandford's Lucas Davenport books, this was my first entré into the world of Virgil Flowers.

Before now, I knew Virgil was a friend of Davenport's, and I had a physical description of him from some of Sandford's other books, but this is the first time I've experienced the
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personality and life of Virgil...I liked it.

Virgil is a man's man complete with cowboy boots and a devil-may-care attitude. When Virgil gets called in to track down Solomon's stone, an artifact stolen from a dig in Israel, he's not exactly thrilled at having his other ongoing case interrupted. He'd been working on a scam by a local woman known as "Ma" who, together with her sons, was selling imitation old barnwood as the real thing.

Ma held a certain fascination for Virgil being an attractive 34-year old blond woman with five children who came across as a little redneck country gal, but who in reality, was well-educated and highly intelligent--quite a match for our Virgil.

Ironically, the two cases intertwine as Ma becomes friends with the minister, Jones, a past professor of archeology, and the man who stole Solomon's stone.

The story plays out as numerous characters make their appearance in the book--all of whom have an interest in finding or buying the stone. The combination of Mossad agents, Turks, the Israeli arm of antiquities, tv treasure hunters,make to form an entertaining chase-the-stone and chase-the-people following the stone story.

I enjoyed the interaction of the characters and the characters themselves.

I received an advance copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

A recommended, fun read.
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LibraryThing member SunnySD
Desperately seeking stele...

A dig worker in Israel steals a chunk of rock bearing a mysterious inscription, hops a plane back home to Minnesota, and proceeds to hold an auction, and suddenly BCA Investigator Virgil Flowers is neck deep in Israelis, Hezbollah agents, Turkish nut-cutters, TV
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personalities, and one very stacked Minnesota blond with something more (or less) than legal activities in mind.

Up front, this was an ARC I received via LibraryThing Early Reviewers, and I received nothing but the book in return for a review. That said, Sanford does not disappoint. The dialogue, storytelling and characters ring true to just a shade larger than life. This would easily stand alone if you've not encountered Sanford's Minnesota before, but falls nicely into place among previous cases.
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LibraryThing member dianaleez
"Storm Front,' the new Virgil Flowers mystery is John Sandford at his best. He channels Donald Westlake and takes a leaf or two from Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen, but Virgil's latest remains true to the Virgil mythology, it's an Original.

No word of plot will pass my lips (fingers?) other than to say
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that international crime comes to Minnesota and lands on Virgil's lap.

This is a book built on comedic surprise - it was difficult not to read a few lines aloud to my spouse who is patiently waiting his turn at the book. But it's so exquisitely timed that sharing a punch line now would be a deal breaker.

It's a stand-alone book for those who haven't read the series, but of course it is more meaningful for those who know the cast.

I refuse to risk spoiling anyone else's pleasure in this funny funny book by saying too much. But I will warn that it comes complete with deft plot twists.
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LibraryThing member auntmarge64
I'm a serious Davenport/Flowers fan and have read all entries in both series. The plot of this one, which adds a bit of Dan Brown into the mix, didn't work as well as most of the others. The repartee is just as fast and smart ass, and honestly, Flowers and the rest of the cast would be welcome in
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my reading time any day, so I just had to enjoy it for what it was: a lovely romp with Virgil, Lucas, Shrake, and Jenkins. Well worth the read, but bring along your willingness to disbelieve.
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LibraryThing member susanamper
Storm Front, which I won through a Library Thing drawing, was a pleasant surprise. I am a fan of Sandford's Prey series but so far have found the Virgil Flowers series to be wanting. However, Virgil seems to come into his own in Storm Front. In Israel, a man has stolen an artifact from an
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archaeological dig. Should it get into the wrong hands, it could inflame the Middle East. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a visitor. It’s an Israeli cop (or is it), and she’s tailing the cleric who smuggled out an extraordinary relic—a copper scroll revealing details about the man known as King Solomon.

There's a race against time as the cleric is dying of cancer. Groups with different agendas are after the scroll, but Virgil and the BCA hope to find it first to avoid an international incident. This was a real page turner--a first for me with this series.

