Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Rough Country
    Unavailable
    Rough Country
    Unavailable
    Rough Country
    Audiobook10 hours

    Rough Country

    Written by John Sandford

    Narrated by Eric Conger

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The third Virgil Flowers novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford

    While competing in a fishing tournament in a remote area of northern Minnesota, Virgil Flowers receives a call from Lucas Davenport to investigate a brutal murder at a nearby resort for women only. As Virgil begins investigating, he finds a web of connections between the people at the resort, the victim, and some local women, notably a talented and popular country singer. The more Virgil digs, the more he discovers the arrows of suspicion point in many directions, encompassing a multitude of motivations: jealousy, blackmail, greed, anger, and fear.

    Then Virgil discovers something that sends his investigation reeling. This is not the first murder connected to the Eagle Nest Lodge. Nor will it be the last...


    From the Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 29, 2009
    ISBN9781101079621
    Unavailable
    Rough Country
    Author

    John Sandford

    John Sandford is the pseudonym for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. He is the author of thirty-three Prey novels, two Letty Davenport novels, four Kidd novels, twelve Virgil Flowers novels, three YA novels co-authored with his wife, Michele Cook, and five stand-alone books.

    Related to Rough Country

    Related audiobooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Books

      Nov 14, 2022

      Limberlost begins with a whale, not a marlin: an almost-mythical beast at the mouth of a Tasmanian river, troubling the waves with its fluked tail. But Robbie Arnott’s third novel carries echoes of Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece. As its hero pits him

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Thrill A Second

      Sep 4, 2020

      Gentle Swedish detective Ulf Varg is back in the second instalment of The Department of Sensitive Crimes series. His days are marred by petty bureaucratic red tape, his irritation with his long-winded colleague Blomquist and his unrequited longing fo

      2 min read

    • Article

      Testament Of Love

      Oct 19, 2022

      Testament Of Love
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Rare and Beautiful Creature: On the Life and Work of Frank Stanford

      Sep 22, 2017

      It seems fair to suggest that the anxiety of influence—a creative necessity for so many poets—may have failed to penetrate the mobile-homed hamlets where Stanford roamed, rambled, mused, and wrote with prolific intensity. The post A Rare and Beautifu

      5 min read

    • Article

      Can a Myth Grow Up?: The Poet Frank Stanford at Second Sight

      Apr 18, 2019

      The real question about the cult-hero of American poetry has now become: “What are we gonna do with this motherfucker?” The post Can a Myth Grow Up?: The Poet Frank Stanford at Second Sight appeared first on The Millions.

      15 min read

    • Article

      Chasing Great

      Jul 25, 2021

      What drives your average autograph obsessive? (Yes, oxymoron there.) Status by association? Thrill of the chase? Anecdotes to bore friends? Or, as Adam Andrusier puts it, “a special connection … something amazing set in motion”? The London lad began,

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 16, 2021

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      The True Crime Story That (Might Have) Inspired Nabokov to Write ‘Lolita’

      May 16, 2019

      What if the young girl from Camden was the model for the nymphet from Ramsdale? Who was Sally Horner? Who is Dolores Haze? The post The True Crime Story That (Might Have) Inspired Nabokov to Write ‘Lolita’ appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      New Zealand Books

      Jul 14, 2019

      It’s astonishing to realise on finishing this book that Marilyn Waring had been in Parliament for nine years when she retired at the age of 32. And that she developed and maintained a powerful influence on national politics in that time – and afterwa

      4 min read

    • Article

      The BOOK THIEVES

      Jun 14, 2023

      The BOOK THIEVES
      8 min read

    • Article

      Leonard Pitts: Karen’s Got A Gun, But She Needs A Book

      Jul 8, 2020

      So now, Karen’s got a gun. To be clear, her name wasn’t actually Karen — it was Jillian Wuestenberg. But Wuestenberg’s behavior — while with her husband, Eric Wuestenberg, she drew a gun on a black woman and her daughter in a parking lot near Detroit

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Galchen, Zambreno, Emezi, and More

      Jun 8, 2021

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Rivka Galchen, Kate Zambreno, Akwaeke Emezi, and more—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Galchen, Zambreno, Emezi, and More appeared first on The Million

      4 min read

    • Article

      New York times

      Nov 16, 2022

      By Darryl Pinckney Riverrun £30 In England, writing is not particularly respected as a profession, least of all by writers themselves. We work in bed, keep our own hours, and wear slippers to go the shops. Most writers I know potter along at their ow

      3 min read

    • Article

      What To Read?

