Monkeewrench, a first novel, by the writing team known as p.j. tracy, had my interest from the first gruesome murder. Monkeewrench is a computer design firm with five owners who are not who they appear to be or named what they say, and even though in their 30s, they have no history beyond 10 years.
The authors, a mother-daughter team, have one of the most amusing bios ever on their website pjtracy.net. I smiled as I read.Lower case letter in their nom-de-plume must be part of their routine.Read their newsletter on the same site. It is educational and entertaining. Monkeewrench won the 2004 Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the Barry Award for Best First Novel, and was a finalist for the 2004 Dilys Award.
The murders are exact duplicates of ones in a new game the company is designing which has been hacked into. Who is committing the crimes? Is it an inside job? What ties these crimes terrorizing Minneapolis to others being committed hundreds of miles away in rural Wisconsin. And then, I was intrigued by Charlie, a mutt, rescued by the story's heroine, Grace McBridge. Their mutal love was apparent, causing me to worry nervously through almost to the last page that something would happen to Charlie as often serial murderers like to hurt animals. Every character in this book was well-drawn and evoked emotional responses.
The technological aspects of the plot made me a believer, in part because I am in awe of technology and those who really know how to use it. I have no doubt that something like this really could happen.
This book was a real page turner. I literally could not put it down. There are four more books in the series which I plan to read as soon as possible. To read the series in order, check out www.stopyourekillingme.com and click on letter T under authors and you can see the listing.
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