A minor complaint is how frequently Virgil refers to his Ipad, satellite photos, and Google Earth. Yes, Virgil, we know. The 21st century has long since arrived and your lame attempts at techno speak are about a decade behind the times. Other than this minor quibble, I quite enjoyed Storm Front.
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LibraryThing member juliebean
I love Sandford's novels, but i was getting the sense that some of his latest titles were not as well crafted as some of the earlier ones, and I thought I might lose interest. This one really hits the mark, though, so he's still one of my favorite authors.

Virgil Flowers novels are fun since there's
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less of the political stuff that's in the later Lucas Davenport novels. I prefer reading a mystery featuring a cop than one featuring a bureaucrat. Part of the flowers mystique is that he is the man of Murphy's Law, which is why he's known in the state as "that f*****g Flowers"; trouble just seems to follow him around.

The plot of this story was a lot of fun. The basic story is that a minister on an archaeological dig in Israel digs up an important stone with writing on it, and he absconds with it and ends up in Flowers' territory. The stone might change the way the Bible is interpreted. The Israelis want it back. Some people who don't like the Israelis want it. Some fortune hunter TV personalities want it, too. And a woman Virgil is investigating in an unrelated case gets involved as well.

Right from the beginning, it's like a Blake Edwards film. These people are trying to pull a fast one on those people, while these other people just want to steal the money. There's a quasi-accidental kidnapping, some crazy secretive ex-Marine federal agents, the possible romantic interest (which must occur in every Flowers novel), and general twists and turns and 'gotchas' that you'd expect in a Sandford novel.

As I always say to people when recommending these books, this is not the Great American Novel. But it's a damn fun read and I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member sprocto
This book is clever, well written and hugely entertaining. Just what we've come to expect for John Sandford and especially his character - Virgil Flowers. Thanks LibraryThing for the Early Review opportunity!
LibraryThing member Brenda63
A great nail biting novel. This keeps you guessing until the very end. Even when all the "bad" guys are caught, there are still more surprises. Great read.
LibraryThing member satxreader
I was really excited to win this pre-publication copy of Storm Front from LT Early Reviewers since I love the "Prey" books and I read and liked the first 3 Virgil Flowers books. Maybe if I had read the rest of the Flowers novels I would have known more what to expect from this one. I totally
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expected to be grabbed from the get-go and have the can't-put-it-down rush until the end.
SPOILER ALERT:
Instead, I felt like I was in a Keystone Cops movie. It's packed with a multitude of characters all criss-crossing each other, none of whom I found the least bit interesting or believable...particularly as mentioned in another review, the minister who was at death's doorstep one minute and running around hurling molotov cocktails and ransacking Virgil's house the next, then back to death's doorstep. There were transitions that just seemed to come out of nowhere, but maybe I had just lost interest in following. It's not a terrible book, but I've read many many that are better...many of them from John Sandford.
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LibraryThing member rdurant1217
John Sandford does it again! This is another Virgil Flowers winner of a novel - we very well done and kept my attention the whole way through. The pace and dialogue were wonderful, as was the story. Virgil plays the gray area of the law in a way that's both believable and entertaining. Since Lucas
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Davenport has settled down and become more of a family man, adding him sparingly to the plots of the Virgil books allows for more leeway to explore the rogue side of the characters and allows the main character to have more adventures. John Sandford does this well - I like Virgil a lot, he's definitely growing on me and I look forward to the next one!
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LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Spoilers in 2nd paragraph.

This time out, Virgil gets a crime in his hometown of Mankato and so doesn’t have an excuse to hitch the boat to the company car. With so much going on, he doesn’t have time to fish anyway. He thinks about it though. And the case. That’s a similarity between him and
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Davenport although their approach to casework is different. They both just sit and think. That and the sexy times. Well the old Davenport sexy times anyway. I still think that’s one of the reasons Sandford created Virgil, so he could write that guy again.