      May 26, 2023

      BY ELEANOR CATTON GRANTA Described by one critic as “a Kiwi Jonathan Franzen”, this fantastic novel explores what happens when a hippie collective clashes with a ruthless billionaire. Mira and Shelley run Birnam Wood, a guerrilla gardening group tha

      3 min read

    • Article

      Subscribers’ News

      Dec 7, 2023

      To feature in Subscribers’ News contact: tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk I am excited to share the details of my next novel, The Summer and the May, writes subscriber Lucinda Hart. It’s my fourth to be published, and my third with Vulpine Press. This b

      4 min read

    Reviews for Rough Country

    4/5

    331 ratings39 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Standard, as in excellent, fare from John Sandford. Another Virgil Flowers adventure where he again gets a murderer but does he get the girl? The story had me guessing between 3 suspects but tied it all up nicely in the end. Enjoyed the humor but also the introspective elements.
    • 4/5
      Lesbians gather at resort. Murders.
    • 3/5
      A woman named McDill is murdered while kayaking at a lodge in the woods of Minnesota. Flowers is called into investigate because the victim had some political clout. He quickly discovers this lodge isn't like most others. It caters to mostly women, and women who prefer the company of women. Flowers is first flustered by the number of female suspects. But he soon narrows in on a few characters, including Wendy Ashback, a wannabe country singer, and Zoe, the accountant who hopes to buy the lodge someday. There are many more suspects and there is a lot of money, jealousy, and secrets to be unvieled.

      My complaints would be in the handling of the points of view. Sandford writes mostly from Flowers' point of view, but switches to the killer on occasion. This usually works, but I thought perhaps the killer was revealled too early in this one. Also, the whole "whodunnit" and the reasons why, and the way in which Flowers figures everything out, wasn't one of Sandford's best. But the journey to get there was great.

