Monkeewrench

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thriller
Review: I won't reiterate what the previous reviewers have said about the plot. Suffice to say this is a well-written thriller that keeps you guessing.

A few additional thoughts:
1) I guessed VERY early on who the killer was, using Roger Ebert's invaluable "Law of Economy of Characters". What I wasn't able to guess was "Why?"

2) The book is similar to the John Sandford "Prey" series, even down to the Minneapolis setting.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I ordered this book on a whim, and boy am I glad I did. It's a great mystery---I can't believe that it's the first novel by this mother/daughter team---they have a big hit. If this one is any indication of what lies ahead, they will be very successful I am recommending this to everyone who loves whodunits.

Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: Synopsis.
"Haunted by their pasts, Grace McBride and the crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught and the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone begins duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail."

I think the mother/daughter duo have written a wonderful debut.
It will keep you guessing and it will keep you reading. The dialogue is humorous and the plot original. I look forward to more.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Layer upon layer of mystery makes this one stand out
Review: This isn't the typical mystery with a hidden killer lurking in the shadows, leaving the reader to figure out which suspect (usually with a few red herrings thrown in) is really the bad guy. Instead, this ingenious thriller has several mysteries to keep the reader guessing...and that makes for a totally engrossing book.
First off, there's a software company (MonkeeWrench) run by a group of people who happen to be designing a new, very graphic computer game, Serial Killer Detective..which happens to showcase photos of "murders" which, while fake, are staged very realistically by the MonkeeWrench staff.
When a sample of the game, complete with photos, is offered on the Web - in an attempt to pre-sell the game to the public - a murderer goes beyond staged murders - to the real thing.
To add to the suspense, each of the people behind MonkeeWrench have new identities, ones they created years ago...for reasons which become clear only later on,leaving the reader to wonder what past event precipitated the need for new identities - and could this somehow be tied to the recent rash of murders?
An original plot makes this a good read and the authors prove their mettle even further by creating a great set of eccentric characters, keeping the pace tight and adding enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing about the outcome. One worth adding to the top of a summer reading list!

Rating:
Summary: May I please give 10 stars!
Review: Set aside your Michael Connelly, drop the Jeffrey Deaver, lend out your Stuart Woods, and then please...please pick up this book! I have found a new favorite author (actually plural,
a mother and daughter team no less.) This book was an incredibly interesting first attempt in the serial killer genre. I honestly was hooked by the end of chapter 1. As the story shifts from Wisconsin to Minnesota, with similar characters in each locale, a computer game dealing with a serial killer has been designed by 5 computer geeks. Their history goes back to college 10 years before. As their game is played out in reality, we cannot guess the perpetrator or the motive. I loved this book...a 2 day read.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating plot, interesting characters, but...
Review: "Monkeewrench" has a fascinating plot and interesting
characters and interrelationships. But it has far too
much profanity and gutter language. I won't read another
by P. J. Tracy. Sorry. And I wanted so much to be able
to rave about this work by fellow Minnesotans...

Rating:
Summary: AN INGENIOUSLY PLOTTED MULTI-LEVEL THRILLER
Review: Look out thriller world here's P. J. Tracy ( pseudonym for a mother/daughter writing team)!

In an interview the mother half of this formidable writing duo is quoted as saying that she has "absolutely no qualifications for such a profession, except a penchant for lying."

This reviewer isn't lying when she says that "Monkeewrench," the first in a promised series of four, is one of the most amazing, imaginative, compelling, off-the-wall debut novels in many moons.

For starters, double murders simply do not occur in a sleepy Wisconsin community, especially not in a small Catholic church which was "old and almost Protestant in its plainness" and "The blessed Virgin wore the gleam of plastic and bore an unsaintly resemblance to the mannequin in the window of Frieda's House of Fashion...."

Nonetheless, the crime did occur - two elderly parishioners were shot while praying, making the first homicide in five years for Sheriff Michael Halloran. During his initial investigation of the case a shocking tragedy occurs. Even if he were not shaken Halloran would never dream that these double killings will be linked with diabolical murders in Minneapolis. Nor does he realize the powers of deputy Sharon Mueller who aims to be a full fledged part of this investigation and Halloran's life.

Grace McBride is beautiful, unapproachable, and lives in a house protected like Fort Knox. She has a past that haunts her every waking hour, and is surrounded by the oddest assortment of characters to grace a page. Outre' they may be, but they're also brilliant. Together with Grace they make up Monkeewrench, a software company that has devised a computer game.

Rapidly becoming popular in Minneapolis and environs the game is basically the challenging search for a murderer. Players follow a series of made-up murders and clues to catch a psychopathic killer. Art imitates life in a horrorificl way when someone begins to copy the game in real life.

By the time detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth become aware that this is happening three people are already dead, and there are 17 more episodes on line. When word of this is leaked to the press the city is wracked with fear - there are 17 more possible victims.