Yael-1 had my antennae twitching right away, but not because she turned out to be a ringer, but the way Sandford wanted me to react to her; as a Mossad agent and not some antiquities department agent. He totally got me. I liked the overall set-up with all the parties competing for the stele, but not that Jones would have been capable of it at the time. It should have been earlier. He was literally falling apart once he got to the US and I didn’t believe he’d have been able to pull off all the gun fights, chases and other physical stuff he got himself into. Not when the rest of the time he’s hobbling, complaining and bleeding all over. Oh and the up-to-the-eyeballs-in-pain-killer bit, too. It just didn’t check up with a late-stage cancer victim. The motivation I bought, having experienced first-hand what good elder care costs and what bad elder care looks like, too. I was glad that the whole scam was revealed though. Virgil (and others) were right that the discovery was too convenient and Jones’s actions too quick and purposeful to not have been engineered by him. I liked the paleographer’s involvement, although I wish it hadn’t felt so tacked-on.
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LibraryThing member etrainer
I've read some of the Lucas Davenport novels and have enjoyed them. This was my first Virgil Flowers book. I found the story a little too 'lite' for my taste. The writing is breezy and filled with wit - it's a fun read. But I like my mysteries with a little more grit, intrigue, and, well, detail.
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Here, the story moves along quickly with a fair amount of action. But I never really believed anyone was going to end up dead (except the critically ill semi bad guy) or even be in serious danger. Plot details are available in the other reviews here on LibrayThing if you are interested. I always appreciate getting these early reviewers, but this one isn't up to my standards for a really interesting mystery novel.
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LibraryThing member Darcia
John Sandford has been one of my favorite authors for many years and, while I still prefer Lucas Davenport (Prey Series), Virgil Flowers is coming in at a close second. This one reads well as a stand-alone, so it's not necessary to have read the previous books in this series.

The plot here is
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fascinating. While we know right away who committed the crime, there is a lot of mystery and suspense surrounding the how and why. The subtleties within the plot give us a lot to think about.

As with all Sanford's books, the cast of characters is fully entertaining. Virgil is great fun. He's a cop with a quick wit, who often works outside the lines. No one is all good or all bad. We see many shades of gray, which makes the characters feel real.

Where the book fell short for me came in minor areas. Some of the 'bad' guys felt less than credible as they stumbled around in a bumbling way. And it seemed that everyone had an iPad with Google Earth. At times, it read like an Apple commercial.

Overall, this book is a fast and entertaining read I'd recommend to all mystery and suspense fans.
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LibraryThing member satchmo77
John Sandford’s Storm Front is a Virgil Flowers mystery about a relic dug up in Israel, and smuggled to Minnesota. There are many strange characters that pop up; if I didn’t know better I would have said Donald Westlake wrote this book. A little different that the normal Sandford, but enjoyable.
LibraryThing member SteveVegoe
I received an advance copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Storm Front, the latest Virgil Flowers book by John Sandford, just is not up to the standards I have come to expect from one of my favorite Minnesota based authors. Virgil is in fine form but the story just
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never got my attention, which is tough to do with a John Sandford novel. Indeed, this may be the first John Sandford that feels like his co-writer had too much influence in the writing.
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LibraryThing member TStarnes
Sandford writes terrific thrillers, which are often very dark. Virgil Flowers is not a dark character, but he has confronted massive child abuse cases, organized attack squads and vicious criminals. Storm Front is different. It is lighter and more humorous; and a good read.

There are bad guys and
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good guys in the book, as well as bad good guys and good bad guys. In this story, Flowers is trying to track down a stolen engraved stone from an archaeological site in Israel that is purportedly from the time of Solomon and threatens currently accepted history. The thief is an elderly minister who is dying of cancer and who seems to be smarter than anyone else in the book. In the action with Flowers are Israeli agents, Hezbollah terrorists, Turkish assassins, media hucksters, and beautiful and brilliant con women.

The pacing is good, a Sandford strength. The involved plot is complicated, but not tortuous. Virgil Flowers is the most like-able of Sandford’s heroes and, for this book to work, his character has to make decisions that drive the story as well as react to inevitable misfortunes any thriller hero faces. He makes ethical decisions, even if they might not be the smartest; he is aware of this we he makes them. The dialog is good and very funny in places. Sandford does not go as far as Hiaasen in the humor department – his hero is smarter than most of Hiaasen’s – but is does have a farcical tone.