      I haven't read a bad John Sandford novel yet. He's been one of my favorite authors since I began reading him. This is a great book and a must read.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: Virgil is on vacation, but Davenport won't let him rest. Virgil is called in to investigate a murder at a resort for women. This puts him into contact with a lesbian singer and her band, as well as her father, brother and several lovers. As he investigates, he finds that there are several unsolved murders and that all of them lead to someone who is an expert with a rifle.Review: Lots of fun with this book and Virgil never does get to really go fishing or to add any romance to his life.
    • 4/5
      I have read or listened to every single John Sanford book - he’s a steady favorite- but this book was my least favorite of all of his books. It does have his usual dry wit and dark cop humor, but the plot just didn’t grab me.
    • 3/5
      Hard to listen to very monotone but I really like this author.
    • 3/5
      Rough Country is a good story, but its biggest fault is the ending. The author chose to just stop. Rough Country is a little suspenseful but mostly just went on and on until it stopped. John Sandford is an excellent writer of suspenseful murder mysteries but unfortunately this one is not one of his better ones. Consequently only three stars were awarded to this book.
    • 3/5
      I had some John Sandford to catch up on this year. This is another Virgil Flowers story. A business woman is shot and killed when she takes a canoe out on her own from the woman-only lakeside lodge she was staying at. The killer managed to get away clean, leaving no traces in the woods near the lodge. Was the woman killed because of trouble with her business back in Minneapolis or due to her local contacts?
    • 2/5
      Didn’t like this one as well as the first two. Maybe the backwoods mid-West setting didn’t do it for me. Vergil talking to God every night didn’t help. It just seemed like a tricky gimmick this time around.
    • 5/5
      A rare 4.5 for a detective mystery. He hit all the right notes setting, characters, some humor, some philosophy, and a not too outrageous hero. And even though you figured Slibe "dunnit" thetwist at the end finished it of well as did our frustrated hero leaving Sig's house. That said Virgil gets laid a little too easily.Great read.
    • 4/5
      I am half in love with Virgil “F***ing” Flowers. I just adore this character. As with the other books, I couldn’t wait to get back in my car to keep listening. In my opinion, the book is about Virgil and the case takes second stage. What I liked in the book is the author seemed to want to focus on letting us get to know Virgil a little better. We met a friend from outside of work. We learn about some of his ex-wives. We also learn that Virgil likes his job but it isn’t his only motivation. I also liked that Virgil’s love life was less of a focus in this book and it helped you focus on Virgil’s intelligence as a detective. We get a real focus into the way Virgil sees and parsecs information on the case.The case in this book was not that engaging to me and I admit I didn’t really about whodunnit. I just felt like it lacked the intensity of the first two cases in this series. Eric Conger has one of the best voices to me. I look forward to the next one.
    • 3/5
      The hallmarks of a Virgil Flowers are quite familiar by this, the third novel featuring this character. Virgil has an endless supply of t-shirts featuring obscure bands, he drives back and forth between various Minnesota locations (and even flies to Iowa) in this novel, and he apparently has never heard of laundromats. His irresistibility to women a la Jack Reacher is also apparent in this novel but circumstances constantly interrupt the effort to actually have sex. Actually, that part is somewhat humorous and more interesting than in previous novels when the coupling is described in routine manner. One quite troubling aspect of this novel is that Virgil essentially causes an innocent man to be killed. You can attribute the murder to Virgil's cluelessness, but it is quite apparent to the reader that the man will be killed unless Virgil wakes up and exercises a teeny, tiny bit of caution. I'm sure Sanford does not mean to depict Virgil in such a negative manner so this seems to be more the consequence of a poorly thought out plot element than a feature attributable to Flowers' character.In any event, the book is still a more or less enjoyable read. This is the fourth novel I have read featuring Flowers and I would rate it lower than Heat Lightening (my favorite so far), and Dark of the Moon, but slightly ahead of Mad river.
    • 4/5
      Part of me wants to be Virgil Flowers when I grow up. But a larger part of me is both happily retired and reasonably realistic.
    • 4/5
      An enjoyable read. A large number of characters get introduced throughout the book, but guess you need to do that so there are suspects to choose from. A Virgil Flowers Novel.
    • 4/5
      Caught with a long-wait situation and no book at hand, I did something I hate doing. I started a series in the middle. This is the third Virgil Flowers book. I was glad to discover that Flowers is a different character than Lucas Davenport, Sandford’s more famous series protagonist. But the book was pure Sanford. The clues are openly and honestly presented, even if they are more of the foreshadowing variety than the fairplay kind. But if executed correctly, the journey is often as interesting as the destination. In this case, both were worth the time.
    • 4/5
      As a long-time fan of Sandford, I have found the last couple of "Prey" novels to be disappointing. Davenport has just become too soft now that he's married and has kids. Now, in steps Virgil Flowers - a younger, single Protégé of Davenport. But until this book, I just couldn't appreciate the character. Virgil? Flowers? Really? Just the name alone has been a complete turnoff for me.

