Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy (The mother/daughter writing team of P.J. and Traci Lambrecht under the pseudonym of P.J. Tracy) Features Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth.

Tall, dark haired and complicated, riding boot-wearing Grace McBride is the fragile heart and soul of a group of oddball computer geeks with a collectively shady past. They are five friends on the run from violence who have banded together to form the successful Minneapolis software company, Monkeewrench. But when someone begins using the grisly scenarios from their new game, Serial Killer, as inspiration for real life murder, it quickly becomes obvious that the horrors of the past have finally caught up with them.

What I liked about this book is that even though I had my suspicions it was a lot more complicated and a bit shocking. I'm looking forward to reading more by this duo.

Live Bait is the 2nd title in this new series. I listened to it on tape. Elderly people are being murdered in Minneapolis, and detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth work to solve the case. On the surface it appears to be some kind of crazy serial killer who is going after old people. But as they delve into the details in the victims lives it becomes apparent that the people who were being killed have more in common than what meets the eye. We also have the original characters from the Monkeewrench crew in the story but in a much more background mode.

Another excellent suspenseful thriller by this new writing duo. I can't wait until the new one comes out.

Dead Run is the 3rd title in the series. And it does not disapoint.
Monkeewrench founders Grace MacBride and Annie Belinsky, along with Deputy Sharon Mueller, are driving from Minneapolis to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they believe a new serial killer is just warming up. When their car breaks down deep in the northern woods, far from civilization and cell-phone towers, a walk through the forest leads them to the crossroads of Four Corners, where they find...absolutely nothing. Something terrible has happened in Four Corners, and the complete absence of life, together with severed phone lines in every building, makes it impossible to find help. Grace, her senses honed by a lifetime of justifiable paranoia, sees the sinister in every detail, and her instincts barely save the three women when they witness a horrifying double murder. Grace, Annie, and Sharon are suddenly running for their lives, while the rest of the Monkeewrench crew, along with Minneapolis cops Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth, strike out on a blind search to find them.

This book was very hard to put down as I wanted to see if they could get out alive. Plus the women are the strong ones and able to bring the terrorist threat to it's head. Wow! Right to the end.

Snow Blind #4 in the series.
With the holidays over and the long cold winter looming, January can be a bleak month in Minneapolis. So what better way to bring a little cheer to the good people of the city than sponsoring an old-fashioned snowman-building contest? In a matter of hours, a local park is filled with the innocent laughter of children and their frosty creations. But things take an awful turn when the dead bodies of police officers are discovered inside two of the snowmen – sending the entire department and Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth on high alert.

The next day, Iris Rikker, the newly minted sheriff of rural Dundas County, comes across another body in another snowman. Fearing that Rikker’s inexperience will hamper the investigation, Magozzi and Rolseth head north, in a blizzard, to hunt for clues. As Grace MacBride and her crack computer jocks at Monkeewrench comb the Web for connections, a terrifying link emerges among the dead cops, Magozzi and Rolseth, and Monkeewrench – a link that must be broken before it’s too late.

Ok the Monkeewrench is a red hering! We see more about Magozzi & Rolseth plus the new female sheriff in Dundas County. What this book really comes down to is in regards to domestic violence who is responsible? The person doing the beatings? the police who won't help? the family, friends and neighbors who looks the other way?

What would you do if you could take action into your own hands and punish them all? Read Snow Blind and find out. This was a very interesting look at domestic violence and the consequences. I did not see how this book would end as they did a great job making this look one way and then taking it a 180 turn.