Escape Clause by John Sandford

"Whenever you hear the sky rumble, that usually means a storm. In Virgil Flowers' case, make that two. The exceptional new thriller from the writer whose books are "pure reading pleasure" (Booklist) The first storm comes from, of all places, the Minnesota zoo. Two large, and very rare, Amur tigers have vanished from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that they've been stolen for their body parts. Traditional Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some of them are a great deal more extreme than others -- as Virgil is about to find out. Then there's the homefront. Virgil's relationship with his girlfriend Frankie has been getting kind of serious, but when Frankie's sister Sparkle moves in for the summer, the situation gets a lot more complicated. For one thing, her research into migrant workers is about to bring her up against some very violent people who emphatically do not want to be researched. For another . . . she thinks virgil's kind of cute.

Two rare tigers are siphoned off a zoo. The onus of recovering them is shouldered by Virgil Flowers. If the animals were stolen by Chinese medicine makers, as he suspects, he has very less time to do his job, because they may be murdered any moment due to logistical reasons.

This is far better than Storm Front, the last Virgil Flowers novel by Sandford that I read. The story is good, the humor is just ok and there is enough built up of tension and suspense to satisfy me. I loved the antagonist. He starts off as a petty criminal, ends up really horrible and the trajectory is well etched. What I hated was that the protagonist was pathetic. He is so dim-witted that most of the clues are prompted to him by side kicks. Even on combat he is pretty much an embarrassment. If it's intentionally done that way (like the infinitely better and wittier Dortmunder novels), it is a bad move and doesn't generate any laughs.

Felt a bit slow to get going, but I like how all the threads wove together, and especially how the loose ends tied up. Admittedly whenever animals are involved in this series, it can move from suspenseful mystery to anxiety for me.
On that note, fellow vegans ⚠️ beware of not only animal death but animal dismemberment, plus a side plot with a fanatical animal rights activist who's apparently okay with killing people?!
I feel like the immigrant workforce -> slave labour pipeline side plot was an area that could have been fleshed out more, unless it is being held in reserve for a future book in the series.
I don't know that characters' reactions to descriptions of traditional Chinese medicine including certain animal parts counts as sinophobia, but I can't remember a single favourable thing said about any Chinese person in this book, either. 🫤
⚠️ mention of SA

Very glad Frankie wasn't fridged, but can't help feeling her role in this one was restricted to ‘get beat up, feed the plot'. Here's to hoping her smarts will be as emphasized as her physical assets in later books, and likewise that her sister does something besides put herself and those around her in jeopardy. 🤦🏼‍♂️