      However, he's finally growing on me. Rough Country never had a dull moment, and reminded me of some of Sandford's earlier novels. If this continues, I may get used to the name after all. Bad Blood has been sitting on a shelf waiting for me....we'll see if JS has found his coveted story telling gift again....
    • 4/5
      John Sandford writes several series. I think I enjoy the Flowers’ books the best. Davenport is too self-absorbed and the Kidd books, because of their reliance on technology, become dated rapidly. Virgil Flowers, one of Davenport’s BCA investigators, known for pulling his fishing boat all over Minnesota, has just the right mix of savoir-faire, investigative skill, sarcasm, dedication, and common sense.This is the 3rd in the series and involves a resort solely for women, a man who loves his daughter too much, a son with extraordinary woodsman skills, a band, some high-priced shoe tracks, and a series of murders that suddenly become connected in strange ways and a plethora of suspects. Good story and audiobook very well read by Eric Conger.
    • 3/5
      Virgil is sent to solve a murder in what amounts to ZZ Top's Planet of Women. He's a guy who usually gets the girl pretty handily. But here all the women want each other, not him. Poor Virg!
    • 4/5
      An off-beat detective with a penchant for vintage rock t-shirts and a bad habit of pulling a boat behind a state vehicle, Virgil Flowers really just wanted to enjoy his well-earned vacation. Too bad someone had to murder a guest at a fancy northwoods resort catering to a very special sort of clientele....Lesbians, violent-tempered musicians, crazy people... lots of suspects and not nearly enough time for fishing. Poor Virgil, lucky readers.
    • 4/5
      That damn Davenport has gone and screwed poor Virgil out of another well-deserved fishing expedition. Thank you Lucas, because that f.....g Flowers is just as funny and crazy and unorthodox as ever.  
    • 4/5
      I'd never heard of this author before the TV movie with Mark Harmon -- I don't know how I missed him! I was surprised at how much I liked this book, especially given the setting as I tend to like the more urban settings as a rule. Good writing, though, and good characters. Definitely worthy of a few hours on a lazy afternoon.
    • 4/5
      Thought it was very good. Felt for Virgil at the end.
    • 4/5
      This is my second Virgil Flowers novel. It got off to a slow start but picked up the pace partway through and delivered.Virgil "F%$!ing" Flowers is a detective with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He is on vacation when he gets a call from his boss, Lucas Davenport (the main character in John Sandford's Prey series) to take a case about a woman murdered at a nearby lodge. A lot of the narration focuses on the fact that the lodge caters to gay women. Despite the sexual preference of the suspects, it's the same love/sex triangles that get in the way for heterosexual characters.I liked Heat Lightning better, but I like the Flowers character and can't wait to read another book!
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable and intriguing, especially whether Vigil will get the girl, which in the end he doesn't. Still he solves another very tough complex crime and keeps the reader on the hook throughout.
    • 3/5
      I would have started the novel through the eyes of the villain and brought the villain in more often than happened in this novel. At the end, I had built up sympathy for two characters that got brutalized and I found that hard to take. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the story and recommend the novel.
    • 4/5
      I read Sandford for pure escape. This book is as fast-moving as the others, and I like Virgil Flowers the best of Sandford's protagonists. It's well-written and good entertainment.
    • 3/5
      Virgil Flowers returns, ever the horn-dog. This time the cowboy boot wearing detective is in a backwater Minnesota women's resort, the site of a murder for reasons unknown. Was she killed for money or sex, the trails lead in both directions. Sandford supllies plenty of misdirection, in fact there is little but wordy investigation and supposition for the first half of the novel; This is definitely his slowest novel in years. As the trail (and Virgil) heats up Rough Country emerges in to more familiar territory, delivering more engaging action pieces and entertaining dialogue. It's a story constricted, both by its plot and its characters, however its interesting following Virgil with his most liberating case yet.
    • 4/5
      Alright, I am a Sanford fan once again.This book had its share of raunchy, but manageable raunchy, Well, borderline, anyway. I love his characters - Virgil Flowers is terrific as usual. And mostly I liked the plot; a little twistyturney towards the end, but a very enjoyable 'whodunnit' nevertheless.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. The story was very entertaining, a page turner that I couldn't put down.I've read the prior two novels in the Virgil Flowers' series and found this one the best yet. Now understand. I'm not expecting a major classic work here. Just a well told, believable mystery with characters that engage me and ring somewhat true. I got both in spades!!A woman is murdered at a rustic resort in northern Minnesota. She was shot between the eyes while relaxing on a boat floating on a lake one early morning. Why? Thus starts the story. You are lead on a merry chase as Virgil Flowers from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension leads a team trying to solve the case. And what of Little Linda? Take the trip. You'll be glad you did!
    • 4/5
      My problem with Virgil Flowers is that he is not as smart as Lucas Davenport. I figured out who the murderer was early on and then thought it was too obvious and that's why Virgil wasn't following it, and I figured out the twist and Virgil only got it at the very end. He asks one character, did you touch the body and the the character says, of course not, i've seen movies. Well, it looks like Virgil has never read any books - he seemed stymied by the most obvious cliches.So these books are not as satisfying for me as the Prey series. I like the writing - Sandford is a confident professional and he sentences flow easily. But I don't like the main character and Virgil doesn't have the support system of his own regular characters that Lucas does, and his books feel weaker for it. While I buy and keep the Prey books, I'm happy to read these, but the library suffices me.To jog my memory -this was the one about the lesbians up in the lake cabins and the band with the charismatic lead singer, who seemed to have death follow her...