I am not certain that I want all of Flowers future adventures to be like this, but this one is good.
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LibraryThing member readafew
I've read almost every single one of the Prey novels with Lucas Davenport. They are a hard-hitting and often with gruesome murders and psychopathic serial killers. I've met Virgil Flowers in those books. However, this is the first one of his books I've actually read and I have to say it's a
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happy/sad thing. Sad that I've missed out on the first 6 books and happy that I can now rectify the situation. I found Virgil to be an absolute riot. I laughed throughout the book.

Virgil is investigating a women who is suspected of selling fake 'old' wood to rich folk back east when he gets a call from Lucas Davenport. Apparently some pastor has stolen a new found artifact from a dig site in Israel that could have a profound impact on the region. He came back home to Mankato Minnesota and is planning on selling it to the highest bidder. Some unsavory people are up for the bidding and not all of them are willing to pay for the stone.

All Virgil wants is to return the stone to the Israelis and go back after more mundane criminals, but no one seems willing to let him solve the case and move on.
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LibraryThing member Judiex
Elijah Jones, a minister from a small town in Minnesota, had spent many years traveling to the Middle East to participate in archeological digs, including several in Israel. When STORM FRONT began, he was in Israel and had just found a stele. The stele, about 2000 years old, had writing in both
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hieroglyphics and an ancient Hebrew. Both told the story of a battle. In one, King Solomon was the hero. In the other, an Egyptian pharaoh, Siamun, was. Sandford stated: “David was not a rich and powerful king. He ran a small kingdom.” where most of the people were “rural and poor.” “Solomon suddenly has enormous riches, a huge treasury...and the Queen of Sheba comes to sleep with him.” “The insignificant kingdom had always been under the thumb of the Egyptians.” If the stele is true, the Pharoh Siamun was Solomon. It would completely change the history of Israel, raising questions about who its early settlers were and whether today’s Jews had a right to live their based on their historical ties. Sneaking out at night, he stole a car, took a cab, hired a boat, and made his way to Cyprus and back home to Minnesota, leaving a very obvious trail including some blood stains. He also took the stele with him.
Elijah Jones was dying of cancer and had only weeks to live. For a reason that is explained about halfway in the book, he decided he needed a lot of money and thought selling the stele would be an easy way to get it.
He was wrong. The Israeli government wants the stele returned, preferably before the information about it is publicized. Hezbollah wants it to support their claims against Israel. A Texan wants as part of his quest to find legendary antiquities and publicize himself. So Jones, who goes into hiding (when he is not hospitalized and snuck out of the hospital) decides to auction it off for $3,000,000.
Virgil Flowers, a lawman from a small town in Minnesota, had as his biggest concern stopping one of the residents from selling fake old wood when he was charged with finding the stele. The task became very complicated as Jones and the stele keep disappearing, the potential buyers attempt to get it by any means possible, and a character’s identity is stolen. He finally doesn’t believe what anyone says but does his best to get to the truth and capture the stele.
One conversation I found interesting was between Flowers and an Israeli:“Do you believe the Bible?” “Some parts of the histories, yes. Most of it is foundation myths, tall tales, and literature. Do you believe in Moby Dick?”“Moby Dick” is a novel, not a history.” Do you believe in the details about whaling ships and whaling boats and all that?” “That’s the Bible ,... I believe some of it.”
Chapter 23 is probably the shortest chapter I’ve ever read in a book: “Sometimes, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” It coverer the topic entirely.
The writing in STORM FRONT was breezy and laid back with wit and humor thrown in. I haven’t read any of John Sandford’s novels but I know this, the seventh of the series (he has two other series), will not be the last.
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LibraryThing member shazjhb
I think I like Virgil books just as much as the Prey series.
LibraryThing member rufusraider
Storm Front by John Sanford is a very good story. The main character is Virgil Flowers who has appeared in a number of stories by Sanford. Flowers is a detective in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. This story is about a Minnesota preacher/archaeologist who steals a relic from a dig in
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Israel and brings it back to Minnesota illegally.