One of the first to come under Magozzi's scrutiny is Grace McBride. He is both puzzled and attracted - stumped when he discovers that Grace and her crew had assumed new identities some years before. Compounding this puzzle is the fact that the FBI is tight lipped about why the new identities were given.

Have I mentioned zippy, state-if the art dialogue rife with humor, computerese, and police-speak? I should have because Monkeewrench is loaded with it.

Mother/daughter teams can probably come up with a lot, but few, I'll venture, can match this ingeniously plotted, multi-level thriller that's as artfully knit as an argyle sock.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: exciting thriller
Review: In Calmut, Wisconsin, an elderly couple is found murdered in church, a bullet in each of their heads. Upon further investigation, the police discover that the couple had moved frequently, changing their names with each new address. They were obviously running from somebody but they had no friends because they were harsh and unforgiving religious fanatics who kept everyone at a distance.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, five friends have formed a software company Monkeewrench and the latest game they are beta testing on the net is called Serial Killer Detective. Life imitates art because someone is killing people in the exact same way as in the game. The police look into the background of the Monkeewrench Team, which hits a blank wall because the group has gone to a lot of trouble to change their identities. While the police are trying to figure out why, a connection is made to the double homicide in Calmut and Grace McBride, the leader of the software development team, finds herself the target of a sociopath who wants her dead.

This is P.J. Tracy's debut novel and it is the best first novel this reviewer has ever read, an exciting thriller filled with misdirection and secret agendas. Grace is constantly on guard 24/7 because she escaped from a killer several years ago but she has no peace because he was never caught. The fact that she is still sane says a lot about her inner strength and the loyalty she inspires in her friends. MONKEEWRENCH is a suspense thriller that allows no time outs.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: I liked it all until the very end...
Review: While at my conference this week, I started and finished Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy. This is a very nice cyberthriller with a number of plot turns that does a pretty good job until the very end.

A software company called Monkeewrench puts out educational software, but decides to go with a serial killer "who dun it" game. While some of their clients aren't thrilled about the content, things are OK until a series of real life murders start mimicing each level of the killings in the game. The killings are occuring once a day, and even with the cops staking out the locations, they can't prevent the killings. The leading programmer (Grace McBride) is a security paranoid who is blaming herself for all the killings, and the cops are wondering if the killer is her or one of her four co-workers at the company. The cops from two different killings are able to trace down who the killer might be based on some clues, but they have no idea who this person might be at this point in time (due to name changes). To complicate issues, all of the Monkeewrench staff have blocked FBI files and no traceable history past 10 years ago. The killer starts communicating with McBride and seems to be getting close to killing her also. All this builds up to a final showdown where the full story is revealed and the true killer is uncovered.

First off, I really like good cyberthrillers where computer software or technology plays a lead role in the story. For that, the book gets high marks. The building tension of each killing with no way to stop them is also well done. The final scene was, in my opinion, a bit of a letdown. The revealed killer along with the story of why it all happened didn't make a lot of sense, and it seemed like it could have finished up better. Still, a very good read, especially if you like novels that include elements of computer gaming and programmer lifestyles.

Rating:
Summary: Want to Play?
Review: Monkeewrench (published under the name Want To Play? in the UK) is an original, fun and explosive crime novel from a promising new author. The plot was exciting and sprung more than a few surprises on me, the characters were refreshingly unique and very well described. The ending was high in tension and very satisfying.

The plot focus is split between three main character groups; firstly Sheriff Michael Halloran with his partners Bonar Carlson and Sharon Mueller, secondly Detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Roselph, and thirdly the Monkeewrench 'crew' - Grace, Annie, Roadrunner, Harley, Mitch and Diane - owners of a computer company who have mysterious pasts. The contrast between all these different characters and their situations made for a fast paced and varied novel.

What impressed me most was probably the writing style which was hilarious in many places, despite the serious subject matter, and touching in others. Characters such as Jackson, the small boy that Grace befriends, and the behind-the-scenes spouses of the police detectives were also very enjoyable to read about. The dialogue was fabulous because it was so realistic and inventive.

Things that I didn't like? Well, there are always a few! There were a fair number of coincidences in the book and some situations seemed too convenient. Sometimes I thought the novel became a little bit silly with certain exchanges between characters and some of the characters seemed more like caricatures because there were so over the top, particularly Annie, Harley and Gloria. Finally, the religion aspect got a little tiresome, it seemed all believers were viewed as 'fanatics', the type of people who condemn others to the fires of hell whilst being shockingly self-righteous. I suppose the kind thing that the priest did at the end of the novel for Magozzi seemed to address this imbalance to some extent.

Overall I recommend Monkeewrench (or Want to Play? as I know it) to all thriller and crime readers. It's a refreshing and interesting book with a range of likeable and deep characters. And it's funny - what more can you ask for?

JoAnne