9. Dead Watch - John Sandford

This is a standalone Sandford novel

audio read by Richard Ferrone

9 discs/10 hours

2006 Penguin Audio

373 pgs.

Adult Political Murder Mystery

Finished Sunday, 2/9/2014

Goodreads Rating: 3.81

My Rating: 3.5  I liked it okay

Acquired: PBS (will no trade it on

Setting:  mostly Washington DC and surrounding Virginia area

My comments:  This was an interesting political mystery that included murder, mayhem, and a questionably ethical protagonist, Jake Winter.  Jake's smart, knows his way around DC, and works for the White House - principally the President's Chief of Staff.  It always pisses me off (but never surprises me) to hear of all the shenanigans that happen on the taxpayer's dime and this one certainly was no exception.  It read fast, and I was happy to see the touches of Virgil Flowers that Sandford gave Jake.  I guess it's time for another dose of Virgil....

Goodreads Review: Sometimes, justice isn't enough.

          From the author of the number-one-bestselling Prey novels comes an extraordinary story of murder, passion, and deadly ambition——a political thriller like no other.
          Through twenty-one novels featuring Lucas Davenport, Kidd, or the razor-edge world of the Night Crew, John Sandford has been writing brilliantly suspenseful, consistently surprising thrillers filled with rich characters and exceptional drama.
           But Dead Watch sets a whole new level.
           Late afternoon, Virginia, and a woman is on the run. Her husband, a former U.S. Senator named Lincoln Bowe, has been missing for days. Kidnapped? Murdered? She doesn't know, but she thinks she knows who's involved, and why. And that she's next.
          Hours later a phone rings in the pocket of Jacob Winter. An Army Intelligence veteran, Winter specialises in what he thinks of as forensic bureacracy. Congress, the Pentagon, the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security——when something goes wrong, Winter kicks over rocks until he finds out what really happened. The White House is his main client, and the chief of staff is on the phone now.
          If Bowe isn't located soon, he is told, all hell will break loose.
          What Winter doesn't realise is——all hell will break loose anyway. And he will be right in the middle of it. Large forces are at work, men determined to do whatever it takes to achieve unprecedented ends. Before the next few days are out, Winter will discover he has to use every one of his resources not only to prevail...but just to survive.
          And so will the nation.