The story revolves around his attempt to sell the stele to interested parties and Flowers' attempts to capture him. There is a whole gamut of interested parties from terrorists, to spies, to treasure hunters, to the State of Israel.

The story moves along fairly well and has enough twists and turns to keep you interested. The down home, easy going character can get a little old at times.
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LibraryThing member EdJoubert
I enjoyed this fully. Virgil Flowers is the most interesting and likeable of John Sandford's main characters.
LibraryThing member shellyup47
John Sanford's newest Virgil Flowers' book, Storm Front, is somewhat different than other Sanford books. I found it to be much less gruesome and more humorous; kind of refreshing! The plot of the book is centered around Virgil finding a stone brought illegally to the US from Israel and the weird
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characters involved. I looked forward to reading Storm Front each night but must admit not with the same mad intensity of pervious Sandford novels. Nevertheless, I would stil recommend the book to my friends. Happy reading!
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LibraryThing member frogprof
I have read every one of John Sandford's Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers books, and this one is just as good as all the others. There's a good bit of humor, some snappy repartee, and lots of action [although I sometimes wish Sandford would quit sending his detectives and readers on wild-goose
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chases and just GET ON WITH IT].
Virgil Flowers is the "star" of this book and he is assigned to find a Lutheran pastor who has allegedly stolen an Israeli relic from an archeology dig. This relic could change the course of history, we're told, and an Israeli woman purporting to be from an Israeli Antiquities Authority ... only, a couple of days later, another woman calls Virgil claiming to be that same woman. (Oh, and several people have told Virgil that IAA Woman looks more like Mossad.)
Lots of twists and turns -- some of them unnecessary, to my mind -- before we get the story untwisted. The characters in this book are a little broad, if not clichéd [the relic-hunter from Texas is particularly galling to this Austinite], but the banter is funny and the plot moves quickly. I recommend this one.
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LibraryThing member Tatoosh
For the first half I thought Sanford had another winner on the order of Bad Blood and Shock Wave. An ancient stele is discovered during an archeological dig in Israel and immediately stolen by an American minister who has been participating in the dig. The stele, if authenticated, calls into
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question the biblical interpretation of Solomon, King of the Jews. The minister smuggles the stele into the United States and plans to auction it to the highest bidder. Representatives from the Hezbollah, Mossad, and Turkey, as well as two TV personalities known for their archeological discoveries are all trying to secure the stele. The price apparently is to be $3 million.

Virgil is able to recover the stele half way through the book. End of story? No! Instead of spending an hour securing the stele in an evidence locker at the Mankato police station, or taking a couple of hours to drive to St. Paul and secure it in the BCA evidence locker, Virgil leaves the stone on his desk and goes to bed. It's worth millions and potentially of immense historical significance but Virgil decides to take no precautions at all.

You can guess what happens. The stele is stolen and the rest of the story involves his attempts to reacquire the stele. His bonehead maneuver is not quite as bad as his cluelessness in Rough Country that resulted in the murder of an innocent man but only because no one dies as a result of his stupidity.

The story recovers somewhat but the second half still has a feeling of anti-climax. Then it ends some 30 pages before Sandford stopped writing and persistent readers have to slog through a boring effort to relate what happened to several of the characters. As if we cared that much. In a final disappointment the last few pages spring a surprise that supposedly reveals the truth about the stele. The effort was boring and unconvincing.

Sanford is one of my favorite writers but sometimes he is a bit lazy, takes the easy way out to forward the plot, and poor Virgil suffers. Sanford needs to take greater care in developing his plots, but his editor also needs to share the blame for some of the serious efforts that have marred the Virgil Flowers series. I'm not sorry I read Storm Front but what could have been a superior book is mediocre because of careless, lazy plotting.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2013-10-01

Physical description

432 p.; 4.25 inches

ISBN

0425270246 / 9780425270240

Barcode

1601437
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